In brief Whilst the Court is, in general, slow to interfere with the internal management of a company, it is empowered to grant the appropriate remedies in certain circumstances including declaratory and injunctive reliefs under the common law and the Companies Ordinance (CO). A recent case has demonstrated that the Court is not hesitant to exercise such power in order to safeguard shareholders’ rights and scrutinize directors’ conduct. In this case, the Court held that…
In brief 2024 saw a number of significant rulings in Singapore that have provided clarity on issues such as the definition of completion for construction works and the limitation period for latent defects, as well as issues surrounding the application and interpretation of the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2004 (“SOP Act”). As readers may know, the SOP Act is fundamentally a statutory regime to facilitate cash flow in the construction industry.…
In brief On 20 February 2025, the Chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Gina Cass-Gottlieb, announced the ACCC’s compliance and enforcement priorities for 2025/26 at the annual address to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia. Ms Cass-Gottlieb identified a range of industry sectors, as well as specific competition and consumer law issues that will be the focus of the ACCC’s compliance and enforcement activities for 2025/26. Many of these areas continue…
Overview and Key Provisions In brief On 27 December 2024, the Construction Industry Security of Payment Ordinance (CISPO) was gazetted, following a nine-year consultation process. This long-anticipated legislation will cover construction contracts entered into on or after 28 August 2025. Similar legislation has been in place for some time in various other jurisdictions, such as Australia, Singapore and the United Kingdom. CISPO seeks to remedy improper payment practices in the construction industry by improving contractual…
The Consumer Affairs Agency’s blue-ribbon Whistleblower Protection System Review Committee (Committee) released its interim report (Report) on the revision of the Whistleblower Protection Act (Act) on 2 September 2024. The Committee has continued discussing revisions to the Act based on the Report since its publication. This alert summarizes the Report and offers practical guidance on how to respond to potential revisions to the Act. Overview of the Report The Report points out several operational issues…
In brief Japan amended the provisions on the crime of bribing foreign public officials (“Criminal Bribery of Foreign Officials”) under the Unfair Competition Prevention Act (UCPA), effective 1 April 2024, and updated the Guidelines for the Prevention of Bribery of Foreign Public Officials (“Foreign Bribery Guidelines”) in February 2024. Key changes to the UCPA include increased fines and longer terms of imprisonment for individuals or corporations who bribe foreign public officials, expanded corporate liability and…
Potential AI reforms, new consumer guarantee prohibitions and civil penalties and a ban on unfair trading practices are proposed In brief The Australian Government has announced consultations on a range of proposed reforms to the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) covering: Consultations have commenced on the proposed AI-related reforms and consumer guarantee amendments, with submissions sought by 12 November 2024 and 14 November 2024, respectively. Treasury has not yet commenced consultation in relation to the…
The Australian Government takes its next step towards becoming a world cyber security leader by 2030. In brief In 2023, the Australian Government released the 2023-2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy. 9 October 2024 marked the latest in a series of legislative reforms in pursuit of that strategy, as the Cyber Security Legislative Package 2024 (Package) was introduced to Parliament. The Package has been referred to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security for inquiry and report. The Package contains…
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has sent a shot across the bows of retailers using discount pricing claims on long-term prices that remain the same for many months. In brief The ACCC commenced Federal Court proceedings on 23 September against Coles and Woolworths alleging that the two major supermarket have misled consumers by using their âDown Downâ and âPrices Droppedâ pricing claims in cases where the prices were actually higher than, or the…
As a continuation of the 2025 Payment System Blueprint (see November 2019 alert), which led to the successful implementation of key initiatives such as (i) the continued domestic and cross-border implementation of the Quick Response Code Indonesia Standard (QRIS) (see August 2019 and September 2022 alerts), (ii) the National Open API Standard (SNAP) (see August 2021 alert), (iii) the real-time payments infrastructure (BI-FAST), and (iv) regulatory, licensing, and supervisory reforms (see January 2021 alert), Bank Indonesia has now…