A Full Guide To Controlled Schedule Article License Applications In Malaysia

A Controlled Schedule Article (CSA) license is issued by the Malaysian Ministry of Domestic Trade (KPDN) as a requirement for all commercial manufacturers and sellers of products / materials under their list of Scheduled Controlled Goods.

In our experience, this is one of the more straightforward licenses to obtain, and this guide covers everything businesses need to know to handle their own application, including:

• items under KPDN’s Scheduled Controlled Goods
• types of CSA licenses
• pre-application requirements
• fees and supporting documents
• application steps, and
• renewals

Let’s begin.

KPDN’s Scheduled Controlled Goods

As of July 2026, the following 12 items are declared as Scheduled Controlled Goods:

• wheat flour
• kerosene
• sugar
• fertiliser
• cooking oil
• petrol
• diesel
• mild steel round bars
• cement
• liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)
• dread (all types except French loaves between 200g–1,000g)
• chicken

These are all goods essential to the general public, and the primary purpose of the CSA license is to regulate their transaction and storage to ensure uninterrupted access.

Types of CSA Licenses

KPDN issues three different CSA licenses based on business activity:

1. Manufacturing License: Any activity or process used to produce controlled goods, such as milling wheat into flour, refining sugar, producing cement, or bottling LPG.
2. Wholesale License: For traders who sell or resell controlled goods to other distributors or retailers.
3. Retail License: For traders selling controlled goods directly to end consumers, including businesses like hotels / restaurants or institutions like schools / prisons.

Key exemptions:

• chicken, cement, mild steel round bars, kerosene, and fertiliser are exempt from retail licensing
• bread is exempt from both wholesale and retail licensing
• retailers of LPG are exempt from needing PDA permission

KPDN’s general policy is to only allow one CSA license per business premise, so businesses conducting more than one commercial activity (such as both manufacturing and wholesaling) will usually need separate premises and applications for each.

Requirements

All applicants must provide a copy of their business registration and a valid Local Authority (PBT) license.

From there, further requirements vary by type:

Activity	Additional Requirements
Manufacturing	MIDA manufacturing license / exemption MIDA PDA permit (for petroleum products) BOMBA support letter (for petroleum, LPG, diesel, kerosene, and fertiliser)
Wholesale	Support letter from a supplier PDA permit (for petroleum products) BOMBA support letter (for petroleum, LPG, diesel, kerosene, and fertiliser)
Retail	Support letter from supplier or recent purchase invoice / receipt PDA permit (for petroleum products) BOMBA support letter (for petroleum, LPG, diesel, kerosene, and fertiliser)

Fees & validity periods

License fees are paid annually based on activity:

• RM50 per year for manufacturing
• RM25 per year for wholesale
• RM10 per year for retail (except for retail of sugar, wheat flour, and cooking oil, which are free)

While the fees are listed at an annual rate, actual licenses can be issued for multiple years – the sample wholesale license shown in our introduction, for instance, was issued for a three-year period. This generally comes down to the track record of the applicant and the discretion of the KPDN officer.

Application steps

Once all the requirements are met and supporting documents prepared, CSA license applications can be handled fully online via the BLESS 2.0 portal.

First-time applicants must register an account, and from there the license application has five main steps:

1. Log in to BLESS and select the CSA module (new petrol stations use the combined PDA / CSA module).
2. Fill out sections A, B, C, E, and F and attach all required digital documents
3. Use the ‘Track and Monitoring’ button in BLESS to check progress.
4. Once the status is approved pay the required fees online.
5. License collection either by:
   • Physical counter visit: By a representative with an official company authorisation letter.
   • Post: Submit a self-addressed envelope and pay for stamp and delivery fees.

Congratulations, you are now a legal manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer of your chosen controlled good!

Renewals

Renewals are also managed through the same module in BLESS and requires a copy of the existing license as well as up-to-date versions of all supporting documents during the initial application.

If you want to keep your license, remember to keep your suppliers happy!

That’s all from us, and we wish you all the best with your application 😊

Let MISHU handle your CSA license application

If you’d like help obtaining a retail, wholesale, or manufacturing CSA license for food items, our team is here to help prepare documents, liaise with KPDN, and handle license collection and delivery. Speak to us today!