MALAYSIAN PALM OIL MILL SUSTAINABILITY REGULATIONS: FROM ORGANISATION PRIORITY TO COMPLIANCE OPERATION

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the performance of Malaysian Palm Oil Mills (POMs) in complying with the regulations and voluntary standards for sustainability. Using survey instrument the priority of the organisations and the current achievement of the POMs compliance operation according to the 18 main regulations, policies, and voluntary standards related to environmental, social and economic dimensions. From the sample of 51 POMs, the results suggested that the Malaysian POMs complied with the regulations, and voluntary standard but there is a slight difference in terms of POMs priority and the current achievement of the mills. The binomial test results indicate that Roundtable Sustainability Palm Oil (RSPO) certification and social responsibility standard, ISO 26000, were unfavourable for Malaysian POMs’ compliance performance. The study presented that sustainability-related regulations are one of the fundamental practices for the manufacturing organisation, in this case, palm oil, to achieve sustainability goal not only to the environment per se but to tackling economic aspect and protecting society at large.