The Ministry of Health (MOH) will be introducing “Nutri-Grade”-related measures that will apply to freshly prepared beverages. From the end of 2023, all outlets selling freshly prepared beverages with higher sugar and saturated fat content will have to label such beverages with the “Nutri-Grade” mark. Outlets will also be prohibited from advertising freshly prepared beverages with the highest level of sugar and saturated fat content.
In two separate decisions, the High Court provides a new sentencing framework that imposes heftier punishments for failing to ensure the safety of employees at work and provides clarification as to whether settlement payments may be taken into consideration when determining the amount of compensation payable by an employer for workplace injury. The General Division of the High Court (SGHC) in two recent decisions in Public Prosecutor v Manta Equipment (S) Pte Ltd [2022] SGHC 157 and MTM Ship Management Pte Ltd v Devaswarupa and others [2022] SGHC 178 considered two pieces of legislation concerning workplace safety and accidents in Singapore.
While Hong Kong and mainland China have had anti-discrimination laws in place that protect employees from various types of discrimination at the workplace, recent developments and increasing employee awareness of their rights have led to increased focus on this area. Whilst Singapore does not currently have any workplace discrimination laws per se, there have been some recent developments.
Join us for this webinar where our employment team from Baker McKenzie Hong Kong & China, and Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow will explore the discrimination laws and regulations in China, Hong Kong and Singapore, consequences for non-compliance, and what employers need to bear in mind regarding their human resources policies.
In July 2022, the Singapore Personal Data Protection Commission published a guide to help organisations comply with the Personal Data Protection Act when deploying blockchain applications that process personal data. As such, this Guide provides a broad set of principles and considerations for organisations to design their blockchain applications to be PDPA-compliant, thus ensuring more accountable management of customers’ personal data.
The Ministry of Communications and Information has released, in its Public Consultation published on 13 July 2022, more information on two proposed complementary codes to protect Singapore-based users against harmful and high-risk online content.
Social media platforms with significant reach or impact that are designated social media services will be in-scope for the new compliance obligations proposed by the MCI under the Code of Practice for Online Safety and all social media services are intended to be subject to the Content Code for Social Media Services.
On 6 July 2022, the Singapore Food Agency published a media release in relation to Lui Fammart’s illegal import of seafood, meat products and processed food from China. The sole proprietor of Lui Fammart was fined SGD 8,000 by the court.
On 20 July 2022, the Health Sciences Authority announced that it had removed over 2,500 listings of illegal health products from local e-commerce and social media platforms between January to June 2022, with over 800 product listings removed during a week of intensified surveillance between 23 and 30 June.
Singapore state investor Temasek, through its Asia Sustainable Foods Platform (ASF), and Cremer, a German agri-food multinational company, have jointly invested SGD 6 million to produce plant-based alternative proteins in Tuas, Singapore.
ASF and Cremer have formed the joint venture, Cremer Sustainable Foods, which will carry out pilots and demo-scale facilities for the joint venture’s first Singapore production facility.
To facilitate better traceability and follow-up actions in the event of safety or quality issues, the Health Science Authority (HSA) is launching a voluntary notification initiative for health supplements and traditional medicines. From 1 August 2022, companies may submit documents regarding their products to the HSA. If the products meet the necessary safety and quality standards and labelling requirements, they will be published on the HSA’s database, which patients and consumers can refer to when considering suitable health supplements and traditional medicines.
The Singapore Food Agency has announced that the Food Regulations 2022 will make changes to the existing Food Regulations, to allow the use of Pathogen Reduction Treatments on meat. The amendments will come into operation on 31 July 2022.