SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Lim Chong Kin and Corinne Chew, Drew & Napier LLC
Search Warrants on the Commission’s powers of investigation. 4.3 Obtaining Evidence From Entities Outside the Jurisdiction Section 63 of the Competition Act empowers the Commission to request information from any person pursuant to a written notice. While the Competition Act does not specify how the notice may be issued in respect of companies or individuals located outside the jurisdiction, the Commission’s Guidelines on the Powers of Investigation in Competition Cases 2016 state that the written notice should be delivered personally or sent by pre-paid post to the last known address of the person. The same penal - ties for any non-compliance with the Commis - sion’s investigations will apply. 4.4 Domestic Inter-Agency Co-Operation Where cross-sectoral competition matters involve an industry separately regulated by industry-specific regulators (eg, telecommunica - tions, media, post, gas and electricity), the Com - mission will work with the relevant regulator to determine which agency is best placed to handle the matter in accordance with statutory powers. The lead will be taken by the agency best placed to investigate the alleged anti-competitive con - duct and impose any necessary remedies. 4.5 International Inter-Agency Co- Operation See 1.7 Principles of Comity on the Commis- sion’s ability to enter into co-operative agree - ments with other foreign competition authorities. Separately, the Commission has also publicly acknowledged that there has been at least one occasion where the Commission has co-oper - ated with overseas competition authorities on conducting dawn raids. Furthermore, an appro -
priate waiver of confidentiality in respect of other regulatory authorities informed of the conduct must be granted by an applicant seeking leni - ency from the Commission so that the Commis - sion may communicate with such authorities in its investigations. 4.6 Issuing Criminal Indictments As noted in 1.2 Regulatory/Enforcement Agen- cies and Penalties , there is no criminal liability for infringements of competition law in Singa - pore, except for the ancillary offences relating to the failure to comply or co-operate when the Commission exercises its powers of investiga - tion. Such offences will be tried in the district court, which has the power to impose the full penalty or punishment. 4.7 Issuing Civil Complaints The Commission is the primary agency respon - sible for initiating an investigation and deciding whether the Section 34 Prohibition has been infringed in the first instance. See 2.1 Initial Investigation and 2.2 Dawn Raids/Search War- rants on the Commission’s powers of investiga - tion. Where the Commission concludes, following the completion of investigations, that the parties have infringed the Section 34 Prohibition, the Commission will issue a proposed infringement decision (PID), which is a written notice setting out the basis of the Commission’s decisions. The parties concerned will be given an opportu - nity to make representations to the Commission and present any other information for the Com - mission’s consideration before the Commission finalises its decision. Parties will also be allowed to inspect the documents in the Commission’s file relied on in its assessment. The Commis - sion may withhold any documents to the extent that they contain confidential information or
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