.jpg)
15 November, 2016
Singapore’s Ministry of Law submitted the Civil Law (Amendment) Bill 2016 for its First Reading in Parliament.
Largely unchanged from the version released for public consultation in June, the tabled Bill:
- abolishes the common law tort of champerty and maintenance in Singapore
- allows third-party funding in certain categories of dispute resolution to be listed in the Civil Law (Third Party Funding) Regulations
- allows conditions to be imposed on third-party funders, non-compliance with which will prevent third party funders from be able to enforce their rights under their third-party funding contracts
- allows lawyers to recommend third-party funders to their clients provided the lawyers do not receive any direct financial benefit from such recommendations.
Harbour welcomes the tabling of legislative amendments to allow third party funding for international arbitration in Singapore which, if accepted, will allow businesses to use the funding tools already available in other arbitration centres. This in effect will allow Singapore to continue to promote itself as a leading venue for international arbitration.
To further promote its growth for international dispute resolution more generally, we hope the changes constitute a first step towards permitting third party in a wider variety of proceedings including, at least, in the Singapore International Commercial Court.
Second Reading and Committee approval will follow in due course, with it widely expected that the approved Act will be published in the Government Gazette in early 2017.
For further information, please contact:
Stephen O’Dowd, Harbour
stephen.odowd@harbourlf.com
