Doing Business 2018 Singapore Economy Pro le of Singapore Doing Business 2018 Indicators (in order of appearance in the document) Starting a business Procedures, time, cost and paid-in minimum capital to start a limited liability company Dealing with construction Procedures, time and cost to complete all formalities to build a warehouse and the quality control and permits safety mechanisms in the construction permitting system Getting electricity Procedures, time and cost to get connected to the electrical grid, the reliability of the electricity supply and the transparency of tariffs Registering property Procedures, time and cost to transfer a property and the quality of the land administration system Getting credit Movable collateral laws and credit information systems Protecting minority investors Minority shareholders’ rights in related-party transactions and in corporate governance Paying taxes Payments, time and total tax rate for a firm to comply with all tax regulations as well as post-filing processes Trading across borders Time and cost to export the product of comparative advantage and import auto parts Enforcing contracts Time and cost to resolve a commercial dispute and the quality of judicial processes Resolving insolvency Time, cost, outcome and recovery rate for a commercial insolvency and the strength of the legal framework for insolvency Labor market regulation Flexibility in employment regulation and aspects of job quality About Doing Business The Doing Business project provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level. The Doing Business project, launched in 2002, looks at domestic small and medium-size companies and measures the regulations applying to them through their life cycle. Doing Business captures several important dimensions of the regulatory environment as it applies to local rms. It provides quantitative indicators on regulation for starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. Doing Business also measures features of labor market regulation. Although Doing Business does not present rankings of economies on the labor market regulation indicators or include the topic in the aggregate distance to frontier score or ranking on the ease of doing business, it does present the data for these indicators. By gathering and analyzing comprehensive quantitative data to compare business regulation environments across economies and over time, Doing Business encourages economies to compete towards more e cient regulation; o ers measurable benchmarks for reform; and serves as a resource for academics, journalists, private sector researchers and others interested in the business climate of each economy. In addition, Doing Business o ers detailed subnational reports, which exhaustively cover business regulation and reform in di erent cities and regions within a nation. These reports provide data on the ease of doing business, rank each location, and recommend reforms to improve performance in each of the indicator areas. Selected cities can compare their business regulations with other cities in the economy or region and with the 190 economies that Doing Business has ranked. The rst Doing Business report, published in 2003, covered 5 indicator sets and 133 economies. This year’s report covers 11 indicator sets and 190 economies. Most indicator sets refer to a case scenario in the largest business city of each economy, except for 11 economies that have a population of more than 100 million as of 2013 (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Russian Federation and the United States) where Doing Business, also collected data for the second largest business city. The data for these 11 economies are a population-weighted average for the 2 largest business cities. The project has bene ted from feedback from governments, academics, practitioners and reviewers. The initial goal remains: to provide an objective basis for understanding and improving the regulatory environment for business around the world. Page 2   for insolvency Doing Business Labor market 2018 regulation Singapore Flexibility in employment regulation and aspects of job quality About Doing Business The Doing Business project provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level. The Doing Business project, launched in 2002, looks at domestic small and medium-size companies and measures the regulations applying to them through their life cycle. Doing Business captures several important dimensions of the regulatory environment as it applies to local rms. It provides quantitative indicators on regulation for starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. Doing Business also measures features of labor market regulation. Although Doing Business does not present rankings of economies on the labor market regulation indicators or include the topic in the aggregate distance to frontier score or ranking on the ease of doing business, it does present the data for these indicators. By gathering and analyzing comprehensive quantitative data to compare business regulation environments across economies and over time, Doing Business encourages economies to compete towards more e cient regulation; o ers measurable benchmarks for reform; and serves as a resource for academics, journalists, private sector researchers and others interested in the business climate of each economy. In addition, Doing Business o ers detailed subnational reports, which exhaustively cover business regulation and reform in di erent cities and regions within a nation. These reports provide data on the ease of doing business, rank each location, and recommend reforms to improve performance in each of the indicator areas. Selected cities can compare their business regulations with other cities in the economy or region and with the 190 economies that Doing Business has ranked. The rst Doing Business report, published in 2003, covered 5 indicator sets and 133 economies. This year’s report covers 11 indicator sets and 190 economies. Most indicator sets refer to a case scenario in the largest business city of each economy, except for 11 economies that have a population of more than 100 million as of 2013 (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Russian Federation and the United States) where Doing Business, also collected data for the second largest business city. The data for these 11 economies are a population-weighted average for the 2 largest business cities. The project has bene ted from feedback from governments, academics, practitioners and reviewers. The initial goal remains: to provide an objective basis for understanding and improving the regulatory environment for business around the world. The distance to frontier (DTF) measure shows the distance of each economy to the “frontier,” which represents the best performance observed on each of the indicators across all economies in the Doing Business sample since 2005. An economy’s distance to frontier is re ected on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest performance and 100 represents the frontier. The ease of doing business ranking ranges from 1 to 190. The ranking of 190 economies is determined by sorting the aggregate distance to frontier scores, rounded to two decimals. More about Doing Business (PDF, 5MB) Ease of Doing Business in Region East Asia & Pacific DB 2018 Rank 190 1 Singapore Income Category High income 2 Population 5,607,283 DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) GNI Per Capita (US$) 51,880 0 100 84.57 City Covered Singapore DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 84.57: Singapore (Rank: 2) 83.92: Korea, Rep. (Rank: 4) 83.44: Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank: 5) 75.68: Japan (Rank: 34) 65.29: China (Rank: 78) Page 3   62.70: Regional Average (East Asia & Pacific) aggregate distance to frontier scores, rounded to two decimals. More Doingabout 2018 (PDF, Doing Business Business 5MB) Singapore Ease of Doing Business in Region East Asia & Pacific DB 2018 Rank 190 1 Singapore Income Category High income 2 Population 5,607,283 DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) GNI Per Capita (US$) 51,880 0 100 84.57 City Covered Singapore DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 84.57: Singapore (Rank: 2) 83.92: Korea, Rep. (Rank: 4) 83.44: Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank: 5) 75.68: Japan (Rank: 34) 65.29: China (Rank: 78) 62.70: Regional Average (East Asia & Pacific) Note: The distance to frontier (DTF) measure shows the distance of each economy to the “frontier,” which represents the best performance observed on each of the indicators across all economies in the Doing Business sample since 2005. An economy’s distance to frontier is re ected on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest performance and 100 represents the frontier. The ease of doing business ranking ranges from 1 to 190. Rankings on Doing Business topics - Singapore 6 4 2 1 7 16 12 19 29 27 28 42 55 82 Rank 109 136 163 190 Starting Dealing Getting Registering Getting Protecting Paying Trading Enforcing Resolving a with Electricity Property Credit Minority Taxes across Contracts Insolvency Business Construction Investors Borders Permits Distance to Frontier (DTF) on Doing Business topics - Singapore 100 96.49 91.33 91.58 89.57 83.57 83.61 80.26 80.00 80 75.00 74.31 60 DTF 40 20 0 Starting Dealing Getting Registering Getting Protecting Paying Trading Enforcing Resolving a with Electricity Property Credit Minority Taxes across Contracts Insolvency Business Construction Change:+0.01 Change:-0.01 Change:0.00 Investors Change:+0.10 Borders Change:0.00 Change:0.00 Change:0.00 Permits Change:0.00 Change:+0.27 Change:+0.01 Starting a Business Page 4   This topic measures the paid-in minimum capital requirement, number of procedures, time and cost for a small- to medium-sized a with Electricity Property Credit Minority Taxes across Contracts Insolvency Business Construction Change:+0.01 Change:-0.01 Change:0.00 Investors Change:+0.10 Borders Change:0.00 Change:0.00 Change:0.00 Permits Change:0.00 Change:+0.27 Doing Business 2018 Singapore Change:+0.01 Starting a Business This topic measures the paid-in minimum capital requirement, number of procedures, time and cost for a small- to medium-sized limited liability company to start up and formally operate in economy’s largest business city. To make the data comparable across 190 economies, Doing Business uses a standardized business that is 100% domestically owned, has start-up capital equivalent to 10 times income per capita, engages in general industrial or commercial activities and employs between 10 and 50 people one month after the commencement of operations, all of whom are domestic nationals. Starting a Business considers two types of local limited liability companies that are identical in all aspects, except that one company is owned by 5 married women and the other by 5 married men. The distance to frontier score for each indicator is the average of the scores obtained for each of the component indicators. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Procedures to legally start and operate a To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions company (number) about the business and the procedures are used. It is assumed that any required information is readily available and that the entrepreneur will pay Pre-registration (for example, name verification no bribes. or reservation, notarization) Registration in economy’s largest business city The business: - Is a limited liability company (or its legal equivalent). If there is more than Post-registration (for example, social security one type of limited liability company in the economy, the most common registration, company seal) among domestic rms is chosen. Information on the most common form is Obtaining approval from spouse to start business obtained from incorporation lawyers or the statistical o ce. or leave home to register company - Operates in the economy’s largest business city and the entire o ce Obtaining any gender-specific permission that space is approximately 929 square meters (10,000 square feet). For 11 can impact company registration, company economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city. operations and process of getting national - Is 100% domestically owned and has ve owners, none of whom is a legal identity card entity; and has a start-up capital of 10 times income per capita and has a Time required to complete each procedure turnover of at least 100 times income per capita. (calendar days) - Performs general industrial or commercial activities, such as the production or sale of goods or services to the public. The business does Does not include time spent gathering not perform foreign trade activities and does not handle products subject information to a special tax regime, for example, liquor or tobacco. It does not use Each procedure starts on a separate day (2 heavily polluting production processes. procedures cannot start on the same day) - Leases the commercial plant or o ces and is not a proprietor of real Procedures fully completed online are recorded estate and the amount of the annual lease for the o ce space is equivalent as ½ day to 1 times income per capita. Procedure is considered completed once final - Does not qualify for investment incentives or any special bene ts. document is received - Has at least 10 and up to 50 employees one month after the commencement of operations, all of whom are domestic nationals. No prior contact with officials - Has a company deed 10 pages long. Cost required to complete each procedure (% of The owners: income per capita) - Have reached the legal age of majority. If there is no legal age of majority, Official costs only, no bribes they are assumed to be 30 years old. No professional fees unless services required by - Are sane, competent, in good health and have no criminal record. law or commonly used in practice - Are married and the marriage is monogamous and registered with the authorities. Paid-in minimum capital (% of income per capita) - Where the answer di ers according to the legal system applicable to the Funds deposited in a bank or with third party woman or man in question (as may be the case in economies where there before registration or up to 3 months after is legal plurality), the answer used will be the one that applies to the incorporation majority of the population. Standardized Company Page 5   before registration or up to 3 months after is legal plurality), the answer used will be the one that applies to the incorporation majority of the population. Doing Business 2018 Singapore Standardized Company Legal form Private Limited Liability Company Paid-in minimum capital requirement SGD 0 City Covered Singapore East Asia & OECD high Indicator Singapore Pacific income Overall Best Performer Procedure – Men (number) 3 7.0 4.9 1.00 (New Zealand) Time – Men (days) 2.5 22.7 8.5 0.50 (New Zealand) Cost – Men (% of income per capita) 0.5 18.4 3.1 0.00 (United Kingdom) Procedure – Women (number) 3 7.0 4.9 1.00 (New Zealand) Time – Women (days) 2.5 22.8 8.5 0.50 (New Zealand) Cost – Women (% of income per capita) 0.5 18.4 3.1 0.00 (United Kingdom) Paid-in min. capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 15.1 8.7 0.00 (113 Economies) Figure – Starting a Business in Singapore and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 98.14: Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank: 3) 96.49: Singapore (Rank: 6) 95.83: Korea, Rep. (Rank: 9) 85.47: China (Rank: 93) 84.37: Japan (Rank: 106) 82.32: Regional Average (East Asia & Pacific) Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of starting a business is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for starting a business. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the component indicators. Figure – Starting a Business in Singapore – Procedure, Time and Cost Time Cost 2.5 0.5 2 0.4 ost (% of income per capita) Time (days) 1.5 0.3 1 0.2 Page 6   starting a business. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the component indicators. Doing Business 2018 Singapore Figure – Starting a Business in Singapore – Procedure, Time and Cost Time Cost 2.5 0.5 2 0.4 Cost (% of income per capita) Time (days) 1.5 0.3 1 0.2 0.5 0.1 0 0 1 2 3 Procedures (number) * This symbol is shown beside procedure numbers that take place simultaneously with the previous procedure. Note: Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. For economies that have a di erent procedure list for men and women, the graph shows the time for women. For more information on methodology, see the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org/methodology). For details on the procedures re ected here, see the summary below. Details – Starting a Business in Singapore – Procedure, Time and Cost No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs 1 Registration on-line with ACRA including company name search and Less than one day SGD 315 ling the company incorporation and tax number (GST) (online procedure) Agency : ACRA The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) is the national regulator of businesses and public accountants in Singapore. Incorporation is done through Biz le, an electronic ling system. An application for the approval and reservation of a company name is to be submitted online via Biz le. Since 2007, Biz le has been providing one-stop business facilitation services to customers at the point of registration. These services include reserving domain names, goods and services tax (GST) registration, subscribing for the relevant e-newsletter and registering for e-service alerts on latest government procurement opportunities, activating Customs Account and application for a corporate bank account. An application fee of SGD 15 is payable for each approved company name. It can generally be completed within an hour after payment online. Once a name has been approved, it will be reserved for 60 days. A one-time application for the extension of the reservation period by a further 60 days can be made before the expiry date. Entrepreneurs registering a new business can purchase the Business Pro le on line at the same time of registration, when lling up the incorporation forms. The processing time is about 15 minutes from the time of successful submission of all documents and all information, and the registration fee payable is SGD 300. The ACRA will issue a notice of incorporation via electronic mail to the law rm or professional rm engaged for the purposes of incorporation upon the successful incorporation of the company together Page 7   with the registration number of the company. (http://www.doingbusiness.org/methodology). For details on the procedures re ected here, see the summary below. Doing Business 2018 Singapore Details – Starting a Business in Singapore – Procedure, Time and Cost No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs 1 Registration on-line with ACRA including company name search and Less than one day SGD 315 ling the company incorporation and tax number (GST) (online procedure) Agency : ACRA The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) is the national regulator of businesses and public accountants in Singapore. Incorporation is done through Biz le, an electronic ling system. An application for the approval and reservation of a company name is to be submitted online via Biz le. Since 2007, Biz le has been providing one-stop business facilitation services to customers at the point of registration. These services include reserving domain names, goods and services tax (GST) registration, subscribing for the relevant e-newsletter and registering for e-service alerts on latest government procurement opportunities, activating Customs Account and application for a corporate bank account. An application fee of SGD 15 is payable for each approved company name. It can generally be completed within an hour after payment online. Once a name has been approved, it will be reserved for 60 days. A one-time application for the extension of the reservation period by a further 60 days can be made before the expiry date. Entrepreneurs registering a new business can purchase the Business Pro le on line at the same time of registration, when lling up the incorporation forms. The processing time is about 15 minutes from the time of successful submission of all documents and all information, and the registration fee payable is SGD 300. The ACRA will issue a notice of incorporation via electronic mail to the law rm or professional rm engaged for the purposes of incorporation upon the successful incorporation of the company together with the registration number of the company. The registration with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) for the goods and services tax (GST) when (a) its annual taxable turnover exceeds SGD 1 million can be done using the same online forms. 