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.
Our popular Annual Compliance Conference, which attracts over 4,000 in-house senior legal and compliance professionals every year from across the world, will be taking place from 30 April – 6 June. We will be delivering our cutting-edge insights and guidance virtually on key global compliance, investigations and ethics trends.
On 14 March, the amendments to the Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (Law 27,739) were approved. They implement changes and updates to adjust local regulations to international standards and the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (GAFI).
Argentina is currently undergoing a GAFI/GAFILAT review and evaluation process. In that sense, Law 27,739 was promoted by the Financial Information Unit (UIF) to introduce more tools to combat organized crime, promote compliance with obligations of the private sector and address key aspects that emerged from the GAFI/GAFILAT mutual evaluation.
By means of Resolution No. 87/2024, the Secretariat of Commerce established that businesses that operate with purchase, debit or credit cards must make the electronic payment terminal available to consumers. This is to ensure that they do not lose control of their card during the transaction.
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 annual updates on enforcement trends and priorities this year build upon last year’s guidance by substantially sweetening the calculus for whistleblowers and voluntary self- disclosures, and reflecting the nation’s rapid adoption of disruptive technology tools especially including AI. Previous trends, such as the government’s ongoing enforcement effort aimed at protecting U.S. intellectual property from perceived threats by foreign adversaries, are not letting up, but instead are increasing in specificity as to related corporate compliance expectations. As companies increasingly engage in the race to use and sell AI tools and the datasets that fuel them, now is a great time to also put in place corporate compliance strategies to avoid becoming the next poster child for the government’s deterrence efforts.
Following a new regulation of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand defining new characteristics of bills (i.e., bills of exchange and promissory notes) that are considered securities, the Capital Market Supervisory Board of Thailand has amended the requirements for offerings of bills to match the new definition. The new offering requirements will come into effect on 16 March 2024.
In a move to develop Thailand’s position as a regional hub of investment, the Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission began a public hearing on the new securities and derivatives business licensing regime on 9 February 2024, designed to increase flexibility and decrease costs for business operators.