On 10th January, Parliament passed the Civil Law (Amendment) Bill 38/2016 into law in Singapore, approving the proposed legislative amendments to introduce a legal framework for third party funding (TPF) in international arbitration in Singapore.
In November 2016, Singapore’s Ministry of Law submitted the Bill 2016 for its First Reading. The Bill was explained in a second reading in Parliament on 10th January 2017 and passed into law on the same day. The law will only come into operation, however, on the date as will be stated upon publication in the Government Gazette.
Largely unchanged from the version released for public consultation in June, the tabled Bill:
- abolishes the common law tort of champerty and maintenance in Singapore
- allows third-party funding in certain categories of dispute resolution to be listed in the Civil Law (Third Party Funding) Regulations
- allows conditions to be imposed on third-party funders, non-compliance with which will prevent third party funders from be able to enforce their rights under their third-party funding contracts
- allows lawyers to recommend third-party funders to their clients provided the lawyers do not receive any direct financial benefit from such recommendations.
In our recent edition of Harbour View, with a treasure of insights into TPF developments across the Asia Pacific region, we highlighted the fast pace of change with which change is happening. Harbour welcomes the developments in Singapore which will allow businesses and lawyers alike to take advantage of funding for their arbitrations.
For any questions on third party funding in the Asia Pacific region, please contact the team in Hong Kong.
