Singapore

• Available Market Research
• Best Prospects in the ICT Market
• Chambers of Commerce
• Channels of Distribution
  • Agents / Distributors
  • Business to Business (B2B)
    • Airlines
    • Banks
    • Newspapers
    • US Subsidiaries
  • E-Commerce
    • Internet Service Providers
  • Educational
  • Governmental
  • Leasing
  • Retailers
  • Telecommunications Systems Operators
  • Used / Reconditioned
  • VARS, ISVs, Resellers, System Integrators
• Directories and Databases
• Duties, Tariffs & Taxes
• General Country Information
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Legal Issues
• Market Research
• Search Engines
• Technical Standards
• Trade Associations
• Trade Publications
• Trade Shows, Exhibitions and Seminars
• Trade Statistics
• User Groups
• E-Mail Links to the Respective Industry Specialist(s)

Available Market Research

Industry Sector Analyses are industry specific reports prepared either by US Commercial Service Staff or local market research contractors.   Typical reports include:

• A Market Overview
• Market Highlights and Best prospects
• Statistical Data
• Best Sales Prospects
• Competitive Analysis
• End-User Analysis
• Market Access (includes information on duties, taxes, standards etc.)
• Trade Promotion Opportunities
• Trade Publications
• Market Research Companies
• Trade Associations
• Agents, Distributors and Manufacturers

International Marketing Insights (IMI) contain industry specific information and are short, concise reports.  

For a listing of available ISAs and / or IMIs, please click here.

This information is available free of charge to all US companies. 

Welcome to the U.S. Commercial Service

The U.S. Department of Commerce is represented worldwide by the Commercial Service.  The Commercial Service supports U.S. commercial interests and assists American businesses in their export marketing efforts.

Our offices offer business counseling and a wide range of tailored services to assist American firms to identify business opportunities throughout the world. Our offices foreign companies who wish to partner with American companies in areas of distribution of American products, joint ventures, and licensing. While some services are fee-based, many are provided free of charge. We welcome you to our site and encourage you to visit other websites that are likely to be of interest to you.  To find the country of interest, please visit: http://www.buyusa.gov/home/export.html. 

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Best Prospects in the ICT Market

For further information about the Singapore market, please consult the Country Commercial Guide.

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Chambers of Commerce

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Channels of Distribution

For further information of the definitions of the channels of distribution, please click here. The following are known ICT sales channels.   They may or may not be available in all markets

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Agents / Distributors

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Business to Business (B2B)

Airlines

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Banks

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Newspapers

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US Subsidiaries

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E-Commerce

Internet Service Providers

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Educational

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Governmental

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Leasing

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OEM

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Retailers

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Telecommunications Systems Operators

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Used / Reconditioned

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VARS, ISVs, Resellers, System Integrators

Resellers

VARS

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Directories and Databases

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Duties, Tariffs & Taxes

For information about Tariffs and Taxes on Computer Hardware and Software, please see: http://web.ita.doc.gov/.

Please see http://www.apectariff.org 

• Single column tariff applied on the CIF value; if the column is blank, the tariff rate is zero.
• Tariff and tax information can also be found at http://www.customs.gov.sg/  (click on "For Traders")
• Sales Tax of 3 percent applied on the CIF + duty.

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General Country Information

http://www.pacificislandtravel.com/	Pacific Island Travel
http://www.singaporeexpats.com/	Singapore Expats
http://www.stayfinder.com/	Stay Finder
http://www.cia.gov/cia/	The WorldFact Book
http://www.visitorsingapore.com/	Visitor Singapore
http://www.planetgypsy.com/	Planet Gypsey, Singapore
http://www.state.gov/	US Dept. of State's Background Notes
http://travel.state.gov/	US Dept. of State's Consular Information Sheet
http://www.usembassysingapore.org.sg/	US Embassy Singapore
http://www.odci.gov/	CIA Factbook
http://www.eia.doe.gov/	US Dept. of Energy's Country Analysis Briefs
http://geography.about.com/	About's Guide to Singapore
http://www.fodors.com/	Fodors is known for being the best site for travel offering hotel, restaurant reviews and their series of mini-guides to specific destinations.
http://travel.lycos.com/	Lycos Guide for Singapore

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Intellectual Property Rights

Singapore's legal system is based on UK law and offers effective means for enforcing property rights.  Common law protects and facilitates the acquisition and disposition of all property.  Secured interests in property are recognized and enforced. 

