https://www.nortonrosefulbright.com...c59b7ec/03-enhancements-proposed-to-singapore
Background
The Report comes some eight years after significant amendments were made to Singapore’s insolvency regime in 2017 and the passing into law of the
Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act2018 (
IRDA), which took effect on 30 July 2020. The IRDA remains the chief legislative instrument governing R&I practice in Singapore. The IRDA consolidated the previously separate personal and corporate insolvency regimes, including features from foreign and international instruments, such as Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code and the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross Border Insolvency. Concurrently, steps have also been taken to clarify the jurisdiction of the Singapore International Commercial Court (
SICC) to hear cross-border restructuring matters, under Order 23A of the SICC Rules.
The passage of a near decade since these amendments took effect warranted a review of their successes and challenges. To this end, the Committee was convened by Singapore’s Ministry of Law and was populated by experts from private practice, government and academia.
1 The Committee intended for its proposals to supplement the existing framework and to ensure that the effective functions of the IRDA are maintained. In particular, its Report is concerned with how corporate R&I could be further enhanced in order to attract corporate stakeholders to utilise the R&I structures in Singapore.
It is also noteworthy that the Report was preceded by the passage of the
Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution (Amendment) Bill 2024 by the Singapore Parliament on 7 January 2025, a law which amends the Simplified Insolvency Program that was first introduced as a temporary measure during the COVID-19 pandemic and makes it a permanent feature of the
Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act (2018).
