Oral reply to PQ on enforcement of Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act

Questions:

Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) how often have enforcement actions been taken under the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act for greenwashing-related activities in each of the last five years; and (b) how many of such enforcement actions have been taken against products and services that are not financial services or financial products regulated by MAS.

Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry whether the Ministry will consider working with the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore to explore expanding the Singapore Code of Advertising Practice to explicitly cover greenwashing in non-financial products and services.

Oral Answer (to be attributed to the Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan)

1. Mr Speaker, may I have your permission to take Question Nos. 4 and 5 in the Order Paper together?

2. The Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act protects consumers against false or misleading claims, including those related to greenwashing. The Consumers Association of Singapore and the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore have not received any specific complaints alleging greenwashing.

3. There are existing guidelines under the Singapore Code of Advertising Practice, developed by the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore, to ensure that advertisers must clearly explain, adequately substantiate and qualify any environmental claim where necessary.

4. The Government will continue to monitor developments on greenwashing and develop further measures if necessary.