SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Lim Chong Kin and Corinne Chew, Drew & Napier LLC
regulatory bodies and government departments, where relevant. The Commission will invite third parties to com - ment on the merger and commitments (if any) via a public consultation exercise. 7.3 Confidentiality Details of notified mergers will be published on the public register when the Commission receives a satisfactory application. The details published will usually include: • the names of the merger parties; • a description of the transaction; • a description of the merger parties’ business activities (worldwide and in Singapore); • a description of the overlapping goods or services, including brand names; • a description of substitute goods or services; and • the applicant’s views, including but not lim - ited to the definition of the relevant markets, barriers to entry and countervailing buyer power, and the competitive effects of the merger. All relevant information, including information that may be confidential, must be provided to the Commission. Both confidential and non-con - fidential versions of an application or submission should be provided, as non-confidential versions are required to facilitate the Commission’s dis - cussions and meetings with third parties and the publication of a non-confidential version of the decision without delay. Under the Competition Act, confidential informa - tion includes information that can reasonably be considered to be commercially sensitive or relat - ing to the personal affairs of an individual. The Commission considers information to be con -
fidential if disclosure of that information would significantly harm legitimate business interests or an individual’s interests, or if it would be con - trary to the public interest to disclose that infor - mation. If excessive or unreasonable confidentiality claims are made, the Commission may “stop the clock” until the applicant files a non-confidential version that is deemed acceptable by the Com - mission. While the Commission will treat all parties’ sub - missions on confidentiality seriously, confidential information may need to be disclosed in excep - tional circumstances. In such cases, the Com - mission will liaise with the parties in advance to consider ways to minimise any detriment to them. Applicants will also be given an oppor - tunity to review the draft decision before pub - lication to determine whether it contains con - fidential information, although the Commission retains the final discretion to decide whether or The Commission is permitted under the Com - petition Act to enter into co-operation arrange - ments with any foreign competition body with approval from the Minister, which may take the form of information exchange or any other assistance as may be necessary to assist in the enforcement or administration of competition laws. not information is confidential. 7.4 Co-Operation With Other Jurisdictions The Commission has entered into a number of memoranda of co-operation and understanding, as follows:
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