In response to heightened scrutiny over country of origin declarations amid ongoing global tariff tensions, Singapore Customs issued Circular No. 06/2025 on 9 June 2025 to provide important clarification on the applicable preferential and non-preferential rules of origin when declaring the “country of origin” for importation into, exportation out of, and transshipments through Singapore.
In a joint response to a public forum letter, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) announced that they are considering requiring vendors to obtain national cybersecurity certifications, namely the Cyber Essentials or Cyber Trust mark, before they can be licensed or bid for government contracts involving access to sensitive data or systems.
This move follows a recent data breach involving a third-party vendor and underscores the growing regulatory focus on third-party cybersecurity risks.
On 3 May 2025, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued a consultation paper proposing to remove the current exclusions under the Financial Advisers Regulations and the Securities and Futures (Licensing and Conduct of Business) Regulations (SF(LCB)R) that exempt certain financial institutions from complying with advertising regulations.
This proposal is part of MAS’s broader initiative to enhance market conduct standards, following its 2023 Consultation Paper on Enhancing Safeguards for Proper Conduct of Digital Prospecting and Marketing Activities.
The Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA) is launching two initiatives, the generative AI (GenAI) Playbook and the GenAI Navigator, to make artificial intelligence (AI) more accessible to Singapore businesses and to increase its adoption locally.
The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has released a new set of advisory guidelines (Advisory Guidelines) aimed at enhancing the resilience and security of cloud services and data centers in Singapore. These Advisory Guidelines are part of Singapore’s broader digital infrastructure strategy and reflect growing emphasis on the systemic importance of digital services and infrastructure to both the economy and daily life.
On 10 March 2025, the Health Sciences Authority launched its public consultation for the draft on the Best Practices Guide for Medical Device Cybersecurity. The document provides medical device manufacturers and healthcare providers with best practice recommendations and considerations on general cybersecurity principles to protect the security of medical devices for their entire product life cycle.
On 7 March 2025, the Ministry of Health announced a host of changes to the healthcare system to address the shifting needs of the Singapore population. These changes included a review of advertising regulations for certain healthcare professionals, the recognition of family medicine as a medical specialty and the introduction of registration requirements for psychologists.
On 11 February 2025, the Singapore government announced new AI safety initiatives, namely: (i) the Global AI Assurance Pilot for best practices around technical testing of generative AI applications; (ii) the Joint Testing Report with Japan; and (iii) the publication of the Singapore AI Safety Red Teaming Challenge Evaluation Report. These initiatives aim to enhance AI governance, innovation and safety standards.
In December 2024, privacy concerns were raised after the new Bizfile portal of the Accounting, Corporate and Regulatory Authority of Singapore displayed names and full National Registration Identity Card numbers for free in its search results.
The Personal Data Protection Commission has since clarified the appropriate use and misuse of NRIC numbers.
On 20 January 2025, the first day of his second term, President Trump revoked Executive Order 14110 on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (āBiden Orderā), signed by President Biden in October 2023. In doing so, President Trump fulfilled a campaign pledge to roll back the Biden Order, which the 2024 Republican platform described as a ādangerousā measure. Then on 23 January 2025, President Trump issued his own Executive Order on AI, entitled Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence.