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 23 May 2025, the Hong Kong government gazetted the Companies (Amendment) (No.2) Ordinance, enacting a comprehensive re-domiciliation regime that allows non-Hong Kong incorporated companies to re-domicile to Hong Kong while preserving corporate identity and business continuity. Applications for re-domiciliation may now be made to the Companies Registry.
The recently introduced obligations on Queensland businesses regarding implementation of a tailored sexual and sex-based harassment prevention plan are particularly significant for employers operating in the construction and renewables industries given the workforce is typically male-dominated and often working in remote environments. Although these changes only apply to Queensland employers, these should be viewed as a prescriptive step for fulfilling existing work, health and safety obligations and the positive duty to eliminate unlawful behavior at work, which apply to all businesses in Australia.
On 10 April 2025, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) released Consultation Paper 383 ‘Reportable situations and internal dispute resolution data publication’. Through the Consultation Paper, ASIC has proposed publication of data on Reportable Situations (RS) and Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR), respectively, across two separate interactive dashboards.
RS data is proposed to be published annually, by the end of October each year. IDR data will be published biannually.
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 Indonesian government has just issued a much-anticipated regulations that is closely connected with two important elements in society: children and technology. This new regulation introduces new obligations and prohibitions for electronic system operators in relation to the access and use of electronic systems by children.
Following the public consultation in 2024, the Personal Data Protection Commissioner has now issued the Personal Data Protection Guideline on Cross Border Personal Data Transfer (Guideline).
The Guideline provides guidance on the operationalization of section 129 of the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 and sets out specific responsibilities of data controllers when transferring personal data to any place outside Malaysia.
On 7 April 2025, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued guidance for authorized institutions (and subsidiaries of locally incorporated authorized institutions) and SFC-licensed virtual asset trading platforms respectively, who are interested in providing Staking Services. The guidance outlines the regulatory framework and expected standards for providing Staking Services.
On the same day, the SFC revised its “Circular on SFC-authorized funds with exposure to virtual assets” issued on 22 December 2023 to facilitate SFC-authorized virtual asset funds (SFC-authorized VA Funds) which wish to engage in staking and other virtual asset-related activities.
The Department of Industrial Works recently introduced the Draft Industrial Waste Management Act (DIWMA), which remained open for public hearing until 1 April 2025. Similar to some other draft waste laws, namely the Draft Sustainable Packaging Management Act and the Draft Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Management Act, the DIWMA adopts the Extended Producer Responsibility principle, obligating operators of industrial establishments to be responsible for the industrial waste they generate until it is fully treated or disposed of.