The Legal 500

SGX PROVIDES FURTHER GUIDANCE ON PROPOSALS FOR RESTRUCTURING AND SPIN-OFFS

On 10 April 2013, the Competition Appeal Board (CAB) dismissed all but two grounds of appeal by five modelling agencies that had been found by the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) to have engaged in price-fixing activities. CAB's decision resulted in a reduction in the total amount of financial penalties for the five modelling agencies.

NO IMMEDIATE ACTION IS NECESSARY

On 28 March 2013, the Competition Commission of Singapore ("CCS") handed down fines totalling S$179,071 on 12 motor vehicle traders for bidrigging at public motor vehicle auctions held by various government agencies

PREDICATE OFFENCES

On 26 March 2012, the Monetary Authority of Singapore ("MAS") announced the launch of the Financial Advisory Industry Review ("FAIR"), with the aim of raising standards of practice in the financial advisory ("FA") industry and improving efficiency in the distribution of life insurance and investment products in Singapore. Subsequently, a panel, chaired by MAS and comprising representatives from industry associations, consumer and investor bodies, academia, media, and other stakeholders ("FAIR Panel"), was formed on 2 April 2012 to conduct the review.

The Computer Misuse Act has been renamed the Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act. The name change is only the first sign of the myriad of changes within the body of the Act, with new provisions giving the Government “sweeping powers over cyberspace”. The wording of the law now allows a very broad interpretation of the circumstances in which the Government may exercise such “sweeping powers” to order "measures and requirements... as may be necessary...

In the case of Shin Khai Construction Pte Ltd v FL Wong Construction Pte Ltd, the Learned Assistant Registrar Jordan Tan AR (“the learned AR”) had to consider the novel question of whether an adjudication determination may be set aside on the ground that the adjudication application was lodged later that the period of entitlement stipulated by s 13(3)(a) of the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act (Cap 30B, 2006 Rev Ed) (“the Act”).

In accordance with Rule 35(2)(c) of the Common Regulations under the Madrid Agreement and Protocol, the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has, at the request of the Office of the United States of America, established the following new amounts, in Swiss francs, of the individual fee that is payable when the United States of America is designated in an international application, in a designation subsequent to an international registration or in respect of the renewal of an international registration:

In November 2012, Mexico deposited its instrument of accession to the Madrid Protocol for the International Registration of Marks (“Madrid Protocol”) with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (“WIPO”), the body administering the Madrid Protocol. The treaty will enter into force with respect to Mexico on 19 February 2013. Mexico is the third Latin American country, after Cuba and Colombia, to join the Madrid Protocol.

The Personal Data Protection Act (“PDPA”) will come into force s and takes effect in phases. The Ministry of Communications and Information (“MCI”) has set up a Personal Data Protection Commission (“PDPC”) and a Data Protection Advisory Committee on 2 January 2013 to administer and advise on the PDPA.