Louis Chua on Significant Investments Review Bill

While it is important to safeguard critical entities and infrastructure in Singapore and take preventive actions to protect the country’s national security interests, it is just as important to ensure that this is done in a “justifiable and transparent manner” with decisions “publicly accounted for on a regular basis, such as in other jurisdictions”. MP Louis Chua said this in Parliament on Tuesday (Jan 9) during the debate on the Significant Investments Review Bill. He said it was unclear if a list of designated entities under the Bill would eventually be disclosed. He also wanted to know if the sectors in which the new legislation will apply will be made known for greater regulatory transparency, and how often the list of designated entities will be reviewed and updated. Other questions Mr Chua asked include the rationale for designating five per cent as the threshold in which acquirers of designated entities must notify the minister, whether the Bill protects against transfers of technology or core intellectual property rights that may jeopardise Singapore’s national security even without ownership change of an entity, how the Government will determine that an entity has acted against “national security interests” when that phrase is not defined in the Bill, and why the courts will play no role in any reviews, when Singapore’s “reputation as an international business hub relies heavily on upholding the rule of law”.