Employees Provident Fund (Amendment) Act 2019 to be partially enforced
11 March 2020
The Minister has appointed 15 March 2020 as the date on which the provisions of the Employees Provident Fund (Amendment) Act 2019 (‘Amendment Act’) will come into operation, except for sections 6, 8 and 11 thereof.
The amendments to the Employees Provident Fund Act 1991 (‘Principal Act’) that will come into operation on the above-referred date can be summarised as follows:
- certain provisions of the Principal Act relating to: (a) the number, qualifications and tenure of office of members of the Employees Provident Fund Board and the quorum for meetings of the aforesaid board; and (b) the number and qualifications of the members of the Investment Committee, will be amended;
- section 55A(2) of the Principal Act will be amended to allow a member who has attained 55 years of age to withdraw all moneys in his account without having to satisfy the conditions set out in section 54(6) of the Principal Act (e.g.. purchasing, building or financing a house, financing higher learning, and performing the haj); and
- the provisions in section 55B of the Principal Act that prohibit a member who has attained 55 years of age from withdrawing contributions made after attaining 55 years of age until he has attained 60 years of age will not apply to a member who: (a) is physically or mentally incapacitated from engaging in an employment; or (b) being a non-citizen of Malaysian, is about to leave Malaysia with no intention of returning.
The other key provisions in the Amendment Act, namely: (a) the amendments to section 39 of the Principal Act that prohibit defaulting contributors from leaving Malaysia; and (b) the new provisions that allow a member to transfer part of his contributions to the account of another contributor who is his wife, have yet to come into operation.