The law that governs the arts.
You don't need to know which Act to look for. Say what you're doing, or what's gone wrong, and we'll show you the laws that reach it, in the order they reach you. Everything here is the Attorney General's Chambers' own text, and every page tells you how old that text is. If you'd rather talk to a person, that's what Get Help is for.
19 things people come to us about
DJ a club night
You are playing other people's recordings to a paying room. Three separate licences, one venue licence, a state layer, and a …
Post a set, reel or performance video
Uploading is reproduction and communication to the public, and then four separate speech regimes sit on top of it.…
Busk or perform in the street
The rule that decides whether you can play is almost always your own council's by-law, and nobody publishes those in one plac…
Release and distribute a track
Ownership, registration and the two separate rights in every recording.…
Licence a song for an ad, film or game
Two permissions, usually from two different owners, and a blanket licence is neither of them.…
Shoot and screen a film or documentary
Approval is the gate, a FINAS licence is the price of admission, and possession alone is an offence.…
Exhibit and sell your work
Selling the object is not selling the copyright, and the commission clause decides who owned it in the first place.…
Paint a mural or install work in public space
Your copyright survives on someone else's wall. What the owner may then do to it is the fight.…
Publish a book or zine
Printing needs a licence, publishing needs a permit, and the Minister can prohibit the result outright.…
Stage a play, gig or live show
Two sets of performing rights, a venue licence, a duty on admissions, and the question of what your cast actually are.…
Sell merch, prints or downloads online
The moment you take money online you are a seller, and there is a disclosure rule almost no artist store complies with.…
Sign a management, label or agency deal
** `What you assign you do not get back. And the clause that looks like a life sentence is often weaker than it reads, though…
Bring a foreign artist into Malaysia
Two gates, one tax, and the administrative one is the constraint on your timeline.…
Take a brand deal as a creator
Advertising standards reach you personally, and the brand's terms usually take the copyright in what you made.…
Run an arts organisation or collective
A collective that never chose a vehicle is already a partnership, with liabilities it never agreed to.…
Chase an unpaid fee or invoice
Being owed money is common, and it is fixable more often than people expect. Where you go to get it depends on what you were …
Stopped, raided, shut down or arrested
This is a frightening place to be, and it usually has more give in it than it feels like. Most of these turn on a licence con…
Someone used your work without asking
Before anything else, check that you own it. Most of these come apart on ownership rather than on the copying, and s.26(2) of…
Archive, conserve or exhibit heritage material
Listing constrains the owner, export catches the unaware, and copyright outlives everyone who could give permission.…
The whole library on one grid
Every law here is tagged by what it's for and who it reaches. The numbers are live filters, so click one to see what's behind it.
| Aim ↓ / Field → | Visual arts | Music | Film & TV | Performing arts | Literature, writing & publishing | Fashion & craft | Digital & media | Museum & archiving | Content creation | Everything else | All |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Socio-economic rights | 40 | 41 | 38 | 40 | 32 | 33 | 32 | 34 | 36 | 34 | 51 |
| Intellectual property rights | 7 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 12 |
| Artistic freedom | 16 | 15 | 16 | 13 | 13 | 9 | 15 | 11 | 17 | 10 | 24 |
| Laws per field | 50 | 52 | 49 | 47 | 42 | 42 | 45 | 40 | 48 | 43 | 67 |
Getting paid, getting a contract, getting home safe: the law that governs an arts career as work.
Owning, licensing and enforcing what you make.
The law that decides what may be made, shown, published, performed or said, and what happens when the state says no.
