JAKARTA: Green lane facilities have been proposed to overcome delays which impede smooth expansion of Malaysian and Indonesian franchise businesses.
The proposal came from Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob who made a courtesy call on Indonesia’s Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu here yesterday.
“We agreed in principle that the green lane facility goes two ways, which means Malaysia facilitates the entry of Indonesian franchise businesses and Indonesia provides facilities and assistance to Malaysian franchise businesses.
“We also agreed that this facility be expanded to other Asean members later,” he said after the meeting.
He said franchisors from both countries had been complaining of delays to obtain approvals to open francise businesses of up to two years in Indonesia and more than a year in Malaysia.
There were also strict requirements which the franchisors needed to meet.
“With the green lane facility, hopefully we can have it relaxed. For example, a franchisor from Indonesia may only need to have a support letter from the Indonesian Franchise Association,” Ismail Sabri said.
He said Mari welcomed the proposal and was ready to consider relaxing several requirements for Malaysian franchisors intending to expand to Indonesia.
Follow-up discussions would be held at the officers level and hopefully, a memorandum of understanding could be signed as soon as possible, he said.
At the meeting, Ismail Sabri said Malaysia and Indonesia also agreed to exchange officers from both ministries for closer ties between the two governments.
He said officers from his ministry could be sent to the Competition Commission in Indonesia which had passed the Competition Act in 1999 and enforced it in 2000.
Mari agreed to arrange the placement of the officers from Malaysia which would enforce a similar legislation in 2012, he said.
At the same time, Ismail Sabri said he offered to receive officers from the Indonesian Trade Ministry to learn about the Consumer Claims Tribunal and its procedures since Indonesia had yet to have a similar tribunal.
Hopefully, this could be realised by year-end, he said.
“Clearly, bilateral ties between the Malaysian and Indonesian governments will be enhanced in the future particularly in the areas of franchise, competition and consumerism,” he said. — Bernama