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Malaysia backs down on software price controls

Staff, CNETAsia CNETAsia

Published: 03 Sep 2003 10:54 BST

Software vendors in Malaysia have succeeded in persuading authorities not to clamp price controls on their products.

Meanwhile, there has been a delay in issuing the final report that will recommend the price ceiling to be placed on music and movie discs.

The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry will exclude software from the price-control mechanism to be imposed on optical discs, according to a report in official news agency Bernama.

The move was based on several factors, including the existence of competition within the industry, said the ministry.

"I think we want to be reasonable and practical about it as the industry requested there should be no control. It is very difficult to enforce because there are various types of software, as we all know, and with varied contents," said Muhyiddin Yassin, the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs minister.

The deadline for the report in price controls on DVDs, CDs and video CDs was to have been last month, but so far no sign of it has appeared.

Muhyiddin said the Government needed to study feedback from the industry and consumers on the proposed mechanism before deciding on it, according to Bernama.

Malaysian authorities had been planning to place software and recording discs under the same price controls that govern essential products such as rice and sugar, to control piracy.

They feel that the current prices charged for software, DVDs, CDs and video CDs (VCDs) are forcing buyers to opt for cheaper pirated substitutes, leading to the country's notoriety as a hotbed of the illegal disc trade. The moves have been greeted with scepticism and anger by those in the software and recording industries.