KUALA LUMPUR: The online marketplace has created an unbalanced level of competition with physical businesses, says acting Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Armizan Ali (pic).
He said this is due to the prices of items and services sold online being much lower, causing a decline in sales value at physical shops.
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Armizan said the government is ensuring that policies, regulations and laws that govern ecommerce are in line with current needs.
“Among the existing legislation regulating online trading are the Electronic Commerce Act 2006 and the Consumer Protection (Electronic Commerce Transactions) Regulations 2012,” he said in a parliamentary written reply to Datuk Seri Hishammuddinn Hussein (BN-Sembrong) on Thursday (Nov 16).
Hishammuddin had asked the ministry to state how online businesses like TikTok Shop have affected physical shops.
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Armizan also said the ministry is currently studying better monitoring mechanisms through engagement with industry players and consumer groups.
“The ministry is also carrying out a comparative study on the international best practices to update existing legislation to ensure more sustainable and competitive regulation of the ecommerce sector,” he added.
He said that while the sector is convenient for consumers, it also exposes both traders and buyers to online scams, data breaches, unfair contractual terms and market monopolies.
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In September, the Indonesian government announced a new regulation that prohibits social media companies from facilitating sales of products on their platforms to protect small businesses from ecommerce competition.
Subsequently, the Chinese-owned video sharing app decided to halt its online retail operations in Indonesia effective Oct 4.
