Navigating Malaysia’s Engine Oil Labeling Mandate: A Solution for Compliance and Anti-Counterfeiting
Published on 6 June 2025
Engine lubricant in Malaysia must now bear SIRIM labels. (Image by Daniel Andraski from Pexels)
In March of this year, the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) announced amendments to Trade Descriptions Act 2011 (Act No. 730), requiring all engine lubricants sold in Malaysia to have a certified SIRIM label (Bernama, 2025; Leong, 2025). This means all engine lubricant manufacturers must now obtain a certification from SIRIM QAS International Sdn Bhd, regardless imported or locally-produced. Originally effective in April, the mandate has since been postponed to October to provide ample time to adapt to the new standard (Gimino, 2025).
What This Mandate Entails
For manufacturers, distributors, and importers, it is crucial to ensure that your products are compliant with international and local standards. The SIRIM label has been a reliable standard in Malaysia for a wide variety of products – which includes engine lubricants – with express objectives in mind (Hanis, 2025). This includes:
- Combating Counterfeits: As counterfeit products become more sophisticated, so too should the measures taken to combat and prevent them.
- Quality Assurance: SIRIM’s certification and labelling is based on both ISO standards and local regulations, ensuring your certified products meet the required quality.
- Consumer Protection: As SIRIM is a recognised label for their safety and quality standards, consumers can be rest assured that your products are satisfactory.
Additionally, failure to comply with these standards will result in fines as high as RM200,000 or incarceration for no more than 3 years or both (The Star, 2025). This could significantly hamper your product and your business as a whole.
SIRIM is Not the Limit
Real tools, real performance. SmartKood for No More Counterfeits.
While the SIRIM conformity label is a mandatory and crucial first line of defense, businesses can adopt a more comprehensive strategy to enhance brand protection, consumer trust, and supply chain integrity. This is where specialized solutions offered by SmartKood become invaluable.
SmartKood’s digital verification feature – SmartVerify – adds a dynamic, user-friendly layer of authenticity that is difficult for counterfeiters to replicate. By enabling instant smartphone-based verification via unique QR codes, it empowers consumers directly at the point of purchase, addressing the issue of sophisticated fake packaging. This digital interaction also allows for valuable consumer engagement and data collection, transforming compliance into a marketing asset.
Besides that, SmartKood also enables effective traceability via their SmartTrace feature. This system allows you to track your products throughout the entire supply chain – from manufacturing to distribution points. This is crucial for identifying and isolating non-compliant batches quickly, detecting unauthorized sales channels or grey market activities, as well as efficiently managing product recalls if issues arise, minimizing impact and ensuring compliance.
Even More Benefits with Dealerships
SmartKood dealership programme provides opportunities for collaboration (Images from Atlas Marking and Packtica).
When you partner with SmartKood, you will have the opportunity to work with our collaborators as well to take your packaging and printing experience to the next level. This includes higher value on large-scale production, end-to-end packaging intelligence, and personalised technical support on key accounts, troubleshooting, and training materials.
Our packaging solutions partner Packtica can supply brands with custom hologram stickers, unique QR code stickers, or even hologram-integrated QR codes. These physical security features make it significantly harder for counterfeiters to replicate packaging. Each of these can carry a unique serial number or QR code that is linked to SmartKood’s SmartVerify system, allowing for dual-layer authentication.
Our marking and printing solutions partner Atlas Marking can provide advanced printing equipment that can precisely apply unique identifiers (batch numbers, expiry dates, and brand-specific QR codes from SmartKood’s system) directly onto the product or packaging. Additionally, their machines can be integrated into production lines to capture data as products are marked, feeding this information directly into SmartKood’s SmartTrace system. This automation ensures seamless data flow for comprehensive traceability.
The Bottom Line
Bringing reliability to automotives with SmartKood. (Image by Sergei Meshkov from Pexels)
The new SIRIM certification mandate for engine lubricants in Malaysia underscores the government’s commitment to combating counterfeit products, ensuring quality, and protecting consumers. While compliance with SIRIM standards is essential, your business can go beyond the minimum requirements by integrating advanced brand protection and traceability solutions offered by SmartKood. With features such as SmartVerify for instant product authentication and SmartTrace for end-to-end supply chain visibility, SmartKood helps manufacturers, distributors, and importers strengthen trust, enhance security, and turn compliance into a competitive advantage.
Don’t just meet the standards—exceed them. Partner with SmartKood today to safeguard your products, streamline compliance, and build consumer confidence with cutting-edge verification and traceability solutions!
Author: Team SmartKood
Looking to enhance your supply chain visibility and product traceability? Ready to transform your supply chain? Learn how SmartKood can help your business stay competitive!
References
Andraski, D. (2022, August 2). Close up of pouring oil to engine [Stock image]. Pexels. https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-of-pouring-oil-to-engine-13065697/
Atlas Marking. (2025, May 21). Laser marking machine maintenance. https://atlasmarking.com/laser-marking-machine-maintenance/
Bernama. (2025, March 20). Govt to enforce certification and marking of motor vehicle engine oils in April. https://www.bernama.com/en/news.php?id=2404225
Gimino, G. (2025, April 11). Domestic Trade Ministry postpones mandatory certification for engine oils till October. The Star. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2025/04/11/domestic-trade-ministry-postpones-mandatory-certification-for-engine-oils-till-october
Hanis, A. (2025, May 26). Beware of syndicates reusing original bottles to sell fake engine oil – KPDN. CariCarz. https://www.carz.com.my/2025/05/beware-of-syndicates-reusing-original-bottles-to-sell-fake-engine-oil-kpdn
Leong, R. (2025, March 21). Engine oil must have SIRIM certification starting next month, confirms KPDN. AutoBuzz. https://autobuzz.my/2025/03/21/engine-oil-must-have-sirim-certification-starting-next-month-confirms-kpdn/
Meshkov, S. (2021, June 25). Close-up photo of an auto mechanic [Stock image]. Pexels. https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photo-of-an-auto-mechanic-8478223/
Packtica. (2024, October 7). Holography as the vanguard of anti-counterfeit packaging. https://packtica.com/holography-as-the-vanguard-of-anti-counterfeit-packaging/
The Star. (2025, April 9). SIRIM certification set to stem tide of fake engine oils. CarSifu. https://www.carsifu.my/news/sirim-certification-set-to-stem-tide-of-fake-engine-oils