A. Anti-Corruption and Bribery
The Malaysian Parliament amended the Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 in April 2018 and introduced corporate liability for corruption offence, which applies to Malaysian commercial organisations.
MACC specified the act of corruption pursuant to Section 16 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 (MAAC Act) as “the act of SOLICITING, GIVING, ACCEPTING OR RECEIVING GRATIFICATION, directly or indirectly, to/from a person in authority either in the form of money, services or valuable goods as an inducement or reward to or not to do an act in relation to the person’s principal affairs. In fact, the act of BRIBERY, FRAUD, ABUSE OF POWER & MONEY LAUNDERING are all acts of CORRUPTION.”
MGCC does not tolerate any act of corruption. Furthermore, MGCC expects from every member, business partner and client to follow the same standards of zero-tolerance of corruption regarding their own business. MGCC in particular obliges all its contractual partners to monitor its employees and agents to ensure their compliance with the anti-corruption obligations It is MGCC’s policy to ensure that appropriate anti-corruption and anti-bribery procedures are established in order to avoid any violations of relevant laws and regulations.
B. Competition Law
I. Introduction and Targets
MGCC regards compliance as a matter of course as it carries out the integrity of MGCC as well as of its members. The basis of any compliance strategy is a thorough and comprehensive analysis of company-specific risks. MGCC is aware that in its pool of members and participants on its services and events are also companies which compete on national as well as international markets. This requires clear and strict measures to ensure that any of MGCC’s activity complies with national and international competition law.
II. MGCC Conduct Guidelines on Competition Law
MGCC’s Conduct Guidelines on Competition Law serve as core of MGCC’s compliance programme as they provide a rulebook with behavioural guidelines for the company’s employees and management as well for MGCC’s members. The guidelines have been developed in cooperation with competition law specialists and are periodically tested and monitored to ensure their continuing effectiveness. Furthermore, MGCC monitors developments in national and international competition law as well as in the practice of the competition agencies.
MGCC is aware that competition law protects the free, undistorted and effective competition for the benefit of consumers, enterprises as well as the society as a whole.
MGCC understands that infringements of competition law my lead to serious consequences as for instance high fines, private actions for damages, reputational damages or even the imprisonment of the responsible individuals.
As prohibited by competition law, MGCC never takes part, in particular, in
- agreements regarding
- prices, wages or any other trading conditions
- the sharing of markets, clients or sources of supply,
- the restriction of market access,
- the limitation or controlling of production, technical or technological development and/or investment,
- bid rigging,
- the abuse of dominant position by one or more enterprises.
- MGCC protects the free, undistorted and effective competition also in relationship to its members, clients and business partners.
- MGCC treats confidential information with strict discretion, regardless of whether this information relates to MGCC itself or thirds (i.e. competitors, customers, sales partners and suppliers).
- Confidential information is information that should not be made public and/or are protected by legal or contractual obligations.
- In particular, confidential information may consist of
- details about a company’s organization and facilities, prices, turnovers, profits, markets, clients and other business related topics, offers, information regarding procedures of fabrication, research or development
- technical information
- figures from internal reporting
In the context of market studies, MGCC only provides aggregated data that do not identify any individual company.
MGCC takes all possible measures to make sure that all of MGCC’s activities (i.e. services, meetings, events) fully comply with competition law.
MGCC’s employees will check any of MGCC’s activities in advance and throughout its entire process for compliance with competition law in cooperation with MGCC’s management and/or Compliance Officer.
In the case that a MGCC’s employee has doubts if an activity of MGCC or a third related to MGCC activities may harm competition law, the employee will immediately consult MGCC’s management and/or Compliance Officer for further clarification.
III. Employees Trainings
MGCC is aware that it is essential to make all employees familiar both with MGCC Conduct Guidelines on Competition Law as well as its practical implementation. For this purpose, MGCC’s management provides trainings to its employees consisting of a basic course in competition law matters at the beginning of their employment and periodic updates on the development of competition law in theory and practice via internal meetings, newsletters or other initiatives.
