Legal Updates

ICLG Legal Guides 2022 – Singapore Shipping Laws and Regulations chapter

15.08.2022 | Singapore

We are delighted to be a contributor to the exclusive Singapore Shipping Laws and Regulations chapter – Legal Guides 2022 by GlobalLegal Group.

Written by Director and Head of Admiralty Boaz Chan, Xue Ting Tan (Senior Associate), Benjamin Ow (Senior Associate) and C Sivah (Associate), the chapter focuses on the current issues in Singapore relating to shipping laws and regulations, including marine casualty, cargo claims, passenger claims, arrest and security.

To read the full chapter, please visit https://iclg.com/practice-areas/shipping-laws-and-regulations/singapore.

Should you have any questions, do get in touch with your usual contact at Incisive Law or any of the authors mentioned above.

 

Trusts and additional buyer’s stamp duty

19.05.2022 | Singapore

Our Joint Managing Director Bill Ricquier has recently penned an article with regards to the latest amendment to the rules on Additional Buyers’ Stamp Duty.

The Straits Times on 10 May reported that “[c]ash rich buyers who have been circumventing [ABSD] regulations by making residential property purchases via trusts that are conditional or revocable may no longer be able to use that loophole.”

The use of the word “may” suggests a degree of ambivalence or uncertainty about the new rules. Actually there is no real uncertainty. And there is one actual certainty: cash-rich buyers are likely to be one category of purchaser who will not necessarily be deterred from utilizing valid and enforceable trusts.

To read the full article, please visit our Wills, Trusts and Property blog here

Authors

Bill Ricquier

A Singapore perspective of the liability principle and why it does not apply to time-barred claims

The Caraka Jaya Niaga-III-11 [2021] 4 SLR 611

20.12.2021 | Singapore

Our Director and Head of Admiralty Boaz Chan has recently contributed an article to the Singapore Academy of Law online journals titled “A Singapore perspective of the liability principle and why it does not apply to time-barred claims” relating to the case – The Caraka Jaya Niaga III-II [2021] 4 SLR 611”.

To read the full article, please click here

Should you have any questions, do get in touch with your usual contact at Incisive Law or the author below.

Authors

Boaz Chan

When is a ‘bill of lading’ not a true bill of lading?

The LUNA [2021] SGCA 84

02.09.2021 | Singapore

A bill of lading has three distinct functions: (i) as a receipt by the carrier of the goods for shipment; (ii) as a contract of carriage or as evidence of a contract of carriage; and (iii) as a document of title.

As a document of title, a bill of lading allows the lawful holder of the bill to demand delivery of the goods from the carrier and, if necessary, to sue for misdelivery. This is particularly important for financial institutions who hold the bills of lading as security for financing the sale and purchase of goods, and who may need to assert their right of possession over the goods where loans are not repaid.

In this recent decision of the Singapore Court of Appeal, the Court found that the holders of the bills of lading were not entitled to bring a claim for misdelivery against the ship interests because, on their true construction and taking into account the terms of the underlying sale contract, those bills did not operate either as contracts of carriage or as documents of title.

To read the full chapter, please click here

Should you have any questions, do get in touch with your usual contact at Incisive Law or any of the authors below.

Authors

Loh Wai Yue
Grace Goh

ICLG Legal Guides 2021 – Singapore Shipping Laws and Regulations chapter

18.08.2021 | Singapore

We are delighted to be a contributor to the exclusive Singapore Shipping Laws and Regulations chapter – ICLG Legal Guides 2021.

 The guide focuses on common issues in shipping laws and regulations – including marine casualty, cargo claims, passenger claims, arrest and security in Singapore.

To read the full chapter, please click here

Should you have any questions, do get in touch with your usual contact at Incisive Law or any of the authors below.

Authors

The Legal 500 Shipping Guide – Hot Topic: Fraudulently-issued Letters of Indemnity – Risks, Mitigation, and Prevention

02.12.2020 | Singapore

Introduction – the contraction of Singapore’s Trade Finance industry

The recent spate of allegations of fraud or foul-play that have rocked Singapore’s beleaguered commodities market, and in particular the oil trading industry have brought to light the significant effect of various pervasive practices that are seemingly innocuous, but have potentially left the trade-finance banking industry reeling from billions of losses.

To name a few examples, the immediate short-term impact of the Hin Leong Trading (Pte) Ltd., Zenrock Commodities Trading Pte Ltd and Hontop Energy (Singapore) Pte Ltd sagas has seen various banks either ceasing their regional trade commodity finance operations, or exiting the trade and commodity financing industry altogether.

One only needs to look at ABN Amro Bank, who is ending all of their engagements in trade and commodity financing and shedding 800 jobs in the process, a decision that is at least in part linked to its overall exposure of around US$300 million to Hin Leong.

Likewise, Societe Generale SA (“SocGen”) was reportedly closing its trade commodity finance unit in Singapore and has halted fresh funding to trade finance firms in the region. Large Asian commodities trading clients with operations in Singapore would henceforth be handled by SocGen’s Hong Kong office, with SocGen ceasing ties with Singapore-based small and medium commodities trading firms.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group has also reportedly decided to only service their existing commodity trading clients and will not take on any new business in commodity finance, following its exposure to Hin Leong Trading.

