Singapore law

The benefits of autonomous vehicles (AVs) are widely acknowledged, but there are concerns about the extent of these benefits and AV risks and unintended consequences. In this article, we first examine AVs and different categories of the technological risks associated with them. We then explore strategies that can be adopted to address these risks, and explore emerging responses by governments for addressing AV risks. Our analyses reveal that, thus far, governments have in most instances avoided stringent measures in order to promote AV developments and the majority of responses are non-binding and focus on creating councils or working groups to better explore AV implications. The US has been active in introducing legislations to address issues related to privacy and cybersecurity. The UK and Germany, in particular, have enacted laws to address liability issues; other countries mostly acknowledge these issues, but have yet to implement specific strategies. To address privacy and cybersecurity risks strategies ranging from introduction or amendment of non-AV specific legislation to creating working groups have been adopted. Much less attention has been paid to issues such as environmental and employment risks, although a few governments have begun programmes to retrain workers who might be negatively affected.

(ENGLISH)
The Italian “Simplification Decree” nr. 135/2018 has paved the way to a more widespread usage of distributed ledger technologies (blockchains) and their applications “smart contracts”, digital tokens and their issuance, e.g. through “ICOs”, and trade, e.g. through “crypto exchanges”. The article begins with an introduction, in plain terms, of the technological terms used, and continues with an overview of the practical, legal and philosophical consequences of their implementation. It then delves into the Italian legislation identifying some critical issues and describing the role of the Agency for Digital Italy (AgID) and, adopting a comparative approach, those of Malta, EU Member State and the first jurisdiction with a comprehensive legal framework on the matter and Singapore, currently ranking as the top destination for ICOs and crypto exchanges, where the newly introduced “Payment Services Act” has further regulated and facilitated this type of operations.

(ITALIAN)
Il "Decreto Semplificazioni" n. 135/2018 ha aperto le porte anche in Italia all'utilizzo diffuso dei database distribuiti (cd. blockchain) e alle loro applicazioni "smart contracts", token digitali e loro emissione, ad esempio attraverso le "ICO", e scambio, ad esempio tramite "exchange". L'articolo offre un'introduzione ai concetti tecnologici utilizzati, con un linguaggio esemplificativo, e prosegue con una panoramica delle conseguenze pratiche, giuridiche e filosofiche dell'attuazione di tali tecnologie, per poi approfondire la normativa italiana, individuandone alcune criticità e delinando il ruolo dell'Agenzia per l'Italia Digitale (AgID) e, in funzione comparatistica, approfondendo la normativa di Malta, primo Paese al mondo e Stato Membro dell'UE ad avere introdotto un corpus normativo sull'intera materia e quella di Singapore, luogo di elezione per le ICO e per l'ubicazione di "exchanges" di criptovalute, dove recentemente è stato introdotto il Payment Services Act".

Recently we have witnessed the worldwide adoption of many different types of innovative technologies, such as crowdsourcing, ridesharing, open and big data, aiming at delivering public services more efficiently and effectively. Among them, ridesharing has received substantial attention from decision-makers around the world. Because of the multitude of currently understood or potentially unknown risks associated with ridesharing (unemployment, insurance, information privacy, and environmental risk), governments in different countries apply different strategies to address such risks. Some governments prohibit the adoption of ridesharing altogether, while other governments promote it. In this article, we address the question of how risks involved in ridesharing are governed over time. We present an in-depth single case study on Singapore and examine how the Singaporean government has addressed risks in ridesharing over time. The Singaporean government has a strong ambition to become an innovation hub, and many innovative technologies have been adopted and promoted to that end. At the same time, decision-makers in Singapore are reputed for their proactive style of social governance. The example of Singapore can be regarded as a revelatory case study, helping us further to explore governance practices in other countries.

At the eastern entrance of the Singapore Strait lies Pedra Branca, an island of granite rock situated in hazardous waters. Its unexceptional presence belies a rich cartographical history and infamous reputation for leading ships to grief since antiquity. Pedra Branca was first pushed into the spotlight when the British constructed the Horsburgh Lighthouse in 1851. It later caught international attention when a heated territorial dispute for the island between Singapore and Malaysia arose, lasting from 1979 to 2018, with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) eventually granting rights to Singapore. The ensuing legal battle led to renewed interest in the geography and post-19th century history of the island. The most recent breakthrough, however, provides a glimpse into an even earlier history of Pedra Branca - and, by extension, Singapore - as shipwrecked remains dating from the 14th century were uncovered in the surrounding waters. Historical research on the ancient history of Pedra Branca has been mostly neglected by scholars over the years; thus, this paper aims to shed some light on this enigmatic history of the island and at the same time establish its history and significance by utilizing pre-British-colonization historical cartographical data from as early as the 15th century.

At the eastern entrance of the Singapore Strait lies Pedra Branca, an island of granite rock situated in hazardous waters. Its unexceptional presence belies a rich cartographical history and infamous reputation for leading ships to grief since antiquity. Pedra Branca was first pushed into the spotlight when the British constructed the Horsburgh Lighthouse in 1851. It later caught international attention when a heated territorial dispute for the island between Singapore and Malaysia arose, lasting from 1979–2018, with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) eventually granting rights to Singapore. The ensuing legal battle led to renewed interest in the geography and post-19th century history of the island. The most recent breakthrough, however, provides a glimpse into an even earlier history of Pedra Branca—and by extension, Singapore—as shipwrecked remains dating from the 14th century were uncovered in the surrounding waters. Historical research on the ancient history of Pedra Bran...