2 Make a company seal 1 day SGD 70 Agency : Seal maker The company seal is not mandatory but it is still a common practice for entrepreneurs. It is generally obtained from the company seal manufacturers. Generally a market rate of SGD 40 will be charged if the seal is to be collected within 3 days or approximately SGD 70 if the seal is to be collected within 1 day 3 Sign up for Employee Compensation Insurance at an insurance agency 1 day no charge Agency : Insurance Agency Under Section 23(1) of the Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA), Chapter 354, of Singapore, every employer shall insure and maintain insurance under one or more approved policies with an insurer against all liabilities which the company may incur under the provisions of this Act in respect of any employee employed by the company unless the Minister, by noti cation in the Gazette, waives the requirement of such insurance in relation to any employer. Time and cost may depend on the arrangement between the company and Page 8   the insurance agency. is to be collected within 3 days or approximately SGD 70 if the seal is to be Doing collected Business within 20181 daySingapore 3 Sign up for Employee Compensation Insurance at an insurance agency 1 day no charge Agency : Insurance Agency Under Section 23(1) of the Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA), Chapter 354, of Singapore, every employer shall insure and maintain insurance under one or more approved policies with an insurer against all liabilities which the company may incur under the provisions of this Act in respect of any employee employed by the company unless the Minister, by noti cation in the Gazette, waives the requirement of such insurance in relation to any employer. Time and cost may depend on the arrangement between the company and the insurance agency. Applies to women only. Takes place simultaneously with previous procedure. Dealing with Construction Permits This topic tracks the procedures, time and cost to build a warehouse—including obtaining necessary the licenses and permits, submitting all required noti cations, requesting and receiving all necessary inspections and obtaining utility connections. In addition, the Dealing with Construction Permits indicator measures the building quality control index, evaluating the quality of building regulations, the strength of quality control and safety mechanisms, liability and insurance regimes, and professional certi cation requirements. The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Procedures to legally build a warehouse (number) To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions about the construction company, the warehouse project and the utility Submitting all relevant documents and obtaining connections are used. all necessary clearances, licenses, permits and certificates The construction company (BuildCo): Submitting all required notifications and - Is a limited liability company (or its legal equivalent) and operates in the receiving all necessary inspections economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city. Obtaining utility connections for water and - Is 100% domestically and privately owned; has ve owners, none of whom sewerage is a legal entity. Has a licensed architect and a licensed engineer, both Registering and selling the warehouse after its registered with the local association of architects or engineers. BuildCo is completion not assumed to have any other employees who are technical or licensed Time required to complete each procedure experts, such as geological or topographical experts. (calendar days) - Owns the land on which the warehouse will be built and will sell the warehouse upon its completion. Does not include time spent gathering information The warehouse: Each procedure starts on a separate day— - Will be used for general storage activities, such as storage of books or though procedures that can be fully completed stationery. online are an exception to this rule - Will have two stories, both above ground, with a total constructed area of Procedure is considered completed once final approximately 1,300.6 square meters (14,000 square feet). Each oor will document is received be 3 meters (9 feet, 10 inches) high and will be located on a land plot of No prior contact with officials approximately 929 square meters (10,000 square feet) that is 100% owned by BuildCo, and the warehouse is valued at 50 times income per capita. Cost required to complete each procedure (% of - Will have complete architectural and technical plans prepared by a warehouse value) licensed architect. If preparation of the plans requires such steps as Official costs only, no bribes obtaining further documentation or getting prior approvals from external Building quality control index (0-15) agencies, these are counted as procedures. Page 9   - Will take 30 weeks to construct (excluding all delays due to administrative Sum of the scores of six component indices: Applies to women only. Takes place simultaneously with previous procedure. Doing Business 2018 Singapore Dealing with Construction Permits This topic tracks the procedures, time and cost to build a warehouse—including obtaining necessary the licenses and permits, submitting all required noti cations, requesting and receiving all necessary inspections and obtaining utility connections. In addition, the Dealing with Construction Permits indicator measures the building quality control index, evaluating the quality of building regulations, the strength of quality control and safety mechanisms, liability and insurance regimes, and professional certi cation requirements. The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Procedures to legally build a warehouse (number) To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions about the construction company, the warehouse project and the utility Submitting all relevant documents and obtaining connections are used. all necessary clearances, licenses, permits and certificates The construction company (BuildCo): Submitting all required notifications and - Is a limited liability company (or its legal equivalent) and operates in the receiving all necessary inspections economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city. Obtaining utility connections for water and - Is 100% domestically and privately owned; has ve owners, none of whom sewerage is a legal entity. Has a licensed architect and a licensed engineer, both Registering and selling the warehouse after its registered with the local association of architects or engineers. BuildCo is completion not assumed to have any other employees who are technical or licensed Time required to complete each procedure experts, such as geological or topographical experts. (calendar days) - Owns the land on which the warehouse will be built and will sell the warehouse upon its completion. Does not include time spent gathering information The warehouse: Each procedure starts on a separate day— - Will be used for general storage activities, such as storage of books or though procedures that can be fully completed stationery. online are an exception to this rule - Will have two stories, both above ground, with a total constructed area of Procedure is considered completed once final approximately 1,300.6 square meters (14,000 square feet). Each oor will document is received be 3 meters (9 feet, 10 inches) high and will be located on a land plot of No prior contact with officials approximately 929 square meters (10,000 square feet) that is 100% owned by BuildCo, and the warehouse is valued at 50 times income per capita. Cost required to complete each procedure (% of - Will have complete architectural and technical plans prepared by a warehouse value) licensed architect. If preparation of the plans requires such steps as Official costs only, no bribes obtaining further documentation or getting prior approvals from external Building quality control index (0-15) agencies, these are counted as procedures. - Will take 30 weeks to construct (excluding all delays due to administrative Sum of the scores of six component indices: and regulatory requirements). Quality of building regulations (0-2) The water and sewerage connections: Quality control before construction (0-1) - Will be 150 meters (492 feet) from the existing water source and sewer Quality control during construction (0-3) tap. If there is no water delivery infrastructure in the economy, a borehole Quality control after construction (0-3) will be dug. If there is no sewerage infrastructure, a septic tank in the smallest size available will be installed or built. Liability and insurance regimes (0-2) - Will have an average water use of 662 liters (175 gallons) a day and an Professional certifications (0-4) average wastewater ow of 568 liters (150 gallons) a day. Will have a peak water use of 1,325 liters (350 gallons) a day and a peak wastewater ow of 1,136 liters (300 gallons) a day. - Will have a constant level of water demand and wastewater ow throughout the year; will be 1 inch in diameter for the water connection and 4 inches in diameter for the sewerage connection. Standardized Warehouse Page 10   and 4 inches in diameter for the sewerage connection. Doing Business 2018 Singapore Standardized Warehouse Estimated value of warehouse SGD 3,541,360.40 City Covered Singapore East Asia & OECD high Indicator Singapore Pacific income Overall Best Performer Procedures (number) 10 15.2 12.5 7.00 (Denmark) Time (days) 54 138.2 154.6 27.5 (Korea, Rep.) Cost (% of warehouse value) 6.2 2.2 1.6 0.10 (5 Economies) Building quality control index (0-15) 12.0 8.9 11.4 15.00 (3 Economies) Figure – Dealing with Construction Permits in Singapore and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 84.86: Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank: 5) 80.26: Singapore (Rank: 16) 77.74: Korea, Rep. (Rank: 28) 73.36: Japan (Rank: 50) 69.60: Regional Average (East Asia & Pacific) 47.28: China (Rank: 172) Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of dealing with construction permits is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for dealing with construction permits. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the component indicators. Figure – Dealing with Construction Permits in Singapore – Procedure, Time and Cost Time Cost 7 50 6 Cost (% of warehouse value) 40 5 Time (days) 30 4 3 20 2 10 1 0 0 1 *2 3 4 *5 6 7 8 9 10 Procedures (number) * This symbol is shown beside procedure numbers that take place simultaneously with the previous procedure. Page 11   component indicators. Doing Business 2018 Singapore Figure – Dealing with Construction Permits in Singapore – Procedure, Time and Cost Time Cost 7 50 6 Cost (% of warehouse value) 40 5 Time (days) 30 4 3 20 2 10 1 0 0 1 *2 3 4 *5 6 7 8 9 10 Procedures (number) * This symbol is shown beside procedure numbers that take place simultaneously with the previous procedure. Note: Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. For economies that have a di erent procedure list for men and women, the graph shows the time for women. For more information on methodology, see the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org/methodology). For details on the procedures re ected here, see the summary below. Figure – Dealing with Construction Permits in Singapore and comparator economies – Measure of Quality 14 12.0 12.0 12 11.0 9.6 10 8.9 Index score 8.0 8 6 4 2 0 Singapore China Hong Kong SAR, China Japan Korea, Rep. East Asia & Pacific Details – Dealing with Construction Permits in Singapore – Procedure, Time and Cost No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs 1 Obtain a Geo-technical study / Soil test 7 days SGD 2,000 Agency : Private rms BuildCo will request a soil test for the structural calculations for the foundation. 2 Hire certi ed Quali ed Professionals to apply for project approvals and 1 day SGD 205,399 supervise construction Agency : Private Firm BuildCo. must hire an independent, external and certi ed Quali ed Professional in order to carry out project approvals, apply for and obtain the building permit and supervise construction. Page 12   Singapore China Hong Kong SAR, China Japan Korea, Rep. East Asia & Pacific Doing Business 2018 Singapore Details – Dealing with Construction Permits in Singapore – Procedure, Time and Cost No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs 1 Obtain a Geo-technical study / Soil test 7 days SGD 2,000 Agency : Private rms BuildCo will request a soil test for the structural calculations for the foundation. 2 Hire certi ed Quali ed Professionals to apply for project approvals and 1 day SGD 205,399 supervise construction Agency : Private Firm BuildCo. must hire an independent, external and certi ed Quali ed Professional in order to carry out project approvals, apply for and obtain the building permit and supervise construction. 3 Obtain written permission from the Urban Redevelopment Authority 14 days SGD 2,680 Agency : Urban Redevelopment Authority The application for permission from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) can be done electronically by a Quali ed Professional (QP) through the CORENET Electronic Development Applications (EDA) system. The company must submit a digital EDA form, along with the following: • Proposal and sketch plans for the development • Survey plans for sloping or undulating sites Companies can apply to URA via two schemes: Normal and Plan Lodgment Scheme. Launched in 1995, the Plan Lodgment Scheme allows for projects that ful ll the qualifying criteria (see http://www.ura.gov.sg/dc/lodgment/dc- lodgment-hdb_jtc.htm) to be submitted and approved online immediately. The application is made either through JTC system or through URA's EDA system. The fees for a plan lodgment are SGD 800.00 plus 7% GST. The Plan Lodgment Scheme is applicable to industrial and warehouse development on land owned by JTC and the HDB, which forms about 90% of industrial land in Singapore. All Quali ed Persons (i.e. Architects or Engineers) are allowed to submit their development proposals under the Plan Lodgment Scheme. There is no restriction on the size or type of the industrial developments or the QP’s rms. In 2007, nearly 70% (562 out of 830) of the industrial and warehouse development proposals were eligible for approval under the Plan Lodgment Scheme. However, if the land is not under either JTC or Housing and Development Board scheme (HDB is for residential developments), and under freehold ownership the application would go through a normal clearance process. Although the application submitted under the normal scheme itself takes 1 day, it takes on average about 14 days for the URA to process it and grant permission. URA does not have a time limit, but rather operates under a targeted threshold. According to that target 90% of cases must be cleared in 4 weeks. The written permission is valid for 2 years, during which time the work must be completed. The application fee for normal process is SGD 2,500.00 for the rst 1,000 sq. m. and SGD 60.00 for each additional 100 sq. m. (plus 7% general service tax which is not included in the case study). The case considered here assumes a commercial warehouse for storing Page 13   books, which would be classi ed as a Group 3 land-intensive development. Professional in order to carry out project approvals, apply for and obtain the Doing building Business permit 2018and supervise Singaporeconstruction. 3 Obtain written permission from the Urban Redevelopment Authority 14 days SGD 2,680 Agency : Urban Redevelopment Authority The application for permission from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) can be done electronically by a Quali ed Professional (QP) through the CORENET Electronic Development Applications (EDA) system. The company must submit a digital EDA form, along with the following: • Proposal and sketch plans for the development • Survey plans for sloping or undulating sites Companies can apply to URA via two schemes: Normal and Plan Lodgment Scheme. Launched in 1995, the Plan Lodgment Scheme allows for projects that ful ll the qualifying criteria (see http://www.ura.gov.sg/dc/lodgment/dc- lodgment-hdb_jtc.htm) to be submitted and approved online immediately. The application is made either through JTC system or through URA's EDA system. The fees for a plan lodgment are SGD 800.00 plus 7% GST. The Plan Lodgment Scheme is applicable to industrial and warehouse development on land owned by JTC and the HDB, which forms about 90% of industrial land in Singapore. All Quali ed Persons (i.e. Architects or Engineers) are allowed to submit their development proposals under the Plan Lodgment Scheme. There is no restriction on the size or type of the industrial developments or the QP’s rms. In 2007, nearly 70% (562 out of 830) of the industrial and warehouse development proposals were eligible for approval under the Plan Lodgment Scheme. However, if the land is not under either JTC or Housing and Development Board scheme (HDB is for residential developments), and under freehold ownership the application would go through a normal clearance process. Although the application submitted under the normal scheme itself takes 1 day, it takes on average about 14 days for the URA to process it and grant permission. URA does not have a time limit, but rather operates under a targeted threshold. According to that target 90% of cases must be cleared in 4 weeks. The written permission is valid for 2 years, during which time the work must be completed. The application fee for normal process is SGD 2,500.00 for the rst 1,000 sq. m. and SGD 60.00 for each additional 100 sq. m. (plus 7% general service tax which is not included in the case study). The case considered here assumes a commercial warehouse for storing books, which would be classi ed as a Group 3 land-intensive development. A fee schedule is available at http://www.ura.gov.sg/forms/doc/dc- fee2007.pdf. 4 Obtain structural and architectural plan approvals and building 14 days SGD 6,113 commencement permit, building re plan approval from FSSD, environmental clearance from NEA and clearance of parking proposal from the Land Transport Authority Agency : Building & Construction Authority (BCA) Quali ed Professionals submit the structural plans through CORENET system operated by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA). The permit will not be issued without the written or provisional permission from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and payment of any development charges, if applicable. Most companies submit their application to URA and BCA for structural approval at the same time. They can time it in a way that the structural approval is granted a day after the URA issues planning Page 14   permission. Construction work must commence within 24 months from the A fee schedule is available at http://www.ura.gov.sg/forms/doc/dc- Doing fee2007.pdf. Business 2018 Singapore 4 Obtain structural and architectural plan approvals and building 14 days SGD 6,113 commencement permit, building re plan approval from FSSD, environmental clearance from NEA and clearance of parking proposal from the Land Transport Authority Agency : Building & Construction Authority (BCA) Quali ed Professionals submit the structural plans through CORENET system operated by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA). The permit will not be issued without the written or provisional permission from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and payment of any development charges, if applicable. Most companies submit their application to URA and BCA for structural approval at the same time. They can time it in a way that the structural approval is granted a day after the URA issues planning permission. Construction work must commence within 24 months from the approval date. The structural plan approval can be granted along with the building commencement permit that gives the right to physically begin the construction. Since 2008 the BCA runs a data management module in its application processing system to monitor its performance standard. It also introduced mobile phone short message and e-mail noti cation to inform the applicants of their applications status instantaneously. Since September 1, 2005, the fee schedule is as follows: • SGD 300.00 per 100 sq. m. for the rst 2,500 sq. m. of standard gross oor area (SGFA) • SGD 200.00 for each subsequent 100 sq. m. of SGFA Hence, in this case, the total fee charged for 1,300 sq. m. is 13 x SGD 300.00 = SGD 3,900.00 5 Make an online declaration of risk management implementation and 0.5 days SGD 1,300 notify the Commissioner for Workplace Safety and Health Agency : Occupational Safety and Health Division, Ministry of Manpower Before March 2010, the Workplace Safety & Health (Registration of Factories) Regulations required all factories engaged in higher risk activities including construction worksites, shipyards, metalworking companies, wafer fabrication, petrochemical, chemical and pharmaceutical plants to be registered before they can commence operations. Registration was valid for only one year. An annual fee depending on the number of persons employed at the premise ranging from SGD 90 (5 or less workers in premise) to SGD 2340 (more than 500 workers in premise) was payable upon registration and renewal. Ministry of Manpower has reviewed the factory registration system for higher risk factories which includes construction worksites and introduced a new one-time registration