On 8 June 2021, the National Environmental Agency (NEA) announced that it would be increasing the Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) of four targeted types of household appliances. The increased MEPS levels take effect from 1 January 2022.
The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore will issue a Business Collaboration Guidance Note to provide businesses with more clarity on common horizontal, vertical and lateral collaborations between competitors. The draft Guidance Note also aims at encouraging collaborations that have pro-competitive effects. It covers six common types of business collaborations: information sharing, joint production, joint commercialization, joint purchasing, joint research and development, and standardization.
The Singapore Health Sciences Authority is trialing an e-commerce surveillance tool to crack down on contraband products sold online, including illegal drugs, health products and cosmetics. The bot uses robotic process automation and artificial intelligence to trawl through online listings. It analyses information from the listings, including pictures, descriptions and profiles, to identify illegal products and listings that contain illegal or dangerous ingredients.
On 25 May 2021, the Singapore High Court provided long-awaited clarifications on the scope of private actions under the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 (PDPA). It was held that in order to succeed in a private action under the PDPA, the claimant must suffer loss or damage that falls within the common law heads of loss or damage (such as pecuniary loss, damage to property, and personal injury including psychiatric illness) directly as a result of contravention of certain PDPA provisions.
On 8 June 2021, the National Environmental Agency (NEA) announced that it would be increasing the Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) of four targeted types of household appliances. The increased MEPS levels take effect from 1 January 2022.
The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) has launched a set of Data Ethics Principles to guide the pharmaceutical industry on best practices for using data responsibly and sustainably.
On 19 July 2021, the Medical Devices Branch (MDB) of the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) published its draft “Regulatory Guidelines on Risk Classification of Standalone Medical Mobile Applications (SaMD) and Qualification of Clinical Decision Support Software (CDSS)” for comments.
The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) is seeking feedback for its proposed amendments to the Food Regulations. The proposed amendments delete a majority of the standards of identity currently contained in Regulations 39 to 260 of the Food Regulations, save where they have to be retained in the interest of food safety or to support public health-related policies. The proposed changes are expected to come into effect in April 2022.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) recently released its Consultation Conclusions Paper (“Consultation Conclusions”) on Implementation of Mandatory Reference Checking Scheme (“MRC Scheme”) to Address the “Rolling Bad Apples” Phenomenon.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) recently released a consultation (“Consultation”) on its “Proposed Amendments to MAS’ Investigative and Other Powers under the Various Acts.” The amendments, to be introduced through the Financial Institutions (“Miscellaneous Amendments”) Bill (“proposed provisions”), will expand the supervisory and enforcement powers of the MAS under the following acts: Banking Act (BA); Credit Bureau Act; Financial Advisers Act (FAA); Insurance Act (IA); Payment Services Act (PS Act); Securities and Futures Act (SFA); Trust Companies Act (TCA); and the upcoming new omnibus Act (“new Act”) for the financial sector (collectively, “relevant Acts”).