Public Consultation on Proposed Legislative Amendments Relating to Digital Communications and Regulatory Enhancements

Introduction

            The Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) have proposed amendments to the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority Act 2004 and the Companies Act 1967 (CA). The public is invited to provide feedback on the proposed amendments in the draft ACRA (Registry and Regulatory Enhancements) Bill.

Background 

2.            ACRA had earlier indicated plans to amend the ACRA-administered legislation to streamline Singapore's corporate regulatory regime.  

Proposed Amendments

3.            The draft ACRA (Registry and Regulatory Enhancements) Bill will introduce the following key changes:

a. Require business entities, position holders, shareholders and members to maintain updated email addresses with ACRA;

b. Allow statutory correspondences and notices (other than summons) to be sent to and accessed by individuals and businesses via a digital mailbox;

c. Introduce a tiered framework to calibrate the disclosure of personal data to different user groups;

d. Empower the Registrar to use information from specified government agencies to keep ACRA’s registers up to date; 

e. Enhance the Registrar’s powers in relation to the registers of directors, including introducing powers to reflect the disqualification status of individuals for all types of disqualifications under the CA; and

f. Streamline the financial reporting requirements for foreign companies registered under the CA.

4.            The draft ACRA (Registry and Regulatory Enhancements) Bill is in Annex A. The document explaining the key clauses in the draft Bill can be found in Annex B.

Public Consultation Details

5.            The public consultation exercise will run from 5 to 18 March 2024. The public can access the public consultation documents, including the draft ACRA (Registry and Regulatory Enhancements) Bill, on the REACH consultation portal. The public consultation documents are also available on the websites of MOF (https://www.mof.gov.sg/news-publications/public-consultations) and ACRA (https://go.gov.sg/pc-digital-data1).

6.            Interested parties can submit their comments via FormSG (https://go.gov.sg/acrabill2024).  

Summary of Response

7.            MOF and ACRA will publish a summary of the main comments received. The summary will not disclose the identity of the respondents and will not separately address or acknowledge every comment received. 

Attachments

Annex A: Draft ACRA (Registry and Regulatory Enhancements) Bill 

Annex B: Key clauses in the draft ACRA (Registry and Regulatory Enhancements) Bill 

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