An Update on our Operations during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Like many businesses around the world our operations have been impacted by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and government efforts to control the spread of infection. Our first priority is the health and safety of all our staff, clients and suppliers while we remain committed to providing best-in-class service. Here is a timeline of events in Malaysia in 2020. Please click here for 2021 updates.

18 March – 03 May 2020

Movement Control Order (MCO) – only essential businesses were allowed to operate. Our office and the Malaysian IP Office (MyIPO) were closed. A response team of key professionals provided business continuity by working remotely from home. Only electronic filing with MyIPO is possible.

04 May – 09 June 2020

Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) – the government allowed the resumption of business in various sectors subject to enhanced hygiene measures, health screening of employees and visitors, and strict application of social distancing in the workplace.

08 May 2020

MyIPO counter service re-opened on a limited hours basis for manual filing.

13 May 2020

Henry Goh Malaysia partially re-opened our Kuala Lumpur office, with the necessary precautions in place and a work roster to reduce the numbers of staff in the office each day. Meanwhile, several of our response team colleagues continued working from home.

With this partial re-opening of our Malaysia office, we were able once again to receive documents by fax, mail and courier delivery. Nevertheless, email remains the preferred channel of communication.

For any matters which could not be attended at MyIPO during the MCO/CMCO period, additional time is allowed for the completion of manual filing.

09 June 2020

MyIPO resumes full counter service for manual filing.

10 June 2020 – 31 August 2020

Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) allows further business, educational and social activities to resume, subject to strict compliance with the necessary standard operating procedures.

15 June 2020

Henry Goh Malaysia resumes full office-based operations. Our new business hours are from 08.00 am to 05.00 pm Monday to Friday.

01 September 2020 – 13 October 2020

On 28 August 2020, the Malaysian government announced an extension of the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) until the end of the year.

The continuation of the RMCO provides a legal mechanism for efforts to prevent and control the transmission of Covid-19 by ensuring compliance with health SOPs and protocols.

Unfortunately, due to the imposition of a Conditional Movement Control Order in several states starting in October 2020, the RMCO was suspended.

14 October 2020 – 09 November 2020

Following a spike in reported positive Covid-19 cases, the Malaysian government has re-imposed a Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) in three states, including the capital Kuala Lumpur, for the two-week period from 14 to 27 October 2020. The CMCO was subsequently extended until 09 November 2020.

Various business sectors are still allowed to operate, subject to strict compliance with the necessary health and safety SOPs at the workplace.

22 October 2020

On 20 October 2020, the Malaysian government issued a directive that employees in the public and private sector, that are currently subject to a Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO), shall work from home. The directive took effect on 22 October 2020 and will remain in force for the remainder of the duration of the CMCO.

In the light of this development, the entire workforce of our Malaysian office has been mobilized to work from home starting Thursday 22 October 2020 until further notice. Rest assured that we shall continue to deliver our full range of professional services and our business hours are unchanged. Email remains the primary channel of communication. We encourage clients to send us any critical documents in the form of electronic colour scans.

Over this period, the manual filing counters of MyIPO’s head office in Kuala Lumpur will operate with reduced opening hours. Accordingly, and since the option of online filing is not available for all categories of work, we encourage our clients and associates to continue to send their instructions well in advance of any deadline.

09 November – 06 December 2020

On 07 November 2020, the Malaysian government announced that the CMCO imposed on Kuala Lumpur (among other places) would be extended until 06 December 2020 and expanded to additional states in Peninsula Malaysia. MyIPO remains operational, albeit with curtailed opening hours for their manual filing counters. No automatic extension of timeframes for the completion of any matters at MyIPO has been offered.

07 – 20 December 2020

Effective 07 December 2020, the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) has been lifted in most states of Malaysia and those areas will revert to the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) that was first announced in early June 2020. The RMCO is in force until 31 December 2020.

However, for Kuala Lumpur (among other places) the CMCO has been extended for a period of two weeks ending on 20 December 2020. During this extension of the CMCO, MyIPO continues to be open daily Monday through Friday for manual filing but with limited operating hours.

21 – 31 December 2020

The Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) in Kuala Lumpur (among other places) has been extended from 21 to 31 December 2020. In line with the government’s earlier directive, our Malaysian team will continue to work primarily from home for the remainder of the CMCO.

[Last updated: 11 January 2021]