Child seats to be made compulsory by 2020, says Loke

Anthony Loke. -filepic

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): Child car seats will be made compulsory for all private cars by 2020, says Transport Minister Anthony Loke (pic).

Before then, he said, the ministry will conduct awareness programmes throughout 2019 to educate the public on the importance of these seats.

"Our plan is to launch advocacy and awareness programmes by early next year before we can implement the mandatory requirement (child seat) to the drivers,” Loke said.

He added that the initial plan was to impose the mandatory requirement for child seats this year, but this was postponed to 2020 following discussions with the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS).

“The industry is not really ready yet, (there are) not enough suppliers, not enough stock, and we also want to make the cost more affordable (to buyers)," Loke said at a press conference after chairing the 59th annual general meeting of the Road Safety Council here Tuesday (Oct 30).

He said the ministry would propose to the Finance Ministry not to impose the Sales and Services Tax (SST) on the child seats so that they are affordable to the public.

"Hopefully, the MOF will accept our proposal and if there is any positive announcement, we hope it will be announced this Friday," he said. - Bernama