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AS part of its ongoing efforts to ensure that regulations in Malaysia comply with international standards of Good Regulatory Practice (GRP), Malaysia Productivity

Corporation (MPC) held series of public consultation sessions with the business sector to obtain their feedback on the Guideline on Public Consultation Procedures.

In his welcoming address, MPC Deputy Director General YBhg Dato’ Abdul Latif Hj Abu Seman brought up the National Policy for the Development and Implementation of Regulations (NPDIR) which was launched in July 2013 for all government ministries and agencies. The NPDIR outlines the policy on the development of new regulations and amendments of existing regulations where public consultation is made mandatory.

“The Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) process, which is part of GRP, was initiated to comply with this,” he said.

“We want to ensure that what we put forward is something everyone has considered so that when it comes to implementation, it can be easily executed.”

The process requires feedback from stakeholders and decisions to be made based on benefits that outweigh costs.

“We are developing this guidelines, so it can be improved based on constructive feedback,” explained YBhg Dato’ Abdul Latif at the session conducted at MPC headquarters in Petaling Jaya.

In presenting the draft of the guideline to the participants, MPC Associate Mr. Goh Swee Seang said four sessions had already been conducted with government agencies and their feedback had been incorporated into the guideline.

“The draft can be downloaded from MPC’s website” said Mr. Goh. “This is actually the second draft which incorporates a number of comments and additions.”

He explained that the guideline will help government agencies with public consultation when they want to review regulations or draft new ones.

“Public consultation enables regulators to develop more proper and efficient business regulations,” he clarified.

For an effective public consultation process, Mr. Goh said it was necessary to identify the full range of affected parties, minimise the risk of unexpected consequences and to discover better implementation methods.

“This would be best done by listening to stakeholders. The days of the attitude that the government knows best is long gone,” he said.

The public consultation guideline was drafted in accordance with best practices laid down by other successful countries. A review of existing local good practices was also conducted before coming up with the guideline.

According to Mr. Goh, there are components of good practices carried out in Malaysia by Government agencies. Some case examples are the National Land Code Review which underwent public consultation and the Ministry of Domestic Trade Cooperatives and Consumerism (KPDNKK) with regards to consumer protection laws.

“We need input from stakeholders to stimulate participation. Consultation documents are important, and preliminary studies need to be carried out before we conduct public consultation,” he said.

He said that planning the consultation process is important because it can be very extensive based on the number of stakeholders affected by the issue.

“We cannot miss out any key stakeholders and must provide opportunity to reach out to interested parties who are not stakeholders. Accessibility to the consultation exercise for

these parties can be found on the RIS website at http://ris.mpc.gov.my/,” explained Mr. Goh.

A number of participants shared their views and required clarifications on the process. In response to a comment on whether public consultation was different from public rejection, YBhg Dato’ Abdul Latif said Regulatory Coordinators (RCs) take into account all suggestions which make sense.

However, an element of accountability has also been incorporated, meaning that RCs have to ensure they take action on feedback received.

“If it is not accepted, it has to be explained clearly why,” he said.According to him, public consultation is a structured and systematic

process. The process also requires for the proposed draft to be published online for at least 12 weeks or three months.

“This is to ensure that there will be a process of arriving at a decision which is the best. It may not be an ideal option, but it will take into account cost benefit analysis where benefits outweigh costs,” he explained.

“Our aim is to get people to adhere to regulations voluntarily, we don’t want to bog down the system with regulations which will not be followed.

We can create awareness through engagement and this is another component of the public consultation process,” he said.

Also present at the event was Regulatory Review Department Director Encik Megat Akbaruddin Megat Ismail who said that government agencies should have good ties with business associations and other key stakeholders.

“The public consultation process is more about an exchange of ideas than a rejection of them – this is the gist of what we want to have,” he said.

On another point raised with regards to whether the public consultation process was only with businesses, or whether it included the public at large, Encik Megat Akbaruddin said that for now the RIA process focused on business regulations, and not on social or other types of regulations which affect the public.

