Singapore Proposes Changes to Companies Registry for Data Privacy

Singapore’s national business register, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) is consulting on a wide range of legislative changes. One aspect of these changes is intended to address the concerns of shareholders and directors of the company regarding the disclosure of their personal data filed with ACRA, namely that such data should not be published or made available to the public.

At the same time, there may be legitimate purposes for which ACRA may need to disclose it; for example, to government agencies and private institutions for specific research, law enforcement or identity verification purposes.

The main changes proposed in the ACRA consultation to address the above personal data protection concerns are as follows:

1. So that the identification number of all natural persons in ACRA’s public registers (including those of directors and shareholders of a company) is partially masked;
2. For a “contact address” to be used as an individuals default address that will be shown to the public, instead of the individual’s residential address. This contact address can be used at the time of filing/registration, at no additional cost to the company;
3. That all references to the “name” and “full name” of persons in legislation administered by ACRA be standardized such that they must refer to a person’s name as it appears on their ID card. identity, including main name, Hanyu Pinyin Chinese name, pseudonym, Hanyu Pinyin Chinese alias and marital name (if applicable);
4. Job holders and shareholders to provide and update their email addresses and mobile phone numbers, and business entities to provide and update their work email addresses;
5. So that ACRA’s correspondence and notices (other than summonses) are delivered and accessible by individuals and businesses via a virtual mailbox;
6. For ACRA to adopt a tiered framework for any disclosure of personal data, and have the authority to pull data from government agencies for filing purposes, and use that data to verify information on its registry.

The consultation will close on January 28, 2022.

[O]One of the functions of ACRA is to collect documents and information relating to business entities and public accountants, and to provide public access to this information in order to improve corporate transparency and facilitate business activity. trade and economic growth. ACRA is proposing changes to reduce the amount of data that must be filed with ACRA, to improve convenience for filers and data accuracy and value for users, and to facilitate digital matches between government and business with commercial entities.

www.acra.gov.sg/…