LAWS OF MALAYSIA
ACT 588
COMMUNICATIONS AND MULTIMEDIA ACT 1998 [REPRINT 2002]
Incorporating latest amendment - Act A1220/2004
COMMUNICATIONS AND MULTIMEDIA ACT 1998 [REPRINT 2002]
Incorporating latest amendment - Act A1220/2004
| Date of Royal Assent : | 23rd September 1998 |
| Date of publication in the Gazette : | 15th October 1998 |
| Date of coming into operation: | 1st April 1999 : except for sections 157, 159, 160, 161,162, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 176, 178, 197 and 198 [P.U.(B) 128/99]; 1st April 2000 : sections 157, 159, 160, 161, 162, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 176 and 178 [P.U.(B) 106/2000] ; 1st March 2002 : sections 197 and 198 [P.U.(B) 66/2002] |
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ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
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ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
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Long Title & Preamble
PART I - PRELIMINARY
Section 1. Short title.
Section 2. Commencement.
Section 3. Objects.
Section 4. Territorial and extra-territorial application.
Section 5. Power of the Minister to exclude certain persons, geographical areas, etc.
Section 6. Interpretation.
PART II - MINISTERIAL POWERS AND PROCEDURES
Chapter 1 - Ministerial Direction
Section 7. Direction by the Minister.
Section 8. Variation of a direction.
Section 9. Register of directions.
Chapter 2 - Ministerial Determination
Section 10. Determination by the Minister.
Section 11. Variation of a determination.
Section 12. Register of determinations.
Chapter 3 - Ministerial Declaration
Section 13. Declaration by the Minister.
Section 14. Modification, variation or revocation of a declaration.
Section 15. Register of declarations.
Chapter 4 - Ministerial Regulations
Section 16. Minister's power to make regulations.
PART III - APPEAL TRIBUNAL
Section 17. Establishment of the Appeal Tribunal.
Section 18. Matters which the Appeal Tribunal may review.
Section 19. Qualifications of members.
Section 20. Resignation and termination of an appointment.
Section 21. Vacation of office and acting appointments.
Section 22. Quorum for the Appeal Tribunal.
Section 23. Decision.
Section 23A. Enforcement of decision of Appeal Tribunal.
Section 24. Appeal Tribunal procedures.
Section 24A. Powers of Appeal Tribunal.
Section 25. Suspension of member.
Section 26. Disclosure of interest.
Section 26A. Secretary of Appeal Tribunal and other officers
Section 26B. Obligation of secrecy.
Section 26C. Public servants and public officers.
Section 26D. Application of Public Authorities Protection Act 1948.
Section 26E. Act or omission done in good faith.
PART IV - LICENCES
Chapter 1 - Individual Licence
Section 27. Application for an individual licence.
Section 28. Further information.
Section 29. Recommendation by the Commission.
Section 30. Grant of an individual licence.
Section 31. Restriction on the grant of an individual licence.
Section 32. Compliance with the conditions of an individual licence.
Section 33. Modification, variation or revocation of individual licence conditions.
Section 34. Renewal of an individual licence.
Section 35. Surrender of an individual licence.
Section 36. Transfer of an individual licence or change of ownership.
Section 37. Recommendation for the suspension or cancellation of an individual licence.
Section 38. Suspension or cancellation of an individual licence by the Minister.
Section 39. Effective date of suspension or cancellation of an individual licence.
Section 40. Publication on suspension or cancellation of an individual licence.
Section 41. Effect of suspension, cancellation, surrender or expiry of an individual licence.
Section 42. Register of individual licences.
Section 43. Rights and obligations attached to an individual licence.
Chapter 2 - Class Licence
Section 44. Minister may grant class licence.
Section 45. Application for registration.
Section 46. Requirement for registration.
Section 47. Recommendation by the Commission.
Section 48. Cancellation of registration by the Minister.
Section 49. Register of class licences.
Section 50. Register of registration notices.
PART V - POWERS AND PROCEDURES OF THE MALAYSIAN COMMUNICATIONS AND MULTIMEDIA COMMISSION
Chapter 1 - Directions
Section 51. Directions by the Commission.
