Singapore's consumer watchdog CCCS expands role to oversee product safety

The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) will expand its consumer protection mandate by taking on a new role as product safety regulator on Tuesday (Jul 1). The role is currently held by Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) under its Consumer Product Safety Office (CPSO).

With the expanded mandate, the consumer product safety and legal metrology functions under EnterpriseSG will be transferred to CCCS, the consumer watchdog said in a press release on Monday. The CPSO and the Weights and Measures Office (WMO) will report to CCCS after the transfer, thus \"strengthening the agency’s regulatory oversight over consumer protection matters\".

Consumers and businesses can approach CCCS for issues relating to fair trading practices, consumer product safety requirements, as well as weights and measures compliance, it added. Both CCCS and EnterpriseSG are statutory boards under the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

\"The consolidation of consumer protection, legal metrology and competition functions under CCCS underscores the agency’s mission to make Singapore’s markets work well,\" said CCCS. \"Ensuring that businesses operating in Singapore sell products that meet requisite safety standards, as well as adopt accurate measurements when dealing with consumers, is integral to cultivating robust and fair competition, which translates to better opportunities for businesses and consumers alike.\"

Combining competition enforcement with consumer protection oversight will also allow CCCS to have a \"fuller set of tools available\" to \"strengthen market integrity, promote business innovation, and foster a more trusted trading environment\", it said. \"By bringing these complementary regulatory roles together, we can explore ways to reap greater operational synergies and develop a more robust consumer protection regulatory framework to serve businesses and consumers alike,\" said CCCS chief executive Alvin Koh.

CCCS said it is working closely with EnterpriseSG to transfer the functions with minimal disruption to existing services. It added that all existing regulatory requirements, registrations and certificates issued by the CPSO and WMO will remain valid and enforceable under its authority.

The transfer of EnterpriseSG's product safety and legal metrology functions to CCCS was first tabled in Parliament in March as the Competition (Amendment) Bill.

According to the source: CNA.