On 16 December 2022, the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore commenced proceedings in the State Courts against a retailer that sells alkaline water systems and its director. In particular, the CCCS applied for the court to make findings that the retailer engaged in unfair trading practices and to issue an injunction to restrain the retailer and its director from continuing such unfair trading practices.
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.
The Ministry of Manpower, on 23 November 2022, accepted the 12 recommendations proposed by the Advisory Committee on Platform Workers in its report Strengthening Protections For Platform Workers issued on 17 November 2022. The 12 recommendations in the Report aim to provide basic protections to platform workers in the following areas: (i) adequate financial protection in case of work injury, (ii) improved retirement and housing adequacy, and (iii) enhanced representation.
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.
On 17 November 2022, the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore issued an infringement decision against four warehouse operators for infringing section 34 of the Competition Act 2004. The four warehouse operators had entered into a price-fixing arrangement by imposing a coordinated surcharge, known as the “FTZ Surcharge”, for warehouse services at Keppel Distripark. The FTZ surcharge is a surcharge imposed by warehouse operators on import cargo stored within the Free Trade Zone, and it was first introduced in order to manage rising costs. The CCCS imposed a total financial penalty of SGD 2,799,138 on the four businesses, namely CNL Logistics Solutions Pte. Ltd., Gilmon Transportation & Warehousing Pte. Ltd., Penanshin (PSA KD) Pte. Ltd. and Mac-Nels (KD) Terminal Pte. Ltd.
On 19 October 2022, the Health Sciences Authority issued an alert on fake HSA accounts on the TikTok platform. The HSA stated that it does not have a TikTok account and advised members of the public not to click on any links or respond to these fake accounts.
The Ministry of Communications and Information tabled the Online Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill for its first reading in Parliament on 3 October 2022, setting out proposed regulations of providers of online communication services with significant reach or impact accessible by any Singapore end-user, as well as measures to prevent access to egregious content. The aim of the Bill is to enhance online user safety, particularly for children, and to curb the spread of harmful content on OCS. Designated providers of such OCS will have to comply with Codes of Practice issued by the Info-communications Media Development Authority to enhance online safety for Singapore end-users and curb the spread of harmful content on their service.
As part of the multi-pronged effort by the Infocomm Media Development Authority and other stakeholders to combat scams and safeguard SMS messaging as a communications channel, the IMDA will implement two measures following a public consultation: (i) mandatory registration with the Singapore SMS Sender ID Registry: Registration with the SSIR will be mandatory for all organizations that use SMS Sender IDs, and (ii) telecommunications operators to implement SMS anti-scam filtering solutions: Anti-scam filtering solutions will be implemented by telecommunications operators within their mobile networks to automatically filter potential scam messages before they reach consumers.