Section 52. Modification, variation or revocation of a direction by the Commission.
Section 53. Offence for non-compliance with a direction of the Commission.
Section 54. Register of directions.
Chapter 2 - Determination
Section 55. Determination by the Commission.
Section 56. Modification, variation or revocation of a determination by the Commission.
Section 57. Register of determinations.
Chapter 3 - Inquiry
Section 58. Inquiry by the Commission.
Section 59. Combining two or more inquiries.
Section 60. Conduct of an inquiry.
Section 61. Inquiry shall be public.
Section 62. Exceptions to a public inquiry.
Section 63. Confidential material not to be disclosed.
Section 64. Directions about an inquiry.
Section 65. Report on an inquiry.
Section 66. Protection from civil action.
Section 67. Register of reports.
Chapter 4 - Investigation For Purposes Of Administration, Inquiry, Etc.
Section 68. Investigation by the Commission.
Section 69. Complaints to the Commission.
Section 70. Conduct of investigation.
Section 71. Report on investigation.
Section 72. Publication of reports.
Chapter 5 - Information-gathering Powers
Section 73. Provision of information.
Section 74. Offence for non-compliance.
Section 75. Offence for giving false or misleading information, evidence or document, etc.
Section 76. Proof of compliance.
Section 77. Commission may retain documents.
Section 78. Incorrect record.
Section 79. Record of information.
Section 80. Publication of information.
Chapter 6 - Register
Section 81. Register of all matters.
Chapter 7 - Notification And Resolution Of Disputes
Section 82. Disputes.
Section 83. Notification of a dispute.
Section 84. Commission to act only upon notification.
Section 85. Commission may publish guidelines.
Section 86. Commission to decide notified dispute.
Section 87. Decision to be in writing.
Section 88. Register of decisions.
Section 89. Enforcement.
Chapter 8 - Registration Of Agreements
Section 90. Application for the registration of agreements.
Section 91. When the Commission shall register the agreement.
Section 92. Effect of registration.
Section 93. Content of the register of agreements.
Chapter 9 - Voluntary Industry Codes
Section 94. Industry forum.
Section 95. Code by the industry forum.
Section 96. Commission may determine a voluntary industry code.
Section 97. Applicable voluntary industry code.
Section 98. Compliance with a registered voluntary industry code a legal defence.
Section 99. Directions to comply with a registered voluntary industry code.
Section 100. Civil penalty for non-compliance.
Section 101. Revocation of a code.
Section 102. Submission of new voluntary industry code by an industry forum.
Section 103. Register of current voluntary industry code.
Chapter 10 - Mandatory Standards
Section 104. Determination of a mandatory standard.
Section 105. Mandatory standard to be consistent.
Section 106. Modification, variation or revocation of a mandatory standard.
Section 107. Mandatory standard to take precedence.
Section 108. Compliance with a mandatory standard a legal defence.
Section 109. Civil penalty for non-compliance.
Chapter 11 - Undertakings
Section 110. Undertaking by a person.
Section 111. Registration of an undertaking.
Section 112. Rules regarding undertakings.
Section 113. Withdrawal of an undertaking.
Section 114. Replacement of an undertaking.
Section 115. Register of undertakings.
Section 116. Enforcement of an undertaking.
Chapter 12 - Regulatory Forbearance
Section 117. Regulatory forbearance.
Section 118. Determination by the Minister.
Chapter 13 - Review Of Decisions
Section 119. Review by the Commission.
Section 120. Review by the Appeal Tribunal.
Section 121. Judicial review.
Chapter 14 - Regulatory Review
Section 122. Review of subsidiary legislation by the Commission.
Chapter 15 - Monitoring And Reporting
Section 123. Report to the Minister on industry performance.
Section 124. Matters to monitor and report.
Section 125. Report to be published.
PART VI - ECONOMIC REGULATION
Chapter 1 - Licensing
Section 126. Licensing of network facilities, network services and applications services.
Section 127. Compliance with licence conditions.
