Database

The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore has issued a policy paper in 2011 setting out its approach towards net neutrality. According to the policy paper, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are prohibited to discriminate content access or engage in discriminatory practices. However, ISPs retain flexibility to customized internet content and meet market demands. In this sense, various ISPs in Singapore practice data throttling as a way to manage their networks.

According to Singapore's Broadcasting Act, internet content providers and internet service providers (ISPs) are licensed as a class and must comply with the Act’s Class License Conditions and the Internet Code of Practice. Under this regime, ISPs are required to take “all reasonable steps” to filter any content that the regulator deems “undesirable, harmful, or obscene.”

In 2013, the Media Development Authority of Singapore issued guidelines providing that all online news websites that provide regular reports on Singapore and have significant reach should acquire an individual license.

Additionally, any news website that covers an average of at least one article per week on Singaporean news and current affairs over a period of two months and reaches at least 50,000 unique Internet Protocol addresses in Singapore over the same two month period requires a special license.

The licensed sites must also put up a performance bond of SGD $50,000 (USD 42,000), similar to that required for niche TV broadcasters. The new license requires holders to take down content that breaches certain standards within 24 hours of being notified by the Singaporean government.

The National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers states that: “Internet Access Service Providers (IASPs), which function as main ‘gateways’ to the Internet, must block access to 100 Internet sites that the government of Singapore considers obscene, excessively violent, or likely to incite racial or religious conflict. The Singaporean government states that the list of sites is updated annually, but the list is not made public, and the process by which sites are placed on the list is not transparent”.

According to Singapore's Broadcasting Act, internet content providers and internet service providers (ISPs) are licensed as a class and must comply with the Act’s Class License Conditions and the Internet Code of Practice. Under this regime, ISPs are required to take “all reasonable steps” to filter any content that the regulator deems “undesirable, harmful, or obscene”, and must "deny access to material considered by the [Info-communications Media Development Authority] to be prohibited material if directed to do so by the Authority."

The Personal Data Protection Commission can direct an organisation to:
- stop collecting, using or disclosing personal data;
- destroy personal data; and
- pay a financial penalty of up to 1 million SD (approx. 700,000 USD).
Criminal offeces can result also in imprisonment for up to three years.

Each organisation is required to appoint one or more data protection officers to be responsible to ensure the organisation’s compliance with the Personal Data Protection Act.

The collection, use and disclosure of personal data is permitted only when:
- the individual has consented; or
- those activities are required by law.

The Personal Data Protection Act requires organisations to delete personal data after retention of the data is no longer necessary.

In 2016, Singapore’s Cyber Security Agency proposed to cut off all government computers from the global internet, so that they may only communicate with each other. Employees for whom access to the internet is a fundamental part of their functions, such as communications, human resources and research, can do so but only on separate personal or agency-issued devices. Accordingly, this means that all public administration data is to be held only on local servers owned by the relevant agencies. Although a full public sector air-gap was due to be instituted in May 2017, in March of that year, only a handful of government agencies were cut off from the internet.

An organisation may only transfer personal data outside Singapore if it has taken appropriate steps to ensure that:
- it will comply with the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) obligations in respect of the transferred personal data while it remains in its possession or under its control; and
- the recipient outside of Singapore is bound by legally enforceable obligations to provide a standard of protection to the personal data transferred that is comparable to that under the PDPA.
An organisation will be taken to have satisfied the second requirement if the individual consents to the transfer of the personal data to the recipient in that country.

Employment Pass requirements for foreign workers stipulate they must earn at least a minimum wage. The wage is set out according to different categories of skills, occupations, experience and certifications.

Depending to which category a foreign worker belongs, which is sorted out by the Ministry of Manpower, the business needs to pay a fee in order to have the foreign worker recruited. The levies differ and are divided between skilled and unskilled workers with higher levies for unskilled foreign workers. The levies are also set according to the tier system that is set for the quotas.

Employers are required to advertise job vacancies on an official job platform. Priority is given to Singapore nationals who apply for the positions. If a position is not occupied by a local, the employer may hire a foreign national.

To employ foreign workers in services, specific requirements must be met related to worker's nationality, quotas and levies. There is a special system at the Ministry's website to calculate the quota of foreign workers for a certain company. The quota system in Singapore is also called "dependency ratio ceiling". This system is divided into three layers of skills that determine the levy that companies are obliged to pay when hiring foreign workers.