IV. Members and Participants Declarations
During the admission process of new members, MGCC transmits MGCC Conduct Guidelines on Competition Law. Before the admission is granted, MGCC requires a declaration that the new member fully complies with these rules. A corresponding explanation is also required from other participants on MGCC’s services, meetings and events. Furthermore, in the beginning of any meeting or event organized by MGCC the chairman additionally reminds all members and participants to comply with MGCC Conduct Guidelines on Competition Law.
V. Zero-Tolerance Policy
MGCC strictly does not accept any anti-competitive behaviour. As a consequence, MGCC informs its members and other participants on MGCC’s services, meetings and events that any intended or committed infringement of competition law in the context of the activities offered by MGCC will lead to the exclusion from MGCC and all its future services and events. Moreover, MGCC’s employees are aware that any involvement into an infringement of competition law will have consequences under labour law.
C. Lobbying Code of Conduct
Anyone of MGCC who engages in the representation of special interests or lobbying vis-à-vis members of the German Bundestag within the meaning of the German Lobby Register Act (Lobbyregistergesetz) and is subject to registration under this Act or has registered voluntarily is acting on the basis of openness, transparency, honesty and integrity and accepts the following principles and rules of conduct for themselves and their employees by being entered in the register:
- Within the scope of application of the German Lobby Register Act, the representation of special interests shall take place in a transparent manner with every contact. To this end, representatives of special interests disclose their identity and their interests and, where applicable, the identity and interests of their client and provide accurate information about themselves and their mandate in lobbying.
- In addition, when the first purposeful contact is made, reference is made to the entry in the lobby register, stating the codes of conduct on the basis of which lobbying is carried out. In the event of a change of office or function, for example, the person and not the office or function of the addressee of the lobbying activity must be taken into account. If the registration of individual financial details pursuant to Section 3 (1) No. 6 to 8 German Lobby Register Act has been refused, this shall also be indicated.
- No agreements are concluded that make remuneration or its amount dependent on the success of the interest representation (success fee).
- Information is never obtained in an illicit manner. This includes, in particular, the granting or promising of direct or indirect financial incentives to addressees of interest representation if this would cause them to violate their duties.
- Confidential information that representatives of special interests or their employees receive in the context of interest representation vis-à-vis members of the German Bundestag or of the Federal Government of Germany shall only be used or passed on in a permissible and in each case agreed-upon manner.
- The designation "registered representative of special interests" (registrierter Interessenvertreter) shall only be used if the entry in the lobby register, including the financial information in accordance with Section 3 (1) No. 6 to 8 German Lobby Register Act has been duly made, the entry does not contain any marking as "not updated" and no reference to a violation of this Code of Conduct has been published in the register.
- In the event that representatives of special interests are invited to a public hearing in the German Bundestag or are involved pursuant to Section 47 (3) and (5) Sentence 2 of the Joint Rules of Procedure of the Federal Ministries even though financial information pursuant to Section 3 (1) No. 6 to 8 German Lobby Register Act has been refused, the entry is marked "not updated" or a violation of this Code of Conduct has been published in the Lobby Register, the representative of special interests concerned shall inform the body responsible for the invitation or involvement without delay and without being asked to do so.
- In contact with clients, customers or other third parties, representatives of special interests shall refrain from claiming that they do not have a contractual, advisory or other proximity relationship with the addressees of the representation of special interests specified in the German Lobby Register Act.
- Representatives of special interests accept that the information in the lobby register can be verified by the body maintaining the register and shall ensure that enquiries from the body maintaining the register, in particular in the context of review procedures pursuant to Section 5 (8) German Lobby Register Act, are answered without undue delay.
MGCC reserves the right to amend this code of conduct from time to time in order to reflect organisational and procedural changes. Any amendments shall be made in writing and updated on the MGCC website.
This code of conduct comes into force on 26 February 2024.