Section 128. Definition of network boundary.
Section 129. Exemption for applications service provider not subject to a class licence.
Section 130. Nominated facilities provider.
Section 131. Providers under a class licence shall register.
Section 132. Separate licence.
Chapter 2 - General Competition Practices
Section 133. Prohibition on anticompetitive conduct.
Section 134. Commission may publish guidelines.
Section 135. Prohibition on entering into collusive agreements.
Section 136. Prohibition on tying or linking arrangements.
Section 137. Determination of dominant licensee.
Section 138. Guidelines as to the meaning of "dominant position".
Section 139. Commission may direct a licensee in a dominant position.
Section 140. Authorization of a conduct.
Section 141. Register of authorizations.
Section 142. Remedies for non-compliance
Section 143. Penalty for offence.
Section 144. Minister may make rules.
Chapter 3 - Access To Services
Section 145. Facilities and services which may be included in the access list.
Section 146. Determination of facilities and services by the Commission.
Section 147. Recommendation by access forum.
Section 148. Register of access list.
Section 149. Standard access obligations for facilities and services.
Section 150. Registration of access agreements.
Section 151. Notification of access disputes.
Section 152. Access forum.
Section 153. Access code.
Section 154. Registration of the access code.
Section 155. Industry access undertakings.
Section 156. Registration of an undertaking.
PART VII - TECHNICAL REGULATION
Chapter 1 - Spectrum Assignment
Section 157. Prohibition on using spectrum without assignment.
Section 158. Power of the Minister to make regulations.
Section 159. Issue of spectrum assignment.
Section 160. Spectrum assignment to comply with spectrum plan.
Section 161. Reissue of spectrum assignment.
Section 162. Third party transfers.
Section 163. Transfer rules.
Section 164. Issue of apparatus assignment.
Section 165. Apparatus assignment to comply with spectrum plan.
Section 166. Situation where apparatus assignment shall not be issued.
Section 167. Third party authorization.
Section 168. Maximum term for an apparatus assignment.
Section 169. Class assignment.
Section 170. Class assignment to comply with spectrum plan.
Section 171. Situation where class assignment shall not be issued.
Section 172. Spectrum plan.
Section 173. Contents of spectrum plan.
Section 174. Preferential rights.
Section 175. Dispute about interference.
Section 176. Minister may determine spectrum for spectrum assignment.
Section 177. Spectrum plan to include procedures for spectrum assignment and apparatus assignment.
Section 178. Compulsory acquisition of assignments in determined spectrum.
Chapter 2 - Numbering And Electronic Addressing
Section 179. Control, planning and administration of numbering and electronic addressing.
Section 180. Numbering and electronic addressing plan.
Section 181. Management or maintenance of an integrated public number or electronic address database.
Chapter 3 - Technical Standards
Section 182. Hindering interoperability an offence.
Section 183. Compromising public safety an offence.
Section 184. Technical standards forum.
Section 185. Matters for technical code.
Section 186. Certifying agencies.
PART VIII - CONSUMER PROTECTION
Chapter 1 - Quality Of Service
Section 187. Exemption from offence provision.
Section 188. Provision of network service or applications service.
Section 189. Consumer forum.
Section 190. Matters for consumer code.
Section 191. Publication of consumer code.
Chapter 2 - Required Applications Services
Section 192. Required applications services.
Section 193. Minister's direction to provide required application service.
Section 194. Direction may specify operational details.
Chapter 3 - Resolution Of Consumer Disputes
Section 195. Disputes between consumers and licensees.
Section 196. Procedures for consumer complaints.
Chapter 4 - Rate Regulation
Section 197. Rate setting by providers.
Section 198. Principles on rate setting.
Section 199. Rate setting by the Minister.
Section 200. Power of the Minister to determine persons or areas for special rates.
Section 201. Rules regarding rates.
Chapter 5 - Universal Service Provision
Section 202. System of universal service provision.
Section 203. Definition of "underserved areas" and "underserved groups within the community", etc.
Section 204. Universal Service Provision Fund.
