Individual Action Plan

Individual Action Plan

-- Singapore --

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Detailed Description of Action in Specific Areas

Deregulation

OBJECTIVE APEC economies will: a. promote the transparency of their respective regulatory regimes; and b. eliminate trade and investment distortion arising from domestic regulations which not only impede free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region but also are more trade- and/or investment-restricting than necessary to fulfill a legitimate objective.

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I. Current Position

Singapore believes in the discipline of market forces and has, in the past few years, embarked on a programme to corporatize/privatize the provision of major public services. These include electricity, gas, telecommunications, local transport (including train, bus and taxi services), broadcasting and postal services.

Regulation, where applied, is to provide prudential supervision (for example, in the financial services sector), ensure public safety, protect consumer interests, protect national security interests and ensure that the Singapore market is not over-supplied.

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II. Objective (a) - to promote transparency of regulatory regime

Singapore will:

Short/Medium/Long Term (1997 - 2010)

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maintain high transparency of its regulatory regimes and explore ways to further improve transparency.

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III. Objective (b) - to eliminate trade and investment distortions arising from domestic regulations

Singapore will:

Short/Medium/Long Term (1997 - 2010)

continue with its programme to corporatize and privatize major public services where appropriate. The next in line is port management where the Port of Singapore Authority will be corporatized and its shares eventually floated; and

continually review current regulatory regimes with a view to eliminating any over-regulation and unnecessary bureaucracy.

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