EVIEW This newsletter is produced, published and distributed by MPC, for the benefit of all stakeholders. No part of it should be reproduced in any form without the expressed permis-sion from MPC.

http://www.mpc.gov.my/

EGULATORY022014 � Issue

Getting feedback from business sector

(From left) MPC Senior Manager Puan Roziana Othman, MPC Deputy Director General YBhg Dato’ Abdul Latif Hj Abu Seman and MPC Associate Mr. Goh Swee Seang at the consultation session.

Participants at the public consultation session with representatives from the business sector at MPC.

THE GUIDING PRINCIPLES FORPUBLIC CONSULTATION1. Transparency with accessibility2. Accountability3. Commitment4. Inclusiveness that is equitable5. Timely and informative6. Integrity with mutual respect

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¡RegulatoRy Review ¡02 http://www.mpc.gov.my/

A SERIES of sessions aimed at inculcating Good Regulatory Practices (GRP) amongst businesses and Regulatory Coordinators (RCs) were held on May 16 at the Malaysia Productivity Corporation

in Petaling Jaya.In the May 16 event, co-chairman of the Special Task Force to

Facilitate Business (PEMUDAH) YBhg Dato’ Saw Choo Boon said the transformation of the regulatory environment in Malaysia was part of the transformation programmes which the Government has implemented in the country.

“A good regulatory practice is very important in Malaysia’s transformation journey,” he said in his opening address.

A number of regulatory experts from around the world and Malaysia shared their perspectives on GRP at the session. They were Mr. Nick Malyshev, head of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Regulatory Policy Division who spoke on “What are good regulatory practices (GRP)? An international Perspective”; Mr. Rob Reilly, Special Adviser, Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR), Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Australia, who spoke on “Australia’s Deregulation Agenda: The Role of Business”; Mr. Faisal Naru, Senior Economic Advisor, Regulatory Policy Division,OECD, and Mr. Minsup Song, Policy Analyst, Regulatory Policy Division OECD, who spoke on the vital role the private sector plays in GRP; and Puan Roziana Othman, Senior Manager, Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC), who spoke on “Malaysia’s National Policy on The Development and Implementation of Regulations (NPDIR)”.

In his presentation, Mr. Malyshev said: “Regulation may be the most powerful instrument that any Government could have and basically governments could intervene through monitoring policies, fiscal policies, tax spending and workers regulation.”

According to him, any business that deals with government is very difficult as there are political constraints and arguments abound with regards to inherent risks to good regulatory outcome.

He said that often times, governments are not able to gather sufficient evidence of which policy is to be regulated into law and the whole regulatory process is captured and businesses have a strong influence on a regulation that serves their interest more and not necessarily the

GRP important for transformation

public interest.Mr. Reilly shared on the Australian Government’s plan to cut A$1

billion in red tape every year. “As part of that plan, there will be two parliamentary repeal days every

year to cut unnecessary and costly legislation and regulations,” he said. In his presentation, Mr. Naru related the case of “Jammy Dodger”, the

famous biscuit brand in the UK which was able to save its name. In this case, the European Union (EU) had come up with a regulation

where a jam can be called a jam only after a certain amount of jam is included in the product to stop consumers from being cheated.

“Jammy Dodger” biscuits did not contain the certain amount of jam, thus they were in danger of having to scrap their name.

The private sector raised its concerns and sought government aid. The government later put the matter to the EU which, after listening to arguments from all sides, allowed “Jammy Dodger” to keep its name even when the product did not contain the specific amount of jam.

Mr. Song’s presentation focused on a Joint Regulatory Reform Bureau, co-chaired by members of the public and private sector, which was established in September 2013 with a view to solve regulation and difficulties which corporations face while doing business.

“The aim is to direct the future of operations; it will focus on resolving uncomfortable and inconvenient factors of medium-sized businesses, micro-enterprises, and citizens, resolving difficulties on site for investment expansion and creation of job opportunities, and providing countermeasures for irrational regulations,” he said.