Intellectual property protection has improved significantly since the late 1990s, leading to Singapore’s removal from the U.S. Special 301 Watch List in April 2001.  Nevertheless, some problems have remained, including the availability of pirated optical discs, use of unlicensed software by businesses, the transshipment of pirated material through Singapore, and a burdensome process to get infringing material removed from Internet sites.  The US-Singapore FTA addresses these and other issues and provide enhanced protection for U.S. rights owners. While not an FTA commitment, in September 2002 Singapore set up a specialized court (IP Court), which comes under the Singapore Supreme Court, to deal with IP disputes. 

On enforcement, although the production of pirated material and blatant storefront piracy have been sharply reduced (piracy rates for motion pictures and music are now around 20%), pirated optical discs and counterfeit goods continue to be available from vendors in some street markets, outside metro stations, and other high pedestrian locations.  The Intellectual Property Branch of the Singapore Police is working to address such activities, but targeting the highly mobile pirates is a challenge.  The software piracy rate in Singapore, while among the lowest in Asia, remains largely static, and is almost double the level in the U.S.  The absence of criminal penalties for the use of unlicensed software means that many businesses use unlicensed software, resulting in estimated losses by the business software industry of over $30 million annually.  Under the US-Singapore FTA, Singapore would rectify this problem by amending its law. 

Singapore’s continued retention of its “self-help” policy on IPR enforcement, which treats IP infringement differently than other theft crimes, places an undue and expensive burden on rights holders to initiate raids and prosecute pirates.  Although robust government enforcement action represents an important step away from this approach, the “self-help” policy continues to send the wrong message that IP offenses are not crimes against the public interest.  Under the US-Singapore FTA, Singapore has agreed to implement changes to the “self-help” policy, while committing that the government will continue to assume primary responsibility for enforcement. 

Until recently, most educational institutions (the majority government-operated) were out of compliance with their legal obligations to pay royalty fees to publishers in exchange for the right to duplicate copyrighted printed works for use in course materials.  In 2002-2003, the principal universities and polytechnics, along with the Ministry of Education, reached agreements with publishers to pay such compensation.  

Although it is a major transshipment and transit point for sea and air cargo, Singapore does not collect information on the contents and destinations of most transshipment and transit trade, which account for 80% of cargo coming through Singapore.  This lack of information prevents the use of modern customs enforcement techniques, such as risk analysis and profiling, thereby making enforcement against transshipment or transit trade in illegal goods, including infringing products, extremely difficult.  In addition, it is unclear whether Singapore law provides for the seizure of infringing products that are being transshipped or are in transit. 

The US-Singapore FTA will enhance Singapore’s legal framework to provide greater protection for digital works, and to modify requirements and procedures for removing infringing material from Internet sites.  Singapore has also committed to accede to the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, which together set the basic standards for protecting digital content. 

The US-Singapore FTA also ensures that government marketing approval agencies will not grant approval to patent-violating products.  It will also protect against imports of pharmaceutical products without the patent-holder’s consent by allowing lawsuits when contracts are breached. 

There is no specific legislation in Singapore on trade secrets.  Rather, investors' commercially valuable proprietary information is protected under common law by the Law of Confidence.  The US-Singapore FTA protects test data and trade secrets submitted to the government for the purpose of product approval will be protected against disclosure for a period of five years for pharmaceuticals and ten years for agricultural chemicals.  The Official Secrets Act and the Internal Security Act protect all government trade secrets.

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Legal Issues

None Noted

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Market Research

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Search Engines

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Technical Standards

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Trade Associations

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Trade Publications

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Trade Shows, Exhibitions and Seminars

Additional information on how to prepare for and select an international trade show can be found at

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User Groups

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E-Mail Links to the Respective Industry Specialist(s)

Ms. Chia Swee Hoon, Senior Commercial Specialist

CONTACT INFORMATION

Telephone: 65-476-9037

Facsimile: 65-476-9080

E-mail address: sweehoon.chia@mail.doc.gov 

Industry Sectors: Computer Services (CSV), Computer Software (CSF), Computers/Peripherals (CPT), Information Services (INF), Telecommunications Eq. (TEL), Telecommunications Services (TES)

OFFICE INFORMATION

STREET ADDRESS

American Embassy

27 Napier Road

Singapore 258508, Singapore

U.S. MAILING ADDRESS

American Embassy - Singapore

Foreign Commercial Service

FPO AP 96507

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Revised: November 08, 2008

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