The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore commenced an investigation under the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act 2003 (CPFTA) against a water filtration system supplier (“Supplier”) for unfair practices between September 2021 and November 2023.
The Supplier was found to be making false claims about its sales kit, misleading promotion listings, and misleading claims on the health benefits of alkaline or filtered water, from its website and social media pages.
The latest edition of our Asia Pacific Antitrust and Competition Handbook is now available and includes an overview of the key local competition rules applicable to intended transactions, agreements and other business practices in 14 Asia Pacific jurisdictions, and a quick reference table to highlight the different approaches of each jurisdiction.
Proposed licensing of social media and internet messaging services providers and a new draft bill on digital safety – these are some of the recent updates in the online content space for Malaysia. On 15 December 2023, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) reported that there was a significant increase in harmful content on social media and over-the-top platforms in 2023 as compared to in 2022. Against this backdrop, the Malaysian Government (as with its counterparts in the region) is increasingly concerned about online safety and the harms that materialize as part of the proliferation of online content.
The Ministry of Communications and Information has announced that the inter-agency Taskforce on the Resilience and Security of Digital Infrastructure and Services is studying the introduction of a Digital Infrastructure Act (DIA). The DIA builds on the Cybersecurity Act and aims to enhance the resilience and security of the digital infrastructure in Singapore. The scope of the DIA goes beyond cybersecurity and touches on other risks that may affect resilience.
The Health Sciences Authority is conducting a public consultation from 1 to 31 March 2024 on the proposed amendments to the Health Products (Therapeutic Products) Regulations 2016 on patent declaration.
The proposed amendments are intended to provide clarity to stakeholders on the types of patents that must be considered when making an application for registration of a therapeutic product, and for which the patent declaration regulations apply; and to minimize potential indiscriminate use of the patent declaration mechanism.
On 6 March 2024, the Health Sciences Authority issued an update on products found and reported by overseas regulators to contain potent ingredients prohibited in such products and which may lead to side effects.
On 12 March 2024, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) issued a press release announcing the launch of its new stablecoin issuer sandbox arrangement (“Stablecoin Sandbox”). The Stablecoin Sandbox is another step following the legislative proposal to implement a new regulatory regime for stablecoin issuers. The Stablecoin Sandbox will facilitate communications between the HKMA and interested stablecoin issuers to gauge the expected regulatory standards.
The Department of Climate Change and Environment under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is pushing ahead with the second draft of the Climate Change Bill (“Bill”), which is currently undergoing the process of public hearing until mid-April 2024. It is expected that the Bill will be considered by the cabinet for approval in principle in June 2024.
The Bill lays out Thailand’s action plan for climate actions and, importantly, imposes obligations and penalties for the private sector for the purposes of advancing climate mitigation and adaptation efforts. Some of the key elements of the Bill are summarized in this article.
We are pleased to share upcoming developments in relation to the Companies (Amendment) Act 2024 (“CA 2024”) which will anchor the revised beneficial ownership (BO) reporting framework. The approval process of the CA 2024 through the Malaysian Parliament was completed in December 2023. The CA 2024 subsequently received Royal Assent on 24 January 2024 and finally, the CA 2024 was gazetted on 2 February 2024. At this point in time, the CA 2024 has yet to be enforced.
The Australian government has, after many years of deliberation, passed the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Combatting Foreign Bribery) Bill 2023 which introduces a new indictable corporate offence of failing to prevent foreign bribery.
This offence will apply where an associate of a company has committed bribery in relation to a foreign public official for the profit or gain of the company. The company will be liable unless it can establish that it has ‘adequate procedures’ in place to prevent the commission of bribery by its associates.