Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2665 actions· ✨ 90 recent

Malaysia's Minister of Finance gazetted P.U. (A) 25/2026, the Customs (Prohibition of Imports) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2026, on 14 January 2026, taking effect 15 January 2026. The order adds ammonium nitrate and potassium nitrate to the list of goods subject to import licensing under the Customs (Prohibition of Imports) Order, requiring importers to obtain an approved permit before bringing either chemical into Malaysia. Both compounds have legitimate fertilizer and industrial uses but are also recognised explosive precursors, and the measure is administered as a dual-use/security-sensitive chemical control rather than a straightforward agricultural-input tariff. Global Trade Alert lists Canada, China and Germany among the trade partners affected by the new licensing gate.

Malaysia's Ministry of Finance gazetted P.U. (A) 9/2026, the Customs (Prohibition of Imports) (Amendment) Order 2026, on 9 January 2026, taking effect 15 January 2026. The order adds 1-boc-4-piperidone and P-2-P methyl glycidic acid (BMK glycidic acid) — together with its methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, butyl, isobutyl, sec-butyl and tert-butyl esters — to the Second Schedule of the Customs (Prohibition of Imports) Order 2017, requiring an approved permit before import. Global Trade Alert lists China, Japan and South Korea among the trade partners affected by the new licensing gate.

Pakistan's Directorate General of Customs Valuation (Karachi), acting under the Federal Board of Revenue, issued Valuation Ruling No. 2024/2025 on 24 November 2025 (C.No. Misc/54/2021-III/1115), superseding Valuation Ruling No. 1822/2023 and setting fresh minimum customs values (C&F, US$/kg) for latex rubber threads across four count-range bands, differentiated by origin: China at US$2.69-3.53/kg and Malaysia/Thailand at US$2.85-3.66/kg, rising with thread count (30-44, 45-55, 56-63, 64-90 counts). The Directorate rationalized the values downward at stakeholders' request, citing a documented downward trend in prevailing international prices; the ruling functions as an enforceable minimum-value floor under Section 25A of the Customs Act, 1969, applied when declared invoice values fall below the benchmark.

Pakistan's Directorate General of Customs Valuation (Karachi), acting under the Federal Board of Revenue, issued Valuation Ruling No. 2023/2025 on 5 November 2025 (C.No. Misc/12/2025-I/1073), fixing new minimum customs values under Section 25A of the Customs Act, 1969 for imported Zirconium Silicate (PCT 2530.9020): US$2.084/kg (C&F) for China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam-origin shipments, and US$2.200/kg for Europe/USA-origin shipments. The ruling followed a finding that declared import values — as low as US$0.35/kg from China against a China/Europe international benchmark of US$1.70-1.82/kg for the constituent raw material (Zircon Sand) — were substantially below prevailing international market prices, and names China as the "global benchmark" origin used to set the floor.

Malaysia's Ministry of Finance gazetted the Customs (Prohibition of Imports) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2025, amending the Customs (Prohibition of Imports) Order 2023 (P.U. (A) 117/2023) issued under subsection 31(1) of the Customs Act 1967. The order imposes an absolute prohibition, effective 31 December 2025, on importing dummy buckles, seat-belt alarm stoppers, seat-belt clip extenders, or any other accessory or device designed to be inserted into a seat-belt buckle to disable or bypass the seat-belt safety reminder and render the mechanism inoperative. The ban applies to all countries of origin without exception; Global Trade Alert lists Belgium, China and Czechia as principally affected exporters of the trade-catalogue category covering these parts.

Malaysia's Personal Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2024 (Act A1727), gazetted 17 October 2024, enters its third and final commencement phase on 1 June 2025 per commencement order P.U.(B) 522/2024. Phase 3 activates sections 6 and 9 of the amending Act, which impose mandatory Data Protection Officer (DPO) appointment thresholds, a 72-hour breach-notification duty to the Commissioner, and a statutory data-portability right, bringing Malaysia's PDPA broadly into alignment with GDPR and the ASEAN Model AI Governance Framework.

Regulation (EU) 2023/1115, adopted 31 May 2023 and in force 29 June 2023, requires all EU operators and traders placing seven in-scope commodities and their derived products on the EU market — or exporting them from the EU — to file due-diligence statements certifying that goods are deforestation-free (no land cleared after 31 December 2020) and produced in compliance with the relevant legislation of the country of origin. A Commission-administered risk-classification system assigns producer countries to low, standard, or high-risk tiers with differentiated due-diligence burdens. Application was subsequently postponed twice: to 30 December 2026 for large operators (Reg (EU) 2024/3234 and Reg (EU) 2025/2650).