STANDARDS OF MALAYSIA ACT 1996

LAWS OF MALAYSIA ONLINE VERSION OF UPDATED TEXT OF REPRINT Act 549 STANDARDS OF MALAYSIA ACT 1996 As at 30 April 2012 2 STANDARDS OF MALAYSIA ACT 1996 … … … … … 15 July 1996 Date of Royal Assent Date of publication in the Gazette … … … 25 July 1996 Latest amendment made by Act A1425 which came into operation on … … … … 15 April 2012 PREVIOUS REPRINTS First Reprint Second Reprint … … … … … … 2002 … … … … … 2006 3 LAWS OF MALAYSIA Act 549 STANDARDS OF MALAYSIA ACT 1996 ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS PART I PRELIMINARY Section 1. Short title, application and commencement 2. Interpretation PART II VESTING OF PROPERTY, ETC., IN SUCCESSOR COMPANY 3. Vesting 4. Initial Government holding in the successor company 5. Government investment in further issues of shares of the successor company 6. Staff 7. Government of Malaysia to hold all shares in the successor company 8. Minister of Finance to hold shares PART III DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF STANDARDS 9. Appointment of Director General 10. Duties and functions of the Director General 4 Laws of Malaysia ACT 549 Section 11. Power to delegate 12. Power of the Minister to give directions PART IV ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STANDARDS AND ACCREDITATION COUNCIL 13. Establishment of the Standards and Accreditation Council and its functions 14. Committees PART V STANDARDS AND ACCREDITATION 15. Malaysian Standards 16. Accreditation certificates 17. Restriction on the use of words 18. Miscellaneous offences 18A. Ownership of Malaysian Standards 19. Offences committed by body corporate 20. Characteristics of commodities, etc., may be prescribed by reference to Malaysian Standards 21. Citation and proof of standards PART VA ENFORCEMENT 21A. Authorized officers 21B. Authority card 21C. Power of investigation 21D. Search and seizure with warrant 21E. Search and seizure without warrant 21F. Warrant admissible notwithstanding defects Standards of Malaysia Section 21G. Access to computerized data 21H. List of computers, books, records, etc., seized 21I. Examination of persons acquainted with case 21J. Admissibility of statement in evidence 21K. Power to require attendance of persons acquainted with case 21L. Release of seized computer, book, record, etc. 21M. Cost of holding seized computer, book, record, etc. 21N. No cost or damages arising from seizure to be recoverable 21O. Additional powers 21P. Obstruction of authorized officers PART VI GENERAL 22. Regulations PART VII REPEAL AND TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS 23. Repeal and savings 24. Continuance of criminal and civil proceedings 25. Saving of standards, marks and licences 26. Prevention of anomalies 5 7 LAWS OF MALAYSIA Act 549 STANDARDS OF MALAYSIA ACT 1996 An Act to make new provisions in the law relating to standards, accreditation and for other matters connected therewith. [1 September 1996, P.U. (B) 322/1996] BE IT ENACTED by the Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong with the advice and consent of the Dewan Negara and Dewan Rakyat in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: PART I PRELIMINARY Short title, application and commencement 1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Standards of Malaysia Act 1996 and shall apply throughout Malaysia. (2) This Act shall come into force on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint; and the Minister may appoint different dates for the coming into force of different provisions of the Act. Interpretation 2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— “accreditation” means a procedure by which the Department gives attestation that a conformity assessment body is competent to carry out specific conformity assessment activity; “authorized officer” means an officer of the Department or any public officer authorized under section 21A; 8 Laws of Malaysia ACT 549 “accreditation symbol” means a protected symbol applied or issued under the accreditation system established and operated by the Department; “certification” means a procedure by which a third party gives written assurance that specific requirements relating to a commodity, process, system, person, body, practice or service are fulfilled; “commodity” means any article, product or thing that is a subject of trade or commerce; “conformity assessment” means an activity of testing, calibrating, inspecting, certifying or any other activity as the Director General may determine for the purpose of demonstrating that the specific requirements relating to a commodity, process, system, person, practice or service are fulfilled; “Council” means the Malaysian Standards and Accreditation Council established under subsection 13(1); “Department” means the Department of Standards, Malaysia which is responsible for national standardization and accreditation; “Director General” means the Director General of the Department of Standards appointed under section 9; “Institute” means the Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia established under the Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (Incorporation) Act 1975 [Act 157]; “liabilities” means liabilities, debts, charges, duties, and obligations of every description (whether present or future, actual or contingent, and whether payable or to be observed or performed in Malaysia or elsewhere); “Malaysian Standard” means a standard declared under section 15; “mark” includes any device, brand, heading, label, ticket, name, signature, word, letter, numeral, and any combination thereof; “mark of conformity” means protected mark, applied or issued under the rules of a certification system, indicating that adequate confidence is provided that the relevant commodity, process, system, Standards of Malaysia 9 person, practice or service is in conformity with a specific standard or other normative document; “Minister” means the Minister for the time being charged with the responsibility for standards and accreditation; “premises” includes any hut, shed, structure, platform, house, building, conveyance and land whether or not enclosed or built upon; “property” includes— (a) all movable and immovable property and all interests, rights and liabilities, whether equitable or legal in, to or out of such property, chose in action, investments, money and goodwill; and (b) all rights and liabilities in respect of contracts in relation to the construction of buildings, and “vested”, in relation to property, includes rights to property which are future or contingent; “provisional Malaysian Standard” means a standard which has not undergone the formal procedures of technical committees deliberation and public comment and — (a) which in the opinion of the Council is urgently needed; or (b) in respect of which the Minister considers that trial use thereof is necessary before it can be finalised; “recognized body”, in relation to standard, means a legal or administrative entity that has specific tasks and composition, with acknowledged authority for publishing standards; “regulations” means regulations made under section 22; “rights” means all rights, powers, privileges and immunities, whether actual, contingent or prospective; “standard” means a document established by consensus and approved by a recognized body, that provides, for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their 10 Laws of Malaysia ACT 549 results, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context, with which compliance is not mandatory; “standardization” means the activity of establishing, with regard to actual or potential problems, provisions for common and repeated use, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context; “successor company” means the company limited by shares incorporated under the Companies Act 1965 [Act 125] and named by the Minister in the order under subsection 3(1) to which property, rights, liabilities and functions of the Institute are transferred and vested in; “technical regulation” means any written law that provides for technical requirements, either directly or by referring to or incorporating the content of a standard, technical specification or code of practice; “vesting date” means the date on which all property, rights, liabilities and functions of the Institute are transferred to and vested in the successor company as specified by the Minister in the order under subsection 3(1). PART II VESTING OF PROPERTY, ETC., IN SUCCESSOR COMPANY Vesting 3. (1) The Minister may, by order published in the Gazette, appoint a vesting date and on that date, all such property, except those lands referred to in subsection (2), rights, liabilities and functions of the Institute shall, by virtue of this Act, be transferred to and vested in the successor company without any conveyance, assignment or transfer whatever. (2) Any land held in the name of the Federal Lands Commissioner and which immediately before the vesting date is occupied by the Institute shall continue to be occupied by the successor company under a lease at a rental and on such terms to be agreed upon by the Federal Lands Commissioner and the successor company. Standards of Malaysia 11 (3) Notwithstanding subsection (1), only the functions of the Institute which under this Act are not vested in the Director General and any other body shall be transferred to the successor company. (4) Every property vested by virtue of subsection (1) in the successor company shall be so vested in the company for the like title or interest as the same was vested or held immediately before the vesting date. (5) Every chose in action vested by virtue of subsection (1) in the successor company may, after the vesting date, be sued on, recovered or enforced by the company in its own name and it shall not be necessary for the company or the Institute to give notice to the person bound by the chose in action of the vesting effected by subsection (1). (6) Every right and liability vested by subsection (1) in the successor company may, on or after the vesting date, be sued on, recovered or enforced by or against the company in its own name and it shall not be necessary for the company or the Institute to give notice to the person whose rights and liabilities are affected by the vesting under subsection (1). (7) Any pending legal proceedings by or against the Institute which relate to any property, right and liability transferred to and vested in the successor company by virtue of subsection (1) may, on or after the vesting date, be continued by or against the successor company. (8) In the case of rights and liabilities arising under any loans which vest in the successor company on the vesting date, the company may enter into such arrangements or agreements over such rights and liabilities with the Government of Malaysia or any third party. (9) On or after the vesting date, any agreement relating to any property, rights and liabilities transferred to and vested in the successor company under subsection (1) to which the Institute was a party immediately before the vesting date, whether in writing or not, and whether or not of such a nature that rights and liabilities thereunder could be assigned by the Institute, shall have effect as if the company had been a party to the agreement. (10) Notwithstanding subsection (9), any agreement entered into by the Institute, the subject matter of which relates to any matter falling 12 Laws of Malaysia ACT 549 within the powers and functions of the Director General under this Act, shall, upon the vesting date devolve upon the Government and shall have effect as if the Government had been a party to the agreement. (11) Where by virtue of subsection (1), any property is transferred to and vested in the successor company, the provisions in Part Thirty of the National Land Code [Act 56 of 1965] shall, for the purpose of effecting the registration of such vesting, apply to the successor