Registering a Business in Sarawak

In Sarawak you do not register a business. You register three things, with up to three different authorities, and SSM is not one of them.

Every national guide gets this wrong in the same way: it describes EzBiz, quotes RM60, and moves on. Section 1(2) of the Registration of Businesses Act 1956 says the Act applies to Peninsular Malaysia only. It was extended to the Federal Territory of Labuan in 1996. Sarawak was never in it, and the word “Sarawak” does not appear in Act 197.

Cite the edition, or you will cite the wrong law

Sarawak runs two parallel chapter-numbering series. In the current reprint series, Chapter 64 is the Regional Corridors Development Authorities Ordinance 2006 and Chapter 33 is the Entertainment Ordinance 2000 — neither has anything to do with business registration.

The statutes you want are:

• Business Names Ordinance, Chapter 64 (1958 Edition), in force since 1 January 1932
• Businesses, Professions and Trades Licensing Ordinance, Chapter 33 (1958 Edition), in force since 1 January 1955

Both carry the ORD_F- prefix on Sarawak LawNet, marking them as declared federal law — which is the mechanism that lets a federal agency administer a Sarawak ordinance. Write “Sarawak Cap. 64” without the edition and you have pointed at a development authority.

The three instruments

Sarawak’s own paperwork names them. The Sibu Municipal Council “Super Form” — the single application introduced for ease of doing business — sets it out in one line:

Note : BNR = Business Name Registration, TL = Trade Licence, OL = Operating Licence

	Instrument	Statute	Authority
BNR	Business name registration	Cap. 64 (1958 Ed.)	Registrar — District Officer, or LHDN in Kuching
TL	Trade licence	Cap. 33 (1958 Ed.)	Collector — Director of Inland Revenue
OL	Operating licence	By-laws under Cap. 20	The local council

They stack. Section 3(4) of Cap. 33 removes any doubt: the issue of a licence and the payment of tax under it shall not affect any liability to obtain any licence or other authorization under any other law.

BNR — the business name

Who must register. Section 2 defines a firm as a sole proprietor, or an association of two or more persons in partnership. Section 4(1) applies the Ordinance to the types of business in the Schedule, in the places listed opposite them.

That Schedule is narrower than practice. On its face it reaches mining in all districts, and import/export trade or wholesale and retail trading on titled land in the 20 named districts of the Schedule’s second column. Section 4(4) lets the Minister amend it by gazette, and current practice is plainly broader — but no gazette notification effecting the expansion could be located. Treat the scope question as open and follow what your registering office actually asks for.

The clock. Section 4(2): all such firms shall, within one month of commencing to carry on business, furnish the Registrar with the s.5 information.

What you file. Section 5 wants the firm name and every name it trades under, the number of partners, full names, address and nationality of each proprietor or partner including any former names, the principal place of business and every branch, the general nature of the business, the commencement date, the duration of the partnership if fixed, specimens of all chops and official seals, each partner’s proportionate share, and particulars of every other business the proprietor or partners are interested in — even those not registrable under the Ordinance.

Fee. Section 6: RM50, paid at the time the statement is furnished.

Certificate. Section 7 requires the Registrar to issue one, with no certificate to a firm of more than twenty partners. It must be exhibited conspicuously at the principal place of business, and the Registrar may cancel it for failing to exhibit it, exceeding twenty partners, failing to notify changes, or failing to keep books under s.10. Refusal is appealable to the High Court.

No renewal. This is the single most repeated error about Sarawak. The words “renew”, “expire”, “expiry” and “valid for” do not appear anywhere in Cap. 64. A business name registration does not lapse and has no renewal cycle. What people are thinking of is the trade licence.

Ongoing duties. Notify changes within 21 days (s.9). Keep books of account (s.10). Do business in the firm’s name (s.11). Paint or fix the firm name in English as well as in the vernacular outside every place of business (s.12). Notify cessation within one month (s.13(1)).

Penalties. Section 14 is a daily-rate regime: RM100 for every day trading without a certificate, RM50 for every day for other defaults, and six months’ imprisonment plus RM1,000 for materially false information.

TL — the trade licence, and where LHDN comes in

Section 3(1) of Cap. 33 makes it an offence to carry on any business in Sarawak without a trade licence in force, or to carry it on at premises the licence does not extend to. Penalty: a fine of RM1,000. Section 3(2) requires a separate licence for each listed business.

The definition that answers the LHDN question sits in s.2:

“Collector” means the Director of Inland Revenue and includes a Deputy Collector appointed by or under section 5(2)

Section 5(2) then appoints every District Officer other than the District Officer, Kuching as a Deputy Collector for his district. Federal Inland Revenue at the top, District Officers as deputies in the districts — that is the statutory architecture, and it is why “registration runs through LHDN” is half right rather than simply wrong.

