Intellectual Property Border Measures Legislation to Come into Operation Upon the Entry into Force of the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement on 21 November 2019

12 Nov 2019 Posted in Announcements

1. The Intellectual Property (Border Enforcement) Act 2018 (“the Act”) was passed by Parliament on 9 July 2018, and assented to by the President on 2 August 2018. The Act seeks to enhance existing border enforcement measures and provide new powers for Customs to obtain and provide information relating to the goods they seized or detained to facilitate the taking of infringement action. Further details of the scope of the Act can be found here.

2. The new powers for Customs to obtain and provide information have been operational since 10 October 2018. The enhanced border enforcement measures for copyright and trade marks will come into operation in line with the entry into force of the European Union-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (“EUSFTA”). These enhanced measures are found in the following provisions of the Act: Division 2 of Part 1, Division 2 of Part 4 and sections 87(2), 88(2), 89(4), 89(5), 89(6), 90(4), 90(5), 90(6) and 90(7). These provisions amend the Copyright Act, the Trade Marks Act, the Customs Act and the Regulation of Imports and Exports Act.

3. In tandem with the amendments to the Copyright Act and the Trade Marks Act described in paragraph 2, the following border measures subsidiary legislations will also be brought into operation when the EUSFTA enters into force. These subsidiary legislations are provided for general information at the weblinks in the second column of the table below.

Please note that all current Singapore legislation is available for reference on Singapore Statutes Online at https://sso.agc.gov.sg.

4. The EUSFTA entry into force date is 21 November 2019.

5. For queries, please contact Soh Lili (SOH_lili@mlaw.gov.sg), and Shaun Ng (Shaun_Ng@mlaw.gov.sg).

Last updated on 12 Nov 2019