The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has charged a company and its director under the new corporate liability offence in connection with a count of bribery worth RM 321,350 paid to secure a subcontract.

This marks the first case under the new corporate liability regime and clearly demonstrates the MACC’s commitment in enforcing the corporate liability offence under Section 17A of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 (“Section 17A”), which recently came into force on 1 June 2020. 

In light of this, commercial organisations are urged to take immediate steps to ensure that they have in place “Adequate Procedures” as a statutory defence against an offence under Section 17A.

On 19 February 2021, the majority of the Malaysian Federal Court (“Federal Court”) delivered its much-anticipated judgment in Peguam Negara Malaysia v Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd and Another [2020] 4 MLJ 791 in respect of the allegation of contempt of court by way of comments posted by subscribers and readers on the Malaysiakini news portal on 9 June 2020.

The Federal Court in its majority decision held that Malaysiakini, an online platform provider, is liable  for third party comments which are offensive and inappropriate even though they had no knowledge of the same until notified and where the impugned comments were then promptly removed. Further, compliance with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Content Code (“Content Code”) did not shield Malaysiakini from liability. 

While the matter related to an offence of criminal contempt, the Federal Court’s decision is likely to impact and change the landscape of liability for online platform providers in Malaysia with regard to third party content. 

After almost a decade of negotiations, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement was signed on 15 November 2020 by 10 ASEAN member states, along with Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

The RCEP is the largest regional free trade agreement outside the WTO, and its member states account for approximately 30% of the world’s gross domestic product (USD 26.3 trillion) and 30% of the world’s population (2.3 billion). Its overarching aim is to establish a modern, comprehensive and mutually beneficial economic partnership that brings together countries with diverse levels of development, fuels regional value chains and promotes international trade and investment.

The agreement comprises 20 chapters with specific provisions covering, amongst other things, e-commerce, trade in goods, trade in services, investment, competition and intellectual property. In this Client Alert, we summarize the key highlights of the e-commerce chapter of the RCEP Agreement.

Click to read Digital healthcare, a globally booming market, has been catalyzed by the events of COVID-19. In Asia Pacific, in particular, a rapidly expanding population, an empowered and tech-savvy middle class and physician shortage has created the perfect conditions for digital health innovation. A new era of digital healthcare…

The new corporate liability provision under Section 17A of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 (“Section 17A”) has come into force on 1 June 2020. As highlighted in our earlier client alert (see Link), a company may be held criminally liable under this new provision for acts of bribery committed by its directors, employees or other associated persons.  The only defence available is for the company to prove that it has put in place adequate procedures designed to prevent these corrupt acts.

This new corporate liability provision applies not only to Malaysian companies, but also to foreign companies with businesses in Malaysia.

On 1 June 2020, the corporate liability provision under Section 17A of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 (the Act) is set to come into force. As highlighted in our earlier client alert (see Link), a company may be held criminally liable for acts of corruption by its directors, employees or other associated persons.

View Japanese version The Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures within the Infected Local Areas) Regulations 2020 (“Regulations”) lapsed on 31 March 2020. In place of the lapsed regulations, the Malaysian Government has announced and issued the new Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures within the Infected Local…

The Malaysian Personal Data Protection Commissioner (Commissioner) has recently issued Public Consultation Paper No. 1/2020 (“PCP”) which aims to collect feedback on the Commissioner’s proposal to update the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (PDPA). The PCP proposes the following: to impose direct obligations on data processors, including the obligation to…

On 5 April 2019, the Malaysian Competition Commission (MyCC) issued the Guidelines on Intellectual Property Rights and Competition Law (Guidelines). The Guidelines are intended to provide guidance on MyCC’s approach in respect of competition issues arising from matters relating to intellectual property (IP). The Guidelines must be read together with…