In her presentation, Puan Roziana spoke on the NPDIR and its role in helping Malaysia achieve developed nation status by 2020.

“NPDIR will address the gaps in the management system for regulations to put Malaysia in a position to meet international best practices in regulations or Good Regulatory Practice (GRP). This will help to enhance transparency and credibility of regulatory actions and create a climate for a better quality of life and business environment. The Government recognises that this policy will contribute towards building an economy that attracts industries and investments that value good regulatory environment, hence generating quality jobs and increasing national wealth,” she said.

Administrative costs and burden reduction programmes based 0n the Standard Cost Model

– United Kingdom, 3.3 billion GBP net annual saving – Netherlands, 2.3 billion euro net annual saving – Sweden, 900 million euro net annual savings – Malaysia, ?

For comparison, 2013 GDP in billion USD – UK, 2,390 – Netherlands, 700 – Malaysia, 525 – Sweden, 397

Source : Nick Malyshev Head, OECD Regulatory Policy Division

What is the cost of administrative burdens?

Regulatory Costs

Subject to the Regulatory Burden Measurement framework

What regulatory costs are quantified

Source : Rob Reilly Office of Best Practice Regulation

Australia

Participants at the knowledge sharing session.

(From left) Mr. Minsup Song, Economic Policy Advisor, OECD; Mr. Rob Reilly, Specialist Advisor in the Policy Unit of the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet; Encik Kabir Ahmad Mohd Jamil, Director Regulatory Review, MPC; Mr. Nick Malyshev, Head of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Regulatory Policy Division and Mr. Faisal Naru, the Senior Economic Policy Analyst of the Regulatory Policy Division, OECD.

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¡RegulatoRy Review ¡ 03http://www.mpc.gov.my/

OVER 120 participants from government ministries and agencies attended a public consultation session with the

Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) this May at INTAN in Bukit Kiara.

The session was part of MPC’s ongoing capacity building exercise for officers of government ministries and agencies to reflect principles of Good Regulatory Practice (GRP) when amending existing regulations and drafting new ones.

The session was chaired by MPC Deputy Director-General YBhg Dato’ Abdul Latif Hj Abu Seman with MPC Associate Mr. Goh Swee Seang conducting a presentation on the draft of the Guidelines for Best Practice Public Consultation on the Development of Regulations which had been drawn up by MPC.

Also at the session was MPC Senior Manager Puan Roziana Othman.

The sessions were organised to obtain feedback from regulatory coordinators (RCs) on the proposed guidelines and hear their concerns and issues on the matter so that when the final guidelines are implemented they would reflect everyone’s point of view.

In his welcome address, YBhg Dato’ Abdul Latif said the draft for public consultation was drawn up after MPC had conducted a preliminary study and engagement with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and regulatory authorities in Canada and New Zealand, in order to learn from and reflect global best practices in the area.

“There are pockets of good practices in Malaysia as well and we have used this to develop a first draft of guidelines for the standardisation of public consultation procedures, especially pertaining to government regulations,” he said.

Guideline on Public Consultation Procedures is part of MPC’s ongoing facilitation of the implementation of the National Policy for the Development and Implementation of Regulations (NPDIR) which was launched in July 2013 for federal ministries and agencies.

Previously, MPC had published the Best Practice Regulation Handbook (BPRH) in July 2013 as a result of the NPDIR.

As noted by MPC Director-General YBhg Dato’ Mohd Razali Hussain in the introduction to the guidelines: “As public consultation is a core requirement for the development of good regulations, the publication of this guideline will supplement the use of the BPRH.

“This guideline presents important information on the concepts, principles and practices to carrying out adequate public consultation exercises which are fundamental for best practice regulations.”

According to YBhg Dato’ Abdul Latif this initiative is monitored by the Special Task Force to Facilitate Business (PEMUDAH).