In this article, we will examine the role of letters of indemnity in international trade transactions, and the risks associated with its use in the commodities industry. We will conclude by looking at what steps can be taken by the industry as a whole to mitigate and prevent these risks.

Please click here to read the full article.

Feel free to get in touch with your usual contact at Ince or any of the authors for more information.

Authors

Proposed Changes to Singapore Data Protection Law

06.10.2020 | Singapore

Earlier this year in May, the Ministry of Communications and Information and the Personal Data Protection Commission (“Commission”) invited feedback from the public on the draft Personal Data Protection (Amendment) Bill (“Bill”). The Bill proposes significant amendments to the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 (“PDPA”) that has been in force in Singapore since July 2014.

Counter-drone systems are failing spectacularly against the continued proliferation and use of the drone technology, which is rapidly outpacing the systems put in place to check and adequately safeguard drone ‘threats’ especially in commercial environment(s).

Please click here to view the rest of the article.

Author

Piyush Gupta

Drones – A New Frontier

13.08.2020 | Insight

Unmanned Aircraft Systems / Vehicles (UAS UAV – or Drones, as they are commonly known) refer primarily to an unmanned aircraft which is guided by a remote control.

The very first attempt to use a contraption that could be flown on its own accord was reported in the 1800s, when Austrians attacked the city of Venice with balloons laden with explosives. The first pilotless aircraft was designed by the US Army during World War I. These unmanned aerial vehicles could not, however, be used during the war as by the time they were actually developed, the war had ended. Nonetheless, these UAVs called ‘Kettering Bugs’ were meant to fly as aerial torpedoes. Later, during the 1930s, the United States and England, both independently developed the world’s first radio-controlled aircraft. In 1935, the British developed “Queen Bee”, a radio-controlled target drone, which is also believed to have led to the use of term “drone,” for radio-controlled unmanned aircraft.

Please click here to view the rest of the article.

Author

Piyush Gupta

Singapore Legal Update – The Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act: An Overview

04.08.2020 | Singapore

The Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018, (Act No.40 of 2018, the “Act”) , which came into force on 30 July, marks, for now at least, the final stage in what has been a far-reaching overhaul of Singapore’s insolvency and debt restructuring regime.

This process had started in 2015 with some amendments to the Bankruptcy Act (Cap 20). Then, in 2017, significant amendments were made to the Companies Act (Cap 50), in respect of both judicial management orders and schemes of arrangement. In particular, aspects of the “Chapter 11” procedure of the US Bankruptcy Code were imported into a system that has historically always looked to English company and insolvency law for inspiration – if that is the right word – and provisions were enacted to deal with various aspects of cross-border insolvency.

Please click here to view the rest of the article.

Author

Bill Ricquier

Temporary Relief for Tenants in Singapore during the COVID-19 Pandemic – Part 1

17.07.2020 | Singapore

It is impossible to exaggerate the significance of landlord and tenant law in Singapore. The steady accretion of land to ultimate Government ownership since the passing of the Land Acquisition Act in 1966 has inevitably reduced the amount of land held in fee simple.

More to the point, almost all businesses in Singapore, whoever owns and operates them, rent their business premises. This is most obviously the case in respect of industrial premises rented from the Jurong Town Corporation, but it is equally true of businesses operating in retail areas such as Orchard Road, and offices in the Central Business District. For a variety of reasons, it just makes sense to rent.

Please click here to view the rest of the article.

Author

Bill Ricquier

Covid-19: How has this impacted Singapore as a dispute resolution forum?

21.05.2020 | Dispute resolution

The outbreak of Covid-19 has had a significant impact on how parties are able to commence and continue the conduct of dispute resolution proceedings, especially at the transnational level.

The challenges faced by all involved in litigation and arbitration are unprecedented. Legal practitioners, in-house counsel, arbitrators and judges alike are no longer able to rely on traditional procedural and administrative practices. Social distancing measures have resulted in court closures globally (save for urgent matters). Telecommuting has become a way of life. We have witnessed the inevitable increase in use of virtual platforms to support remote court and arbitration hearings. Electronic exchange and service of documents have become the new normal.

We consider in this article the main draws for litigants, and how Singapore continues to attract litigants in the region and globally, amidst the outbreak of Covid-19.

Please click here  to read the rest of the article.

Authors

 

Coronavirus and its impact on your contract can you rely on ‘Force Majeure’?

14.02.2020 | Maritime

On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus (officially the “COVID-19”) was a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The virus has been spreading rapidly both within China and globally in recent months. Both the Chinese government and other countries have adopted various measures aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19. These measures are causing disruption to international trade and transport, with the consequence that many companies have found themselves either unable to perform their contractual obligations or at risk of not being able to do so in the future. Where affected or potentially affected contracts contain force majeure (“FM”) provisions, the parties should consider if and when these provisions might be successfully invoked as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

What is FM?

Although the concept of FM is globally recognised in commercial transactions, there are key differences in the treatment and recognition of FM across different jurisdictions. Under common law systems (such as English law), parties who wish to rely on FM must come within the express wording of the FM clause. The courts will not imply FM in the absence of an express contractual provision.

Please click here to read the rest of article.

Authors