PART IX - SOCIAL REGULATION
Chapter 1 - Licensing
Section 205. Prohibition on the provision of content applications service.
Section 206. Compliance with licence conditions.
Section 207. Closed content applications service.
Section 208. Exemptions for incidental content.
Section 209. Limited content applications service.
Section 210. Opinion on category of service.
Chapter 2 - Content Requirements
Section 211. Prohibition on provision of offensive content.
Section 212. Content forum.
Section 213. Content code.
PART X - GENERAL
Chapter 1 - Installation Of Network Facilities, Access To Network Facilities, Etc.
Section 214. Inspection of land.
Section 215. Installation of network facilities.
Section 216. Minimal damage.
Section 217. Network facilities provider to restore land.
Section 218. Management of activity.
Section 219. Agreement with public utility.
Section 220. Conditions to which a network facilities installation permit is subject.
Section 221. Notice to owner of land.
Section 222. Notice to owner of land for lopping of trees, etc.
Section 223. Notice to road authority, public utility, etc.
Section 224. Road, etc., to remain open for passage.
Section 225. Network facilities installation permit.
Section 226. Criteria for issue of network facilities installation permit.
Section 227. Network facilities installation permit has effect subject to this Act and other laws.
Section 228. Access to post, network facilities or right-of-way.
Section 229. Commission to regulate matters on access to post, etc.
Section 230. Minister may make regulations.
Chapter 2 - Additional Offences And Penalties
Section 231. Offence if use apparatus or device without authority.
Section 232. Fraudulent use of network facilities, network services, etc.
Section 233. Improper use of network facilities or network service, etc.
Section 234. Interception and disclosure of communications prohibited.
Section 235. Damage to network facilities, etc.
Section 236. Fraud and related activity in connection with access devices, etc.
Section 237. Prohibition on call back service.
Section 238. Emission from non-standard equipment or device.
Section 239. Unlawful use, possession or supply of non-standard equipment or device.
Section 240. Offence for distributing or advertising any communications equipment or device for interception of communication.
Section 241. Offence for giving false and misleading statement.
Section 242. General offence and penalty.
Section 243. Compounding of offences.
Section 244. Offences by body corporate.
Chapter 3 - Powers Of Entry, Investigation Into Offences And Prosecution
Section 245. Authorized officer.
Section 246. Power to investigate.
Section 247. Search by warrant.
Section 248. Search and seizure without warrant.
Section 249. Access to computerized data.
Section 250. List of things seized.
Section 251. Release of things seized.
Section 252. Power to intercept communications.
Section 253. Obstruction to search.
Section 254. Additional powers.
Section 255. Power to require attendance of person acquainted with case.
Section 256. Examination of person acquainted with case.
Section 257. Admissibility of statements in evidence.
Section 258. Authorised officer to complete investigation and hand over to police.
Section 259. Prosecution.
Section 260. Forfeiture.
Section 261. Jurisdiction to try offences.
Section 262. Rewards.
Chapter 4 - National Interest Matters
Section 263. General duty of licensees.
Section 264. Persons not liable for act done in good faith.
Section 265. Network interception capability.
Section 266. Special powers in emergency.
Section 267. Disaster plan.
Chapter 5 - Miscellaneous
Section 268. Minister may make rules on record-keeping.
Section 269. Interworking with other authorities.
Section 270. Instruments granted under this Act.
Section 271. This Act prevails over other Acts.
Section 272. Protection of officers and other persons.
PART XI - TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS
Chapter 1 - Repeal And Savings
Section 273. Repeal.
Section 274. Dissolution of the Telecommunications Fund.
Section 275. Savings.
Chapter 2 - Transitional Provisions For Licences
Section 276. Old licences to have effect.
Section 277. New class licences to supersede old licences.
Section 278. Old licences shall be registered.
Section 279. A registered licence shall confer no new benefit.
Section 280. Old licensees shall indicate intention.
Section 281. Registered licensee may apply for an individual licence under this Act.
Section 282. Determination of listed facilities and services.
SCHEDULE
LIST OF AMENDMENTS