Circular No 341/2020
Dated 13 Oct 2020

To Members of the Malaysian Bar

Conditional Movement Control Order Period in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Selangor | MITI’s COVID-19 Intelligent Management System (“CIMS”)

The Senior Minister and Defence Minister, YB Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, had on 12 Oct 2020 announced the enforcement of the Conditional Movement Control Order (“CMCO”) in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Selangor beginning tomorrow, 14 Oct 2020.  The Government is still fine-tuning the standard operating procedures (“SOPs”) for the CMCO. 

We understand that Members are anxious since the announcement of the CMCO, due to a lack of information from the Government.  Therefore, we are trying our best to keep Members constantly updated.  In the meantime, the Bar Council, based on an informal advisory from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (“MITI”), strongly encourages Members of the Bar to comply with the following:

(i) Register with MITI’s CIMS at https://notification.miti.gov.my, as the registration allows the retrieval of an acknowledgement letter from MITI that contains information in relation to the name of company, business address and manufacturing / services sub-sector.  

It is hoped that enforcement can be by self-regulation, ie instead of requiring law firms to get approval from the relevant authorities to operate, law firms could operate as usual by adhering closely to the SOPs that will be issued by the relevant authorities.  When the enforcement officials come by, the law firms may only need to produce the MITI acknowledgement letter.  

Should you face any technical issues with regard to registering on CIMS, please contact info@marii.my or MITI via its Twitter, Facebook or Instagram pages.

(ii) Law firms are to issue a letter to their employees confirming their status in the firm, so that employees who may need to travel in and out of Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Putrajaya, will be able to produce the letter to the authorities.  However, you may allow employees to work from home as much as possible to ensure their safety and to help break the chain of transmission.

We are in close communication with the office of the Chief Registrar of the Federal Court of Malaysia for guidelines on Court operations during the CMCO, and will update Members as soon as we receive the information.

We sympathise with our Members who are facing a difficult time under the CMCO, and hope that the situation will soon pass.  We are in solidarity with you and we will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide updates as needed.

Thank you.

A G KALIDAS
Secretary
Malaysian Bar