scheme. From 1 March 2010, factories in the Building and Construction are amongst those which bene t from the new scheme. All factories under this scheme are required to register and pay once for their license with the Ministry without the need to renew their license. Qualifying factories were only required to do two things prior to the commencement of operations: To register once with the Commissioner for Workplace Safety and Health of their operations via the On-line Business Page 15   Licensing System (OBLS) at https://licences.business.gov.sg and complete the Hence, in this case, the total fee charged for 1,300 sq. m. is 13 x SGD 300.00 = Doing SGD 3,900.00 Business 2018 Singapore 5 Make an online declaration of risk management implementation and 0.5 days SGD 1,300 notify the Commissioner for Workplace Safety and Health Agency : Occupational Safety and Health Division, Ministry of Manpower Before March 2010, the Workplace Safety & Health (Registration of Factories) Regulations required all factories engaged in higher risk activities including construction worksites, shipyards, metalworking companies, wafer fabrication, petrochemical, chemical and pharmaceutical plants to be registered before they can commence operations. Registration was valid for only one year. An annual fee depending on the number of persons employed at the premise ranging from SGD 90 (5 or less workers in premise) to SGD 2340 (more than 500 workers in premise) was payable upon registration and renewal. Ministry of Manpower has reviewed the factory registration system for higher risk factories which includes construction worksites and introduced a new one-time registration scheme. From 1 March 2010, factories in the Building and Construction are amongst those which bene t from the new scheme. All factories under this scheme are required to register and pay once for their license with the Ministry without the need to renew their license. Qualifying factories were only required to do two things prior to the commencement of operations: To register once with the Commissioner for Workplace Safety and Health of their operations via the On-line Business Licensing System (OBLS) at https://licences.business.gov.sg and complete the Safety and Health Management System audits/internal review within 2 months from the registration. 6 Notify the Water Reclamation (Network) Department (Public Utilities 0.5 days no charge Board) on the commencement of sanitary works Agency : Public Utilities Board (PUB) Upon obtaining clearance of the Detailed Plan (Sanitary) from CBPU (NEA), the QP is required to notify the Water Reclamation (Network) Department (PUB) on the commencement of sanitary works via BCA Corenet e- submission system and apply for PUB(WRN)’s approval before allowing the workmen to enter the public sewer/manhole or other con ned spaces to carry out any works including inspection. 7 Submit a Certi cate of Satisfactory Completion of Water Service Work 0.5 days no charge Agency : Public Utilities Board (PUB) Upon completion of the water service works, water service workers are required to submit a Certi cate of Satisfactory Completion of Water Service Work certifying that the water service installation is completed in accordance with the Public Utilities (Water Supply) Regulations, Singapore Standard CP 48 – Code of Practice for Water Services, all other relevant statutory requirements and other PUB requirements. 8 Obtain water and sewage connection 7 days SGD 1,400 Agency : Public Utilities Board (PUB) All three connections can be applied for through a one-stop service provided by Singapore Power (SP) Services, a privatized utilities operator. The existing infrastructure allows a new connection within one week. Application for electrical power is to the Singapore Power; application for both portable and Newater water is to PUB. Page 16   A water service worker has to be engaged by the developer/owner to make a 48 – Code of Practice for Water Services, all other relevant statutory Doing requirements Business 2018and other PUB requirements. Singapore 8 Obtain water and sewage connection 7 days SGD 1,400 Agency : Public Utilities Board (PUB) All three connections can be applied for through a one-stop service provided by Singapore Power (SP) Services, a privatized utilities operator. The existing infrastructure allows a new connection within one week. Application for electrical power is to the Singapore Power; application for both portable and Newater water is to PUB. A water service worker has to be engaged by the developer/owner to make a noti cation for the water service work to PUB. Typically, the new connection can be laid within one week. The connection is made after opening of account and payment of the connection cost. The application for connection of the proposed sewerage/sanitary system to the public sewer is made by the QP through CORENET to the Water Reclamation Network Department (WRN) of PUB. PUB will audit inspect the sewer connection works. There is no charge for the sewer connection works. The cost of water connection depends on the size of the connection. 9 Receive nal inspection and approval 1 day no charge Agency : Registered inspector, a liated with BCA and BuildCo/FSSD Once the warehouse construction is completed the Quali ed Professional les a request for inspection to BCA through CORENET. BuildCo may request the inspection in advance, that is, before construction activities are completed. BCA o cers inspects the completed warehouse together with the architects, consultants and builder. Independently but concurrently, Quali ed Professional can submit a request to the FSSD for re system approval. There is no physical interaction with the FSSD and the inspection is performed by the Quali ed Professional. The Quali ed Professional sends the report to FSSD. The approval from FSSD is then sent to BCA electronically through an internal network. 10 Obtain certi cate of statutory completion 10 days no charge Agency : Building & Construction Authority (BCA) BuildCo does not need to register the newly built warehouse after its completion. Takes place simultaneously with previous procedure. Details – Dealing with Construction Permits in Singapore – Measure of Quality Answer Score Building quality control index (0-15) 12.0 Quality of building regulations index (0-2) 2.0 How accessible are building laws and regulations in your economy? (0-1) Available online; 1.0 Free of charge. Which requirements for obtaining a building permit are clearly speci ed in the building List of required 1.0 regulations or on any accessible website, brochure or pamphlet? (0-1) documents; Fees to be paid; Required Page 17   preapprovals. Takes place simultaneously with previous procedure. Doing Business 2018 Singapore Details – Dealing with Construction Permits in Singapore – Measure of Quality Answer Score Building quality control index (0-15) 12.0 Quality of building regulations index (0-2) 2.0 How accessible are building laws and regulations in your economy? (0-1) Available online; 1.0 Free of charge. Which requirements for obtaining a building permit are clearly speci ed in the building List of required 1.0 regulations or on any accessible website, brochure or pamphlet? (0-1) documents; Fees to be paid; Required preapprovals. Quality control before construction index (0-1) 1.0 Which third-party entities are required by law to verify that the building plans are in Licensed 1.0 compliance with existing building regulations? (0-1) architect; Private rm. Quality control during construction index (0-3) 2.0 What types of inspections (if any) are required by law to be carried out during Inspections by 1.0 construction? (0-2) in-house engineer; Inspections by external engineer or rm; Inspections at various phases. Do legally mandated inspections occur in practice during construction? (0-1) Mandatory 1.0 inspections are always done in practice. Quality control after construction index (0-3) 3.0 Is there a nal inspection required by law to verify that the building was built in Yes, nal 2.0 accordance with the approved plans and regulations? (0-2) inspection is done by government agency. Do legally mandated nal inspections occur in practice? (0-1) Final inspection 1.0 always occurs in practice. Liability and insurance regimes index (0-2) 0.0 Which parties (if any) are held liable by law for structural aws or problems in the No party is held 0.0 building once it is in use (Latent Defect Liability or Decennial Liability)? (0-1) liable under the law. Which parties (if any) are required by law to obtain an insurance policy to cover No party is 0.0 possible structural aws or problems in the building once it is in use (Latent Defect required by law Page 18   Liability Insurance or Decennial Insurance)? (0-1) to obtain building once it is in use (Latent Defect Liability or Decennial Liability)? (0-1) liable under the Doing Business 2018 Singapore law. Which parties (if any) are required by law to obtain an insurance policy to cover No party is 0.0 possible structural aws or problems in the building once it is in use (Latent Defect required by law Liability Insurance or Decennial Insurance)? (0-1) to obtain insurance . Professional certi cations index (0-4) 4.0 What are the quali cation requirements for the professional responsible for verifying Minimum 2.0 that the architectural plans or drawings are in compliance with existing building number of years regulations? (0-2) of experience; University degree in architecture or engineering; Being a registered architect or engineer; Passing a certi cation exam. What are the quali cation requirements for the professional who supervises the Minimum 2.0 construction on the ground? (0-2) number of years of experience; University degree in engineering, construction or construction management; Being a registered architect or engineer; Passing a certi cation exam. Getting Electricity This topic measures the procedures, time and cost required for a business to obtain a permanent electricity connection for a newly constructed warehouse. Additionally, the reliability of supply and transparency of tari s index measures reliability of supply, transparency of tari s and the price of electricity. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Procedures to obtain an electricity connection To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions are (number) used. Submitting all relevant documents and obtaining The warehouse: all necessary clearances and permits - Is owned by a local entrepreneur and is used for storage of goods. Completing all required notifications and - Is located in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the receiving all necessary inspections data are also collected for the second largest business city. Obtaining external installation works and possibly - Is located in an area where similar warehouses are typically located and is Page 19   purchasing material for these works in an area with no physical constraints. For example, the property is not certi cation exam. Doing Business 2018 Singapore Getting Electricity This topic measures the procedures, time and cost required for a business to obtain a permanent electricity connection for a newly constructed warehouse. Additionally, the reliability of supply and transparency of tari s index measures reliability of supply, transparency of tari s and the price of electricity. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Procedures to obtain an electricity connection To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions are (number) used. Submitting all relevant documents and obtaining The warehouse: all necessary clearances and permits - Is owned by a local entrepreneur and is used for storage of goods. Completing all required notifications and - Is located in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the receiving all necessary inspections data are also collected for the second largest business city. Obtaining external installation works and possibly - Is located in an area where similar warehouses are typically located and is purchasing material for these works in an area with no physical constraints. For example, the property is not Concluding any necessary supply contract and near a railway. obtaining final supply - Is a new construction and is being connected to electricity for the rst time. Time required to complete each procedure - Has two stories with a total surface area of approximately 1,300.6 square (calendar days) meters (14,000 square feet). The plot of land on which it is built is 929 Is at least 1 calendar day square meters (10,000 square feet). Each procedure starts on a separate day Does not include time spent gathering The electricity connection: information - Is a permanent one with a three-phase, four-wire Y connection with a subscribed capacity of 140-kilo-volt-ampere (kVA) with a power factor of 1, Reflects the time spent in practice, with little when 1 kVA = 1 kilowatt (kW). follow-up and no prior contact with officials - Has a length of 150 meters. The connection is to either the low- or Cost required to complete each procedure (% of medium-voltage distribution network and is either overhead or income per capita) underground, whichever is more common in the area where the Official costs only, no bribes warehouse is located and requires works that involve the crossing of a 10- meter road (such as by excavation or overhead lines) but are all carried out Value added tax excluded on public land. There is no crossing of other owners’ private property The reliability of supply and transparency of because the warehouse has access to a road. tari s index (0-8) - Does not require work to install the internal wiring of the warehouse. This has already been completed up to and including the customer’s service Duration and frequency of power outages (0–3) panel or switchboard and the meter base. Tools to monitor power outages (0–1) Tools to restore power supply (0–1) The monthly consumption: Regulatory monitoring of utilities’ performance - It is assumed that the warehouse operates 30 days a month from 9:00 (0–1) a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (8 hours a day), with equipment utilized at 80% of capacity Financial deterrents limiting outages (0–1) on average and that there are no electricity cuts (assumed for simplicity reasons) and the monthly energy consumption is 26,880 kilowatt-hours Transparency and accessibility of tariffs (0–1) (kWh); hourly consumption is 112 kWh. Price of electricity (cents per kilowatt-hour)* - If multiple electricity suppliers exist, the warehouse is served by the Price based on monthly bill for commercial cheapest supplier. warehouse in case study - Tari s e ective in March of the current year are used for calculation of the price of electricity for the warehouse. Although March has 31 days, for * N o t e : Doing Business m e a s u r e s t h e p r i c e o f calculation purposes only 30 days are used. electricity, but it is not included in the distance to frontier score nor the ranking on the ease of getting electricity. Page 20   Standardized Connection frontier score nor the ranking on the ease of getting electricity. Doing Business 2018 Singapore Standardized Connection Price of electricity (US cents per kWh) 10.0 Name of utility SP PowerGrid Ltd. City Covered Singapore East Asia & OECD high Indicator Singapore Pacific income Overall Best Performer Procedures (number) 4 4.5 4.7 2 (United Arab Emirates) Time (days) 30 71.6 79.1 10 (United Arab Emirates) Cost (% of income per capita) 25.3 712.0 63.0 0.00 (Japan) Reliability of supply and transparency of tariff 7 3.7 7.4 8.00 (28 Economies) index (0-8) Figure – Getting Electricity in Singapore and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 99.89: Korea, Rep. (Rank: 2) 99.02: Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank: 4) 91.33: Singapore (Rank: 12) 89.88: Japan (Rank: 17) 72.23: Regional Average (East Asia & Pacific) 68.83: China (Rank: 98) Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of getting electricity is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for getting electricity. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the component indicators. Figure – Getting Electricity in Singapore – Procedure, Time and Cost Time Cost 30 30 25 25 Cost (% of income per capita) 20 20 Time (days) 15 15 10 10 5 5 Page 21   getting electricity. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the component indicators. Doing Business 2018 Singapore Figure – Getting Electricity in Singapore – Procedure, Time and Cost Time Cost 30 30 25 25 Cost (% of income per capita) 20 20 Time (days) 15 15 10 10 5 5 0 0 1 2 *3 *4 Procedures (number) * This symbol is shown beside procedure numbers that take place simultaneously with the previous procedure. Note: Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. For economies that have a di erent procedure list for men and women, the graph shows the time for women. For more information on methodology, see the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org/methodology). For details on the procedures re ected here, see the summary below. Figure – Getting Electricity in Singapore and comparator economies – Measure of Quality 9 8 8 8 8 7 7 6 6 Index score 5 4 3.7 3 2 1 0 Singapore China Hong Kong SAR, China Japan Korea, Rep. East Asia & Pacific Details – Getting Electricity in Singapore – Procedure, Time and Cost No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs 1 Submit application to SP Services Ltd. and await estimate 9 calendar days SGD 0 Agency : SP Services Ltd The customer has to engage and appoint an Electrical Worker licensed (LEW) with the Energy Market Authority (EMA) to design the internal electrical installation, a LEW for the electrical installation works, and a LEW to operate on the installation. The client can appoint the same LEW for all three duties. The LEW essentially acts as the client's agent for the connection to the grid system. There are three classes of LEWs, namely licensed electricians (load < 45kVA), licensed electrical technicians (load design < 150kVA) and licensed electrical Page 22   engineers (no limit on load). Based on the case study's load (140kVA), the Singapore China Hong Kong SAR, China Japan Korea, Rep. East Asia & Pacific Doing Business 2018 Singapore Details – Getting Electricity in Singapore – Procedure, Time and Cost No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs 1 Submit application to SP Services Ltd. and await estimate 9 calendar days SGD 0 Agency : SP Services Ltd The customer has to engage and appoint an Electrical Worker licensed (LEW) with the Energy Market Authority (EMA) to design the internal electrical installation, a LEW for the electrical installation works, and a LEW to operate on the installation. The client can appoint the same LEW for all three duties. The LEW essentially acts as the client's agent for the connection to the grid system. There are three classes of LEWs, namely licensed electricians (load < 45kVA), licensed electrical technicians (load design < 150kVA) and licensed electrical engineers (no limit on load). Based on the case study's load (140kVA), the customer needs to appoint either a licensed electrical technician or licensed electrical engineer. The appointed LEW submits an application to SP Services Ltd to connect to the grid system, along with 2 copies of the site plan. SP Services Ltd advises the appointed LEW on the approval of the application and provides them with a quotation for the premises to receive service connection from the streets mains. SP Services Ltd serves as a one-stop customer center for electricity connections. It receives electricity supply applications, payment of connection fees, opens electricity accounts and makes turn-on appointment with customers. Direct service connection from SP PowerGrid's LV network to the client's installation is available for a small load requirement not exceeding 280kVA (400A) in commercial or industrial areas. 