Duration. Section 6(1): valid one year from the date of issue, with the annual fee payable in half-yearly instalments on application. Miss an instalment past the 16th of the following month and a surcharge equal to the instalment applies; miss it past month end and the surcharge doubles and the business is deemed unlicensed for s.3(1) purposes (s.6(3) and (4)). The Collector may compound for up to RM100 (s.6(5)).

Fee. The First Schedule sets $25.00 across the listed trades — importer or exporter, sawmiller, cinema, shipping, goods and passenger vehicles, driving instruction, contractor, hotel, printer and others — each carrying the amendment note P.U. (A) 14/71, which is the last amendment shown in the consolidated Ordinance. That reads as RM25 a year per licence; the figure is still printed in pre-decimal dollars, so expect the issuing office to state it as RM25. Transfer and duplicate licences are $2 each (Part IV).

Other duties. Notify cessation at least 15 days before it happens for a Part II business, penalty RM500 (s.17). Exhibit the licence conspicuously; failure, or obstructing entry, is RM200 (s.21). Section 28 and the Third Schedule exempt some businesses outright, including own-produce farmers and fishermen and public-market stalls.

OL — the council layer

The operating licence rests on the Local Authorities Ordinance 1996, Cap. 20. Section 145(1) lets a local authority grant or renew a licence under the Ordinance or any by-law subject to conditions; s.145(4) requires the licence exhibited prominently at all times; s.145(6) allows suspension or revocation for breach; and s.146 lets the authority impose charges and fees by by-law for any trade, occupation or premises it licenses.

Because each council makes its own by-laws, titles, fees and validity periods differ, and they are not reliably published. One further trap: at least one Kuching by-law is still cited under a predecessor council’s initials rather than the current council’s, so copying a by-law title from a secondary source is a good way to cite something that does not exist. Ask your council.

Which counter you actually go to

This has moved recently, so check before travelling.

• Kuching district — LHDN. The Inland Revenue Board runs SPNP, the Sistem Pendaftaran Nama Perniagaan, covering business name search and registration, trade licence registration, additional licences, renewal, duplicates, cancellation and amendments. Online submission has existed since 28 February 2022 but is not end to end: you still attend the Kuching branch with the prescribed Form R20 and Form 2, by appointment.
• Most other districts — the District Office, through e-R&DO, the Electronic Resident and District Office portal. Its business name search states plainly that it covers all districts except Kuching, which matches Cap. 64 s.3 exactly.
• Sibu and Kanowit — the local councils. e-R&DO carries a notice that effective 1 August 2025, business name registration, trade licence and operating licence applications in the Sibu and Kanowit districts are managed by Sibu Municipal Council, Sibu Rural District Council and Kanowit District Council respectively.

Sibu’s Super Form gives a useful service standard: for a low-risk business, target issuance of the business name registration is 14 days, with high-risk applications evaluated by the licensing department.

Sdn Bhd and LLP are still SSM

Neither the Companies Act 2016 nor the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2012 has a territorial limitation clause. Both apply nationwide, and SSM runs offices in Kuching, Miri and Sibu. Sibu’s own form asks a company applicant for its Companies Act 2016 filings under s.14, s.15, s.58 and s.236(2), which confirms the relationship: you incorporate federally with SSM, then licence locally.

Incorporating does not exempt you from Cap. 33. A Sdn Bhd trading in Sarawak still needs the trade licence and the council’s operating licence.

Common mistakes

• Using EzBiz. ROBA 1956 does not reach Sarawak.
• Citing Cap. 64 or Cap. 33 without “(1958 Ed.)”. You will land on a different statute.
• Renewing the business name annually. Cap. 64 has no renewal provision; the annual instrument is the Cap. 33 trade licence.
• Assuming LHDN handles the whole state. It is the Kuching channel.
• Stopping at the trade licence. Section 3(4) preserves every other licensing liability, and the council operating licence is separate.
• Missing the 21-day change notification under Cap. 64 s.9 — the penalty runs daily.
• Taking on a twenty-first partner. Cap. 64 s.7(1)(a) bars a certificate above twenty, and s.7(3)(b) makes exceeding it a ground for cancellation.
• Signing a tenancy on agricultural or residential land. Divisional offices require the premises to be on a commercial or industrial lot.

What’s next

Work out your district first, because it determines the counter and, since August 2025, possibly the authority. Then treat BNR, TL and OL as three applications with three deadlines rather than one process — Sibu’s Super Form bundles the paperwork, but it does not merge the underlying instruments.

If you are incorporating, run the SSM step in parallel rather than in sequence; it is federal, it is unaffected by any of the above, and it is the only part of your Sarawak setup that a Peninsular adviser can help you with.