Anti-Sexual Harassment Act 2022
Creates a Tribunal for Anti-Sexual Harassment open to complaints outside the employment relationship. For the arts that is decisive: the har…
Collecting societies
Public performance and broadcast of music in Malaysia is licensed through declared licensing bodies, and there is more than one because ther…
Communications and Multimedia Act 1998
The statute that governs everything published online in Malaysia. Section 233 (improper use of network facilities: offensive, indecent, obsc…
Content Code
Registered under s.213 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, so compliance is a defence and it is the operative standard applied to…
Contracts Act 1950
Every commission, gig, residency, publishing deal, sync licence and band agreement is a contract, and this is the Act that decides whether o…
Copyright Act 1987
The single most important statute for anyone who makes anything in Malaysia. It decides what counts as a protected work, who owns it first, …
Criminal Procedure Code
What is supposed to happen to you between being stopped and being charged. Section 28A is the one to know: you must be told the grounds of y…
Defamation Act 1957
Cuts both ways for the arts: it is the statute used against critics, reviewers, documentary makers and commentators, and it is also the stat…
Employment Act 1955
Since the 2022 amendments took effect on 1 January 2023 the Act covers all employees regardless of wage, with some provisions capped. It mat…
Federal Constitution
Article 10(1)(a) guarantees freedom of speech and expression, and Article 10(2)(a) lets Parliament restrict it on grounds including security…
Film Censorship Act 2002
No film may be distributed, exhibited or possessed in Malaysia unless the Board of Film Censors has approved it. That includes short films, …
Gig Workers Act 2025
The first Malaysian statute written for people who are not employees, and in large part an arts statute. Its Schedule names the work directl…
Online Safety Act 2025
The newest and least-tested speech instrument. It imposes duties on licensed service providers to deal with defined harmful content, which i…
Penal Code
The general criminal law, and the home of the provisions most often turned on artists: obscenity (ss.292 to 294, which reach obscene objects…
Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984
Printing presses need a licence and publications need a permit, both at the Minister's absolute discretion, and the Minister may prohibit a …
Sedition Act 1948
Criminalises words with a seditious tendency, including bringing hatred or contempt against a ruler or government, and questioning the entre…
Self-Employment Social Security Act 2017
The self-employed social security scheme administered by PERKESO. This is the only realistic injury and disability cover for a freelance art…
State entertainment enactments
Entertainment licensing sits on the State List, so outside Kuala Lumpur the rules that decide whether a show can happen are state enactments…
Subordinate Courts Act 1948
There is no Small Claims Act in Malaysia; people look for one and do not find it. The small claims procedure runs in the Magistrates' Court,…
Syariah criminal enactments
Each state has its own Syariah criminal offences enactment, applying to Muslims, and these reach performance, dress, conduct and content. Fo…
Trademarks Act 2019
Brand names, logos, band names, label names, festival names, clothing labels. Registration gives a monopoly in the registered classes; witho…
Berne Convention
Malaysia acceded in 1990. Berne is why a Malaysian work is automatically protected in every other member state without registration or forma…
Child Act 2001
Child performers. Anyone casting, filming or staging a child, and anyone putting a child on a channel, is inside this Act. It also carries t…
Children and Young Persons (Employment) Act 1966
The specific permission regime for employing children and young persons, including in public entertainment. A child's appearance in a film, …
Companies Act 2016
The vehicle statute. Sdn Bhd for a production company or label, and the company limited by guarantee in s.45 for an arts non-profit. It is t…
Consumer Protection Act 1999
Applies to artists as sellers, which any merch table, print drop or online store makes you. The e-commerce regulations impose mandatory disc…
Employees Provident Fund Act 1991
EPF. The 2024 introduction of voluntary contribution routes for the self-employed made this newly relevant to freelance artists, who otherwi…
Employees' Social Security Act 1969
SOCSO for employees. Relevant to arts organisations, venues, galleries and production companies as employers, and to any artist who is in tr…
Entertainment (Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur) Act 1992
The entertainment licensing statute for the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. A public performance, a gig, a club night or a ticketed show …
FINAS Act 1981
Establishes FINAS and, through the licensing provisions, makes it an offence to carry on film production, distribution or exhibition without…
Geographical Indications Act 2022
The instrument for craft and heritage products tied to a place. Songket, batik, pua kumbu, Sarawak and Sabah craft traditions, regional food…
Immigration Act 1959/63
Foreign artists performing in Malaysia and Malaysian artists hosting them. A performance is work, so a social visit pass is the wrong pass, …
Income Tax Act 1967
Two provisions dominate arts practice. Section 4 and the badges of trade decide whether an artist's income is taxable business income. Secti…
Industrial Designs Act 1996
Protects the look of a mass-produced article: the shape of a chair, the cut and ornament of a garment, jewellery, packaging, a product's for…
Industrial Relations Act 1967
Unfair dismissal. Section 20 is the route for an arts worker dismissed without just cause or excuse, and the claim goes to the Industrial Co…
Local Government Act 1976
The source of local authority power to make by-laws, which is where busking permits, hawker and stall licences for craft markets, street art…
Minor Offences Act 1955
The busking statute. Begging and public nuisance offences here, read with local council by-laws, are how street performance is actually poli…
National Archives Act 2003
Governs public records, their transfer to the National Archives and their disposal. Central to any archival arts practice, to researchers se…
National Heritage Act 2005
Heritage listing, national heritage objects, and controls on the export and alteration of heritage items. It reaches artists working with he…
National Visual Arts Development Board Act 2011
Constitutes the National Art Gallery's governing board and its statutory functions. The instrument behind national collection decisions, acq…
Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994
Applies to every workplace, which includes a set, a stage, a rigging plot, a workshop and a studio. The 2022 amendments extended coverage an…
Peaceful Assembly Act 2012
Governs any assembly, which on the authorities' reading can include a performance, a gathering, a vigil or a participatory work in a public …
Personal Data Protection Act 2010
Applies to anyone processing personal data commercially: a mailing list, a ticketing database, a gallery's collector records, an archive of …
PUSPAL
Every foreign performer and every foreign film crew shooting in Malaysia needs PUSPAL clearance before the immigration pass issues. The guid…
Societies Act 1966 (Revised - 2021)
The other vehicle for an arts collective: a registered society. Cheaper and faster than a CLBG, but the Registrar has wide powers over regis…
Stamp Act 1949
Instruments have to be stamped to be admissible in evidence. An assignment of copyright, a management agreement or a commission contract tha…
WPPT
The international floor for performers' and producers' rights, and the source of the performers' rights provisions inserted into the Copyrig…
Akademi Seni Budaya Dan Warisan Kebangsaan Act 2006
Establishes ASWARA, the national academy for arts, culture and heritage. Relevant to arts education, accreditation and the public training p…
Arbitration Act 2005
Most arts contracts that contain a dispute clause point at AIAC arbitration. This Act decides whether that clause bites, whether a court mus…
Civil Law Act 1956
Imports English common law and equity where there is no local statute, which is how passing off, breach of confidence and much of the law an…
Computer Crimes Act 1997
Unauthorised access and modification of computer material. Relevant to net art, glitch and hacking-adjacent practice, to anyone scraping or …
Courts of Judicature Act 1964
Which court, what it can order, and what can be appealed. Background, but it decides whether a claim is worth bringing at all.…
Distribution Act 1958
Copyright lasts fifty years past the author's death, so it is an estate asset. This Act governs intestate distribution for non-Muslims and d…
Electronic Commerce Act 2006
Makes electronic contracts, signatures and records legally effective. This is the answer to whether a deal done over WhatsApp or a licence s…
Entertainments Duty Act 1953
Entertainments duty on paid admissions, levied at state level. It is a real line item on a ticketed show's budget and is frequently missed b…
House to House and Street Collections Act 1947
Public fundraising, street collections and house-to-house appeals need a licence. Relevant to benefit gigs, community arts fundraising and a…
Limitation Act 1953
Six years for contract and tort. Unpaid invoices, unaccounted royalties and infringement claims all die on this clock, and arts disputes are…
Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2012
The LLP is the practical middle form for a small studio, collective or production partnership: limited liability without the full compliance…
Marrakesh Treaty
The basis for the authorised entity exceptions in Malaysian copyright law, which let accessible-format copies be made and shared without the…
Official Secrets Act 1972
Matters to documentary, investigative and archival work. A document classified as an official secret carries a mandatory custodial sentence,…
Optical Discs Act 2000
Licensing and marking regime for the manufacture of optical discs. Legacy now, but still the live instrument for physical CD, vinyl-adjacent…
Partnership Act 1961
Bands, collectives and studios that never signed anything are usually partnerships by operation of law, with joint and several liability and…
Patents Act 1983
Rarely the arts' first port of call, but it matters for makers who invent: instrument and pedal builders, textile and materials processes, s…
Service Tax Act 2018
Service tax reaches a number of arts-adjacent supplies once the registration threshold is crossed, and the scope has been widened repeatedly…
Specific Relief Act 1950
The remedies statute that sits behind Contracts Act claims: specific performance, injunctions, rescission and rectification. It is what you …
Trade Descriptions Act 2011
Makes it an offence to apply a false trade description to goods. In practice it is the consumer-protection sibling of trademark law and the …
Trade Unions Act 1959
Registration and regulation of trade unions. The statute any future arts or performers' union or guild would have to be built inside.…
Nothing matches those filters. Clear them and start again.
What's not in here yet
Entertainment licensing, public order by-laws and Syariah criminal offences sit on the State List, so the rules that decide whether a show can happen differ in every state and are not published on the federal portal at all. Neither are most local authority by-laws.
That gap is the single biggest one in any Malaysian legal resource for the arts, this one included. Building it out state by state is a standing ALIM research task, and the pages here say so rather than pretend otherwise.
How this library is kept honest
Every Act number, title and consolidation date is read from the AGC catalogue, not from memory. Where AGC publishes a consolidated “as at” text, that is the copy shown here, not the original enactment.
Section numbers under What to read first are extracted from the PDF itself. Where a number could not be confirmed, the entry is labelled topic rather than carrying a number we guessed. Where AGC publishes only a scan with no text layer, the page says so instead of showing an empty list.
This page is published by ALIM (Art × Law Initiative Malaysia) as general legal information for Malaysia’s creative communities. It is not legal advice. It does not take your circumstances into account, and reading it does not create a solicitor-client relationship with ALIM or with anyone associated with it.
The law changes. Each Act reproduced here is the Attorney General’s Chambers’ consolidated reprint and carries the date it was consolidated to; amendments made after that date do not appear in the text, and the authoritative version of any Malaysian law is the one published in the Federal Gazette. Subsidiary legislation, state enactments and local authority by-laws may also apply to your situation and are largely outside this library.
Please do not act, or decide not to act, on the strength of this page alone. Take advice from an advocate and solicitor on your own facts. To the extent permitted by law, ALIM and its contributors accept no liability for any loss arising from reliance on this page.
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