Malaysia has announced a delay on full inspections of scrap metal imports until 31 October 2021 and said interim measures will continue to be in place until then.
There was no mention of paper inspections, but the announcement on metals would appear to suggest that Malaysia will not be introducing these for paper for a few months yet.
Full inspection of scrap metal imports were due to begin today for imports into Malaysia. This followed an interim process involving Malaysian inspection agency Sirim and foreign third-party inspectors giving approval to recycling facilities that would export.
This interim measure was due to take place from June 2021 to 31 August 2021 but has now been extended for a further two months.
As reported by REB Market Intelligence yesterday, Malaysia was expected to introduce paper inspections this month, but this now appears to have been delayed.
However, the appointment of a new Prime Minister and ongoing challenges dealing with Covid appears to have made it difficult for Malaysian authorities to meet their targets.
Sirim published draft guidelines in February but these have now been removed from its website. In June, Malaysia also appeared to be targeting a September introduction of inspections when it circulated a further draft to key stakeholders via Sirim.
