MALAYSIA

Looking Back: 2022 and Gazing Into: 2023

The recent downtrend of daily COVID-19 cases has led to the gradual opening up of businesses and workforce returning to offices in Malaysia. 2022 saw various amendments to the law and new regulations coming into force, and some notable case law developments and enforcement trends are as follows:

• new licensing requirement on the provision of cloud services;
• extension of Part IV of Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 to initial exchange offerings, digital custodians and digital asset advisors, and explicit broadening to equity crowdfunding, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending and other recognised market operator platforms;
• new guidelines on personal data protection notices under the Personal Data Protection Act 2010;
• new edition of the Communications and Multimedia Content Code;
• the Malaysian Franchise (Amendment) Act 2020;
• the new Geographical Indications Act 2022;
• the Malaysia Digital Initiative which is a new digital economy initiative that replaces the Multimedia Super Corridor agenda; and
• case law trends on how the Malaysian courts have dealt with insider trading under the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007.

Gazing Into: 2023

Following a change of Government in November 2022, Malaysia expects to see significant developments in several areas of law including the following:

• Energy & natural resources;
• Technology, media & telecommunications;
• Data protection;
• Employment & benefits; and 
• Competition & antitrust.

Click on the link below for the full report which provides summaries of the key legal developments related to the above areas.

• Regional Round-Up 2022: Malaysia

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