Singapore: Adopted SPF Code of Practice for E-Commerce Services including user identification requirement

On 21 June 2024, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) adopted the Code of Practice for E-Commerce Services under the Online Criminal Harms Act 2023. The code requires all designated e-commerce service providers to verify their business users against government-issued records and provide users with payment protection mechanisms which ensure that goods and services are first delivered before payment is released to sellers. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) stated that it will adopt a risk-calibrated and outcome-based approach for the implementation of the 2 obligations. In particular, priority will be given to the user verification requirement, and initially, only "risky sellers" will need verification, but if the e-commerce scam situation does not improve, this requirement will be expanded to more users. For Carousell, from 1 July to 31 December 2024, MHA will assess the effectiveness of verifying risky sellers. If scams do not significantly decrease, all sellers will need verification by 1 April 2025. For Facebook Marketplace, from 1 June to 30 November 2024, the same assessment will be made, with a requirement for all sellers to be verified by 1 March 2025 if scams persist. For Facebook Advertisements, from 1 July to 31 December 2024, risky advertisers will be assessed, and all advertisers will need verification by 1 April 2025 if necessary. The requirements for Facebook Pages will be waived for now to allow Facebook to focus on Marketplace and Advertisements.