“This guideline is also one of the Ministerial Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for 2014 for the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI),” he said.

In his presentation, Mr. Goh, who was the author of the guidelines, noted that public consultation was meant to enable the development of better and more practical regulations, to identify the full range of affected parties, to minimise the risk of unexpected consequences and to discover better implementation methods.

“The guiding principles for public consultation are transparency with accessibility, accountability, commitment of all parties in the process from the top down, inclusiveness that is equitable, timely and informative so that people can digest the document and people who are consulted can contribute their opinions with integrity and mutual respect.”

He said the idea was to solicit comments, opinions and views from stakeholders and therefore the document should be prepared to stimulate discussions.

“It needs to be well-planned to ensure that the outcome is useful for the intended

purpose. It must be accessible to all identified stakeholders – so you need to be proactive, and especially with the dormant stakeholder, you will have to make an effort to engage with them,” he said.

In responding to feedback from stakeholders, Puan Roziana said that consultation is about respecting the views given, not just about gathering their opinions.

“It is important to keep reports of the insights into the issues brought up, and also the responses given to these issues. This is important because at the end of the day if parties claim that they weren’t consulted, there is evidence otherwise,” she said.

In response to another query regarding the practice of some authorities in charging a fee to purchase the draft of a proposed regulation in order to obtain feedback, Mr. Goh said as the idea of public consultation is to get comments and inputs, there was no need to charge for the consultation paper.

“The idea of consultation is to bring up the issues of compliance. So, for

example when standards are introduced, you have to find ways to make sure that testing facilities are available as well,” he said.

“Public consultation is also about coming up with solutions together with the stakeholders. You have to weigh their concerns using cost benefit analysis.”

He explained that in establishing guidelines, it was important to ensure that they reflected organisational values, and not just individual values to ensure there’s no misalignment.

“Public consultation is still a new process, not just in Malaysia but in many countries. Part of the process involves getting a variety of views. This is a long term process to build a culture of consultation,” he said.

CONTENTS OF GUIDELINESPART 1: An Introduction to Public ConsultationPART 2: The Guiding Principles for Public Consultation � Principle No.1: Transparency with Accessibility � Principle No.2: Accountability � Principle No.3: Commitment � Principle No.4: Inclusiveness that is equitable � Principle No.5: Timely and Informative � Principle No.6: Integrity with mutual respectPART 3: Requirements for Public Consultation � Consultation Documents � Planning the Consultation � Accessibility to the Consultation � Stakeholders AnalysisPART 4: Public Consultation Process

CASE EXAMPLES ON GOOD PRACTICESCASE NO. 1: The Public Consultation by the Consumer Standards Division of the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and ConsumerismCASE NO.2: Public Consultation on the Review of National Land Code 1965 by the Department of Director General of Land and MinesQueensland Government on Engaging Queenslanders: https://www.getinvolved.qld.gov.au/

(From left) MPC Deputy Director General YBhg Dato’ Abdul Latif Hj Abu Seman and MPC Associate Mr. Goh Swee Seang at the session.

Participants at the public consultation session at INTAN with ministries and agencies.

Public Consultation on GRP

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¡RegulatoRy Review ¡04 http://www.mpc.gov.my/

Publisher: Regulatory Review Department , Malaysia Productivity Corporation, Lorong Produktiviti, off Jalan Sultan, 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan Tel: +603-7955 7266 Fax: +603-7954 0795 Email: marketing@mpc.gov.my

IT is the time of the year again for journalists covering the business sector in Malaysia to begin submitting their entries for the PEMUDAH Journalism Competition 2014. Winners of the 2013 competition were given their awards by

Chief Secretary to the Government YBhg Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa at a ceremony held in the Putrajaya International Convention Centre in March this year.

Also present at the event was Co-Chairman of The Special Task Force to Facilitate Business (PEMUDAH) YBhg Dato Saw Choo Boon.

Winners from the two main categories were lauded at the event. There were two winners in the Bahasa Malaysia Print / Online

category. One was Puan Sakini Mohd Said from Bernama for her article entitled “DBKL Komited Atasi Kesesakan Lalu Lintas di Pusat Bandar”. She was awarded a Merit Award worth RM3,000.

The other winner was En. Che Wan Mohd Badrul Amin Che Wan Alias, from Berita Harian who was awarded the Merit Award worth RM3,000 for his article entitled “Misi Perbaiki Daya Saing Malaysia”.

Similarly, there were also two winners in the English language Print / Online category. The first prize worth RM10,000 went to Mr. Oliver Christopher Gomez from Malaysia SME newspaper for his article entitled “Starting a Business : Reality vs Perception”.

The second prize of RM5,000 was awarded to Ms. Rupa Damodaran of New Straits Times for her article “Enhancing Our Competitiveness.”

In the TV Broadcast Category, the winner was Ms. Gan Ai Ling of TV3 for her on-air piece “The Government’s Efforts To Ease Construction Permit Procedures”.

The competition was started last year as a means of getting the Malaysian media to publish more articles and reports on the robust transformative changes which have been made to the business landscape in the country over the past few years as a result of the formation of PEMUDAH.

PEMUDAH is a public-private partnership which was set up to improve service delivery in order to bring about an economic transformation for the country.

Its main purpose is to encourage investment by creating a competitive environment through the implementation of various initiatives which are done in collaboration with government ministries and agencies. A number of big wins have been recorded by PEMUDAH.

According to the PEMUDAH Annual Report 2013, which was launched in July this year, a total of nine business licences have been abolished at federal level, while 717 more have been re-engineered and simplified into 448 business licences.

A total of 392 government agencies have implemented e-payment services providing 708 services compared with 250 agencies and 551 services the previous year.

As well as that, Kuala Lumpur City Hall has reduced the number of procedures for approval of construction permits from 37 to 15

and the time taken from 140 days to 130.Dato’ Mohd Razali Hussain, Director General of Malaysia

Productivity Corporation (MPC), noted that for the business sector to be cognisant of improvements like these within the business landscape, it was imperative that these are communicated through various media platforms.

Since 2014, the PEMUDAH Secretariat has been based at MPC.

“For business to thrive in Malaysia and the economy to continue growing, we need to ensure that businesses are facilitated, rather than hindered by too much red tape; that corruption is rooted out and that, only such much regulation is necessary is in place, and no more,” he said.

He said that the reform initiatives needed to be communicated to the public to assure stakeholders of the government’s on-going commitment and efforts to improve efficiency at all levels as well as to keep them informed on changes which could affect businesses.

The 2014 Journalism Competition is open to all journalists working for any Malaysian newspaper, magazine or other printed media and online media, as well as broadcasting, television and radio.

It is open to all vernaculars – English, Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin – and gives three main prizes for two main categories – Printed / Online category and Broadcasting Category.

The main prize is RM10,000, followed by RM5,000 for the second prize and RM3,000 for the third prize.

Articles should be between 800 and 1,000 words in length and should cover any of the 10 areas of doing business in Malaysia.

These would be Starting a Business; Dealing with Construction Permits; Getting Electricity; Registering Property; Getting Credit; Protecting Minority Investors; Paying Taxes; Trading Across Borders; Enforcing Contracts and Resolving Insolvency.

The closing date for entries is 31st December 2014 and all entries must be sent to PEMUDAH Secretariat either through post or by e-mail.

More information on the competition, along with rules and regulations and the official entry form can be found on the PEMUDAH portal at www.pemudah.gov.my or its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/PemudahMalaysia.

Calling all business journalists

(From left) Co-Chairman of The Special Task Force to Facilitate Business (PEMUDAH) YBhg Dato Saw Choo Boon and Chief Secretary to the Government YBhg Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa at the awards ceremony earlier this year.

The winners receiving their prizes on stage.