From 30 December 2022, ‘Nutri-Grade’ beverages sold in Singapore in prepacked form and from automatic beverage dispensers will be subject to new labelling requirements and advertising prohibitions. Several drink manufacturers have reportedly reformulated their recipes to cut sugar and saturated fat, and introduced the ‘Nutri-Grade’ labels on the packaging of their products ahead of the deadline.
On 25 October 2022 leading researchers and executives from some of the world’s pioneering drug and pharmaceutical companies came together at a Financial Times Live Webinar event to discuss “The Power of Clinical Trial Tokenization”.
On 1 December 2022, both the National Budget Law No. 27,701 and the enactment Decree 799/2022 were published in the Official Gazette. The Law introduces important changes regarding the maximum applicable sanctions applicable in consumer defense matters, as well as regarding punitive damages.
In its decision of 12 September 2022, the Swiss Federal Administrative Court confirmed that interpretive software that uses indicators such as calendar days and body temperature to monitor fertile and infertile phases of a menstrual cycle to achieve natural conception or prevent undesired pregnancy, qualifies as a medical device. This means that such software is subject to a conformity certification procedure with a notified body.
On 1 December 2022, Switzerland’s new Human Genetic Testing Act will enter into force.
The new HGTA provides a comprehensive legal framework for all types of genetic testing (including direct-to-consumer genetic testing and lifestyle genetic testing) and implements stronger measures to protect privacy rights, prevent abuse of genetic data and ensure the quality of genetic tests and the interpretation of the results.
As part of the comprehensive revision of the HGTA, the Human Genetic Testing Ordinance and the Ordinance on the creation of DNA profiles for civil and administrative purposes have been amended accordingly.
On 24 November 2022, the Health Sciences Authority published its Regulatory Guidelines for Laboratory Developed Tests. The new guidelines will come into effect from 1 March 2023. The HSA first published a draft version of the Regulatory Guidelines for LDTs on 12 July 2022. It invited stakeholders to provide feedback on the document, and held a public consultation period from 12 July 2022 to 12 August 2022.
On 14 November 2022, the Health Sciences Authority issued an alert on five products that it found to contain potent medicinal ingredients and informed the public not to purchase such products. Two of the products were obtained from Malaysia through the consumers’ friends and relatives; while the other three were available on local e-commerce platforms. The HSA has worked with the platforms to remove the affected listings.
On 7 November 2022, the Health Sciences Authority issued an update on products that were found by overseas regulators to contain potent ingredients. Such potent ingredients are banned from health products as they may cause certain side effects.
The Online Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill was read a second time in Parliament and was passed into law on 9 November 2022. While the Ministry of Communications and Information has not released the commencement date of the new laws, they, together with the Code of Practice for Online Safety, are likely to kick in as early as 2023.
On 14 November, the UK Government confirmed that it would continue to recognize the CE marking in Great Britain for another two years (until 31 December 2024) giving businesses extra time to prepare for the mandatory introduction of the UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) marking. Businesses can continue to use the new UKCA marking voluntarily until then, giving them flexibility to choose which marking to apply.