The Asia-Pacific Antitrust Review 2015 - Malaysia: Overview

In 2012, Malaysia joined over 100 other countries worldwide and became the fifth ASEAN nation (after Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) to establish a competition law regime. The Malaysian Competition Act 2010 (the Act), which came into effect on 1 January 2012, aims to promote economic development by promoting and protecting the process of competition, thereby protecting the interests of consumers. These objectives reflect the government's goal of doubling Malaysia's per capita income by the year 2020 and transforming the country into a more competitive, market-driven and investor-friendly country.

Similar to competition laws adopted in the European Union, the Act contains prohibitions on anti-competitive agreements (chapter 1 of the Act) and abuse of dominance (Chapter 2 of the Act), although it does not provide for competition law regulation on merger control.