The Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices has issued the mandatory Tripartite Guidelines on Flexible Work Arrangement Requests, which will come into effect on 1 December 2024, as announced by the Ministry of Manpower on 16 April 2024.
Across jurisdictions, we see a rising trend towards more active ESG enforcement and litigation. In our The Year Ahead: Global Disputes Forecast 2024, nearly three-quarters (73%) of the respondents said that environmental, social and governance disputes presented as the top risks to their organizations in the coming year.
In this client alert, we provide a high-level overview of the key trends and developments in ESG enforcement and litigation in Singapore in three areas: greenwashing, employment law and anti-money laundering (AML).
On 28 March 2024, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued a response paper to feedback received on the repeal of the regulatory regime for registered fund management companies (RFMC).
MAS targets to repeal the RFMC regime on 1 August 2024. Existing RFMCs intending to continue with regulated fund management activity after this date must apply to be a licensed fund management company restricted to serving accredited and institutional investors.
On 7 March 2024, the Financial Institutions (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill (“FIMA Bill”) was read for the second time in the Singapore Parliament. Broadly, the FIMA Bill seeks to reinforce the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) mandate over Singapore’s financial sector.
Excerpt: This update focuses particularly on the expansion of scope to domestic money transfer services, cross-border money transfer services and digital payment token services, and examines who are the persons affected by such expansion, as well as what needs to be done by such affected persons in order to benefit from transitional arrangements and continue operations.
The Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) has issued the finalized Advisory Guidelines on the Use of Personal Data in AI Recommendation and Decision Systems (“Guidelines”). These Guidelines provide guidance on the use of personal data during three stages of AI system implementation: development, deployment (business-to-consumers) and procurement (business-to-business). In particular, the Guidelines clarify and elaborate on the application of the Consent Obligation and Notification Obligation, and their exceptions, under the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) to the use of personal data in AI systems.
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 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.