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MCMC announces two-year freeze on courier service licence

CYBERJAYA: A two-year moratorium has been imposed on the issuance of courier service licence, said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

It said the moratorium decision was taken with the consent of Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.

MCMC said the moratorium will be in effect from September 14 this year until September 15, 2022.

“This decision was taken under the licensing authority of the Postal Service 2012 Act and it can be reviewed at any time based on needs which arises,” the MCMC said in statement, here, today.

During the enforcement period of the moratorium, the agency said it will not accept any new licence application for all categories of courier services.

It added that all new applications and application renewal of existing licence’s received before the moratorium date took effect would be processed as usual for approval.

“As of Oct 2020, there are 109 courier service licensees of various categories operating in Malaysia,” MCMC said.

The agency added that the moratorium was implemented to provide an opportunity for the government, together with the Postal and courier industries to formulate new plans for the sector which faces various challenges from technological changes and market trends.

The move is also inline with the official call made by the Association of Malaysian Express Carriers (AMEC) in August, MCMC said.

AMEC is an association of 25 major courier companies operating in Malaysia including Pos Malaysia Berhad, GD Express Sdn. Bhd, City-Link Express (M) Sdn. Bhd and others.

The process of drafting a new action plan will be implemented via the organisation of a National Postal and Courier Industry Laboratory (NPCIL) which will last for three (3) weeks, from Nov 2 to 22, 2020. This will be subject to instructions stemming from the Conditional Movement Control Order implemented by the government.

“Upon completion, a full report containing the proposed action plan to support the strategic development aspirations of the new postal and courier industry will be uploaded on the MCMC website for the reference of all.

“The NPCIL outcome is important for the industry which makes-up the core of e-commerce activities and digital economic development which is now facing various new challenges triggered by the technological boom resulting in the merger of the logistics sector, e-commerce platform, e-hailing and financial transaction systems,” the statement said.

The last study on the postal and courier industry was conducted in 2009.

Source: NST