AP System To Be Abolished By Dec 31, 2010

March 22, 2006 20:21 PM

KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 (Bernama) -- The Approved Permit (AP) system will be phased out by Dec 31, 2010, the Prime Minister's Department has said.

The move was taken under the much awaited National Automotive Policy (NAP), which was announced, here Wednesday.

The AP system, which provides the license for local companies to import cars for distribution in the country, became a hot topic among Malaysians following allegations that the APs were being awarded to certain favoured crony companies and individuals.

The department said that in the interim, APs will be made available based on economic contribution.

It said the APs were primarily used as a monitoring and data collection measure.

Priority will be given to vehicle assemblers that have committed to a significant increase in production volume (with significant exports) in a particular model and require APs to import models that complete their product range for the Malaysian market.

The Prime Minister's Department said that APs will be made available for a limited number of vehicles not assembled in Malaysia to ensure a sufficient choice of products for Malaysian consumers.

Moving forward, the government policy and support would be focused towards automotive industry participants providing sustainable economic contribution. The key drivers for such contribution would be economic scale, industry linkage and competitive value added activities.

-- BERNAMA