The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) sought submissions from businesses and other interested stakeholders on the Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement (MAFTA) to inform work on a General Review under Article 21.7 of the Agreement. The submission process aimed to understand the impacts of MAFTA on businesses or other groups in the community since the Agreement entered into force on 1 January 2013.

DFAT looked to understand how opportunities in Malaysia for Australian businesses may have grown and/or changed under MAFTA, including:

• whether conditions for access to the Malaysian market for Australian goods, services and investment have changed since MAFTA entered into force
• whether there have been any factors that have affected your industry's ability to expand exports or investment under MAFTA
• whether the outcomes of MAFTA have met business and other stakeholder expectations
• whether there have been any unintended impacts of MAFTA
• the effect of MAFTA on any administrative or regulatory costs on business, and
• whether there are remaining barriers to trade with, and investment in, Malaysia that might be addressed through a general review of MAFTA.

Organisations were encouraged to focus on how MAFTA had affected their business or sector, including information on changes to exporting, importing or investment situation since entry into force of MAFTA, and significant changes to business conditions. The department also welcomed submissions from businesses about how MAFTA may have affected their trade in specific goods or services with, or investment in, Malaysia, and invited any product, service or investment-specific case studies.

Closing date for submissions

Submissions were requested by 30 September 2021.

Submissions and confidentiality

All submissions were treated as public and were published on this website, unless the author specifically requested that the submission, or part thereof, be handled in confidence. Unless otherwise requested, DFAT may publish submissions and the name of the submitting organisation or individual on its website. DFAT would not edit submissions prior to publishing. All details that have been included in submissions, including contact information, may be available on the DFAT website.

Respondents were able to request that all, or part, of a submission be treated as confidential.

By making a submission, the author(s) agreed to their submission, or part thereof, being used by the Commonwealth of Australia for Commonwealth purposes.

Lodging submissions

Submissions were lodged through the following methods:

Email: Malaysia.FTA@dfat.gov.au

Mail:

MAFTA Coordinator
Regional Trade Agreements Division
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
RG Casey Building, John McEwen Crescent
Barton ACT 0221

All submissions may be made publicly available on the DFAT website unless the author specifies otherwise.