SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Lim Chong Kin, Drew & Napier LLC
1.4 Consumer Protection The consumer protection law in Singapore that applies to digital goods and services is the CPFTA – see 1.1 Key Challenges (E-Commerce). 1.5 The Role of Blockchain in the Digital Economy Two types of digital assets are likely to play prominent roles in the digital economy: cryp - tocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which may be regulated by the Monetary Author - ity of Singapore (MAS) under the PSA or the Securities and Futures Act 2001 (SFA). Under the SFA, the offer or issue of digital assets such as cryptocurrencies or NFTs may be regu - lated if they constitute capital market products under Section 2(1). Capital markets products include any securities, derivatives contracts and contracts or arrangements for purposes of leveraged foreign exchange trading. Digital assets that fall within the scope of digital pay - ment tokens (DPTs) are subject to the regulatory regime under the PSA, which defines a DPT as any digital representation of value that: • is expressed as a unit; • is not denominated in any currency, and is not pegged by its issuer to any currency; • can be transferred, stored or traded electroni - cally; • is, or is intended to be, a medium of exchange accepted by the public, or a sec - tion of the public, as payment for goods or services or for the discharge of a debt; and • satisfies such other characteristics as the MAS may prescribe. Subject to applicable exemptions provided for therein, the PSA requires a person who carries on a business of providing a DPT service as defined under Part 3 of the First Schedule to
• professional services; • personal services; and • educational, professional membership and examination services. For physical goods supplied over the internet, as long as the goods are delivered locally, the supply of the goods should be standard-rated and GST should be charged to the consumer. 1.3 Taxation of Digital Advertising The provision of web-advertising services is considered as a form of media sales in Sin - gapore. Media sales include the sale of media space for online advertising, in various forms, such as page view, impression, hit rate, elec - tronic data mail and SMS messages, in digital media via email, internet and mobile phone. As with any supply of service made in Singapore, web-advertising services attract GST unless they qualify for zero-rating relief as an interna - tional service under the GST Act. With effect from 1 Jan 2022, the supply of media sales will be zero-rated (ie, GST is charged at 0%) if the supply is contractually made to an overseas person and directly benefits an over - seas person and/or a GST-registered person belonging in Singapore. Such a person (con - tractual client) will generally be regarded by the Comptroller as the “sole direct beneficiary” if: • the service agreement between the provider of the services and the contractual client does not specify or require the services to be provided to another person; and • the provider of the services only liaises with and is accountable to the contractual client for the service deliverables.
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