2 Open electricity account, pay connection fee and receive external works 21 calendar days SGD 17,794.08 Agency : SP Services Ltd (works by SP Power Grid Ltd) Once SP Power Group o ers the terms and conditions of the connection, SP Services will liaise with the LEW so he/she can open an account and pay the connection fee - which are done on the same day. The external works from SP PowerGrid Ltd commence automatically upon payment of the connection fee. No further action is required from the customer. The documents required for opening of account are: - Completed and signed application form; - Copy of business/company registration certi cate; - Copy of NRIC/FIN (National Registration Identity Card / Foreign Identi cation Number) for the authorized signatory of company representative or a letter of authorization issued by the company indicating the company representative’s name and NRIC/FIN, proof of ownership or tenancy agreement; - Letter from the Authority (Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore) con rming the o cial address of the premises, and - Initial security deposit in cash (which is refundable when the customer terminates the account) or by the form of banker Guarantee (BG) at the point of application; For the warehouse, a direct connection is applicable as the applied load is 140 kVA. Services for the provision of electricity supply from the existing Page 23   to the client's installation is available for a small load requirement not Doing exceeding Business 2018 (400A) 280kVA in commercial or industrial areas. Singapore 2 Open electricity account, pay connection fee and receive external works 21 calendar days SGD 17,794.08 Agency : SP Services Ltd (works by SP Power Grid Ltd) Once SP Power Group o ers the terms and conditions of the connection, SP Services will liaise with the LEW so he/she can open an account and pay the connection fee - which are done on the same day. The external works from SP PowerGrid Ltd commence automatically upon payment of the connection fee. No further action is required from the customer. The documents required for opening of account are: - Completed and signed application form; - Copy of business/company registration certi cate; - Copy of NRIC/FIN (National Registration Identity Card / Foreign Identi cation Number) for the authorized signatory of company representative or a letter of authorization issued by the company indicating the company representative’s name and NRIC/FIN, proof of ownership or tenancy agreement; - Letter from the Authority (Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore) con rming the o cial address of the premises, and - Initial security deposit in cash (which is refundable when the customer terminates the account) or by the form of banker Guarantee (BG) at the point of application; For the warehouse, a direct connection is applicable as the applied load is 140 kVA. Services for the provision of electricity supply from the existing overground box to the industrial premises with load demand between 76 kVA and 140 kVA will be managed as follows by SP Services Ltd and SP PowerGrid Ltd: a. Upon receipt of the connection fee payment by SP Services Ltd, SP PowerGrid Ltd will commence work and inform the appointed LEW and the client about the date for xing meter and turn-on of electricity supply. The customer’s appointed LEW has to submit the document required for turn-on of supply before the turn-on date. b. The service provided is underground. An excavation permit is thus needed before SP PowerGrid Ltd can start laying cables. For pragmatic reasons, SP PowerGrid will only apply for the permit after the client has made the connection fee payment and had their intake point ready for connection. SP PowerGrid Ltd works closely with the agencies to have the road openings approved within 7 calendar days and then commence the physical cable installation work; c. SP PowerGrid Ltd will carry out meter xing once the cable installation work is started; d. The service cable will be energised on the next day after the cable installation work is completed -- provided that a certi cate of compliance (COC) has been lodged. 3 Obtain electrical installation license 2 calendar days SGD 100 Agency : Energy Market Authority (EMA) The appointed licensed electrical worker (LEW) obtains an electrical installation license from the Energy Market Authority (EMA) on behalf of the customer. Indeed, for safety reasons, an electrical installation license issued by EMA is required for the use or operation of an electrical installation with an approved load exceeding 45kVA in a non-domestic premises. Page 24   installation work is completed -- provided that a certi cate of compliance Doing (COC) has been Business lodged. 2018 Singapore 3 Obtain electrical installation license 2 calendar days SGD 100 Agency : Energy Market Authority (EMA) The appointed licensed electrical worker (LEW) obtains an electrical installation license from the Energy Market Authority (EMA) on behalf of the customer. Indeed, for safety reasons, an electrical installation license issued by EMA is required for the use or operation of an electrical installation with an approved load exceeding 45kVA in a non-domestic premises. The customer has to engage and appoint a LEW who will inspect and certify the tness of the electrical installation. Thereafter the LEW will submit an application for the electrical installation license online through the EMA's ELISE portal at www.ema.gov.sg. The license fee of SGD100/= (for a 12-month license) is to be paid online together with the application. The EMA will check the completeness of the application before issuing the electrical installation license. The application for the license may be submitted in advance of the electricity supply connection date. 4 Submit installation license and COC to SP PowerGrid Ltd to have 1 calendar day SGD 0 electricity turned on Agency : SP Services Ltd The customer’s appointed LEW needs to submit to SP Services Ltd the following documents to con rm the turn-on appointment: - Certi cate of Compliance (COC) issued by the appointed LEW certifying that the (internal) electrical work is conforming to the requirements of the Electricity Regulations and the relevant Singapore Standard Code of Practice; and - A copy of valid electrical installation licence obtained from the Energy Market Authority (EMA). Both documents are typically submitted to SP Services Ltd right before the electricity turn-on and not when the electricity account and connection fees are paid. Takes place simultaneously with previous procedure. Details – Getting Electricity in Singapore – Measure of Quality Answer Reliability of supply and transparency of tari index (0-8) 7 Total duration and frequency of outages per customer a year (0-3) 3 System average interruption duration index (SAIDI) 0.0 System average interruption frequency index (SAIFI) 0.0 What is the minimum outage time (in minutes) that the utility considers for the calculation of SAIDI/SAIFI 1.0 Mechanisms for monitoring outages (0-1) 1 Does the distribution utility use automated tools to monitor outages? Yes Page 25   Takes place simultaneously with previous procedure. Doing Business 2018 Singapore Details – Getting Electricity in Singapore – Measure of Quality Answer Reliability of supply and transparency of tari index (0-8) 7 Total duration and frequency of outages per customer a year (0-3) 3 System average interruption duration index (SAIDI) 0.0 System average interruption frequency index (SAIFI) 0.0 What is the minimum outage time (in minutes) that the utility considers for the calculation of SAIDI/SAIFI 1.0 Mechanisms for monitoring outages (0-1) 1 Does the distribution utility use automated tools to monitor outages? Yes Mechanisms for restoring service (0-1) 1 Does the distribution utility use automated tools to restore service? Yes Regulatory monitoring (0-1) 1 Does a regulator—that is, an entity separate from the utility—monitor the utility’s performance on Yes reliability of supply? Financial deterrents aimed at limiting outages (0-1) 1 Does the utility either pay compensation to customers or face nes by the regulator (or both) if outages Yes exceed a certain cap? Communication of tari s and tari changes (0-1) 0 Are e ective tari s available online? Yes Link to the website, if available online https://www.emcsg.c om/ Are customers noti ed of a change in tari ahead of the billing cycle? No Note: If the duration and frequency of outages is 100 or less, the economy is eligible to score on the Reliability of supply and transparency of tari index. If the duration and frequency of outages is not available, or is over 100, the economy is not eligible to score on the index. If the minimum outage time considered for SAIDI/SAIFI is over 5 minutes, the economy is not eligible to score on the index. Registering Property This topic examines the steps, time and cost involved in registering property, assuming a standardized case of an entrepreneur who wants to purchase land and a building that is already registered and free of title dispute. In addition, the topic also measures the quality of the land administration system in each economy. The quality of land administration index has ve dimensions: reliability of infrastructure, transparency of information, geographic coverage, land dispute resolution, and equal access to property rights. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Page 26   If the minimum outage time considered for SAIDI/SAIFI is over 5 minutes, the economy is not eligible to score on the index. Doing Business 2018 Singapore Registering Property This topic examines the steps, time and cost involved in registering property, assuming a standardized case of an entrepreneur who wants to purchase land and a building that is already registered and free of title dispute. In addition, the topic also measures the quality of the land administration system in each economy. The quality of land administration index has ve dimensions: reliability of infrastructure, transparency of information, geographic coverage, land dispute resolution, and equal access to property rights. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Procedures to legally transfer title on immovable To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions property (number) about the parties to the transaction, the property and the procedures are used. Preregistration procedures (for example, checking for liens, notarizing sales agreement, The parties (buyer and seller): paying property transfer taxes) - Are limited liability companies (or the legal equivalent). Registration procedures in the economy's largest - Are located in the periurban area of the economy’s largest business city. business citya. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest Postregistration procedures (for example, filling business city. title with municipality) - Are 100% domestically and privately owned. Time required to complete each procedure - Have 50 employees each, all of whom are nationals. (calendar days) - Perform general commercial activities. Does not include time spent gathering information The property (fully owned by the seller): - Has a value of 50 times income per capita, which equals the sale price. Each procedure starts on a separate day - though - Is fully owned by the seller. procedures that can be fully completed online - Has no mortgages attached and has been under the same ownership for are an exception to this rule the past 10 years. Procedure is considered completed once final - Is registered in the land registry or cadastre, or both, and is free of title document is received disputes. No prior contact with officials - Is located in a periurban commercial zone, and no rezoning is required. Cost required to complete each procedure (% of - Consists of land and a building. The land area is 557.4 square meters property value) (6,000 square feet). A two-story warehouse of 929 square meters (10,000 square feet) is located on the land. The warehouse is 10 years old, is in Official costs only (such as administrative fees, good condition, has no heating system and complies with all safety duties and taxes). standards, building codes and legal requirements. The property, Value Added Tax, Capital Gains Tax and illicit consisting of land and building, will be transferred in its entirety. payments are excluded - Will not be subject to renovations or additional construction following the Quality of land administration index (0-30) purchase. - Has no trees, natural water sources, natural reserves or historical Reliability of infrastructure index (0-8) monuments of any kind. Transparency of information index (0–6) - Will not be used for special purposes, and no special permits, such as for Geographic coverage index (0–8) residential use, industrial plants, waste storage or certain types of agricultural activities, are required. Land dispute resolution index (0–8) - Has no occupants, and no other party holds a legal interest in it. Equal access to property rights index (-2–0) Standard Property Transfer Property value SGD 3,541,360.40 City Covered Singapore Page 27   East Asia & OECD high Doing Business 2018 Singapore Standard Property Transfer Property value SGD 3,541,360.40 City Covered Singapore East Asia & OECD high Indicator Singapore Pacific income Overall Best Performer Procedures (number) 6 5.5 4.6 1.00 (4 Economies) Time (days) 4.5 74.5 22.3 1.00 (3 Economies) Cost (% of property value) 2.9 4.3 4.2 0.00 (5 Economies) Quality of the land administration index (0-30) 29.0 15.8 22.7 29.00 (Singapore) Figure – Registering Property in Singapore and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 83.57: Singapore (Rank: 19) 76.34: Korea, Rep. (Rank: 39) 76.15: China (Rank: 41) 73.92: Japan (Rank: 52) 73.54: Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank: 55) 57.21: Regional Average (East Asia & Pacific) Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of registering property is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for registering property. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the component indicators. Figure – Registering Property in Singapore – Procedure, Time and Cost Time Cost 4.5 3.5 4 3 3.5 Cost (% of property value) 2.5 3 Time (days) 2.5 2 2 1.5 1.5 1 1 0.5 0.5 0 0 1 *2 *3 4 5 6 Procedures (number) * This symbol is shown beside procedure numbers that take place simultaneously with the previous procedure. Page 28   Note: Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. For economies that have a di erent procedure list for registering property. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the component indicators. Doing Business 2018 Singapore Figure – Registering Property in Singapore – Procedure, Time and Cost Time Cost 4.5 3.5 4 3 3.5 Cost (% of property value) 2.5 3 Time (days) 2.5 2 2 1.5 1.5 1 1 0.5 0.5 0 0 1 *2 *3 4 5 6 Procedures (number) * This symbol is shown beside procedure numbers that take place simultaneously with the previous procedure. Note: Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. For economies that have a di erent procedure list for men and women, the graph shows the time for women. For more information on methodology, see the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org/methodology). For details on the procedures re ected here, see the summary below. Figure – Registering Property in Singapore and comparator economies – Measure of Quality 35 29.0 30 27.5 27.5 24.5 25 Index score 20 18.3 15.8 15 10 5 0 Singapore China Hong Kong SAR, China Japan Korea, Rep. East Asia & Pacific Details – Registering Property in Singapore – Procedure, Time and Cost No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs 1 Perform due diligence checks about the land plot using Intereq 3 days Legal Requisition Fees (www.starsinfo.com.sg) (for transaction Agency : Portal at www.starsinfo.com.sg through the portal www.starsinfo.com.sg) Due diligence checks at several agencies can be done on-line through a one- - Inland Revenue stop portal called ‘Intereq’ (www.starsinfo.com.sg). They include: Authority of Singapore: SDG43.93 + • Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (for Property Tax) • Land Transport Authority (with respect to Rapid Transit System and Street SDG3.07GST= SDG47 Works on as to whether property is a ected by Public Transport projects) - Land Transport • National Environment Agency (Environmental Health Department and Authority : SDG10 + Pollution Control Department on whether the property is a ected by public SDG0.70 GST= Page 29   sewerage or environmental-health related projects) SDG10.70 Singapore China Hong Kong SAR, China Japan Korea, Rep. East Asia & Pacific Doing Business 2018 Singapore Details – Registering Property in Singapore – Procedure, Time and Cost No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs 1 Perform due diligence checks about the land plot using Intereq 3 days Legal Requisition Fees (www.starsinfo.com.sg) (for transaction Agency : Portal at www.starsinfo.com.sg through the portal www.starsinfo.com.sg) Due diligence checks at several agencies can be done on-line through a one- - Inland Revenue stop portal called ‘Intereq’ (www.starsinfo.com.sg). They include: Authority of Singapore: SDG43.93 + • Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (for Property Tax) • Land Transport Authority (with respect to Rapid Transit System and Street SDG3.07GST= SDG47 Works on as to whether property is a ected by Public Transport projects) - Land Transport • National Environment Agency (Environmental Health Department and Authority : SDG10 + Pollution Control Department on whether the property is a ected by public SDG0.70 GST= sewerage or environmental-health related projects) SDG10.70 • PUB-Water Reclatmation Network Department (to check whether there - Ministry of are any swewrage regulstaions/requirement/conditions/outstanding Environment : liabilities associated with/a ecting the property) SDG16.74 + SDG1.26 • Urban Redevelopment Authority (planning regulations). GST = SDG18.90 - PUB-Water Reclamation Network Department :SDG7+SDG0.49 GST = SDG7.49 - Urban Redevelopment Authority : SDG50+SDG3.50 GST = SDG53.50 Administrative fees (total SDG18.21) to use the portal, calculated on the following basis: - Acknowledgement: SDG 0.20 per acknowledgement =SDG1.54 - Transaction Fee: SDG 1.5 per legal requisition per Government Agency =SDG11.27 - Transmission Charge SSDG 0.5 per kbyte =approx SDG5.40 - Fees for Long-Term Archive: SSDG 400 per retrieval (if needed) * Property Title Page 30   Archive: SSDG 400 per Doing Business 2018 Singapore retrieval (if needed) * Property Title Information : SDG14.95+SDG1.05 GST =SDG16 (using www.inlis.gov.sg ) * Property Ownership Information: SDG5.25 (using www.inlis.gov.sg ) * Property Encumbrances Information: SDG10.28+SDG0.72 GST = SDG11 (using www.inlis.gov.sg ) 2 Perform bankruptcy search Less than a day SGD 17.12 Agency : https://www.elitigation.sg (online procedure) or www.questnet.sg As a part of the due diligence process the lawyer conducts companies' winding up search / judicial management for the seller's company. The search is performed to make sure that there is no restrictions or judicial judgements put on a property on sale. 3 Perform company search Less than a day SGD 7 Agency : https://www.biz le.gov.sg (online procedure) The lawyer conducts companies' search for the seller's company. The purpose of this search is to check the legal and nancial status of the company. 4 Pay the Stamp Duty via electronic transfer online Less than a day Buyer Stamp Duty is Agency : Online at www.estamp.iras.gov.sg (online procedure) estimated as follow: - Every $100 or part thereof of the first The buyer needs to pay Stamp Duty within 14 days of the date of Contract. $180,000 - $1.00 The Stamp Duty can be paid via online transfer at www.estamp.iras.gov.sg. - Every $100 or part The seller of commercial property is exempt from paying Stamp duty. GST is thereof of the next 7%. $180,000 - $2.00 - Thereafter, every $100 or part thereof - $3.00 5 Lodge transfer with the Singapore Land Authority Less than a day SGD 68.30 Agency : Singapore Land Authority (online procedure) Transfer can be lodged online through SLA’s Singapore Titles Automated Registration System portal www.stars.gov.sg. E ective 1 April 2013, SLA has implemented a fast track registration process for single transfer for value. Such transfers will be registered within the same day of lodgment. The Transfer document has to be lodged at SLA for registration together with the original title deed. 6 File transfer notice with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore Less than a day no cost Page 31   $100 or part thereof - Doing Business 2018 Singapore $3.00 5 Lodge transfer with the Singapore Land Authority Less than a day SGD 68.30 Agency : Singapore Land Authority (online procedure) Transfer can be lodged online through SLA’s Singapore Titles Automated Registration System portal www.stars.gov.sg. E ective 1 April 2013, SLA has implemented a fast track registration process for single transfer for value. Such transfers will be registered within the same day of lodgment. The Transfer document has to be lodged at SLA for registration together with the original title deed. 6 File transfer notice with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore Less than a day no cost Agency : Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) (online procedure) When the property is sold or transferred, an e-Notice of Transfer has to be led with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (the "IRAS") within 1 month after the sale or transfer. Party may incur a composition fee if the time limit is not complied with. Notice of transfer can only be led with Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (the "IRAS") online. IRAS has launched an enhanced version of the e-Notice of Transfer (eNT) system on 8 Oct 2008. This enhanced web-based e-NT service allows lawyers to submit Notice of Transfer via IRAS’ myTax Portal at no cost. The site can be accessed at www.mytax.iras.gov.sg myTaxPortal is available every day, except during the daily maintenance period from 2am to 6am(SGT) from Monday to Saturday and from 2am to 8.30am (SGT) on Sunday. Information required for ling of the notice of transfer include: - Identi cation No. and the name of the Transferor / Transferee (based on the transfer lodged with SLA), - Consideration, - Property Type e.g. Bungalow. There are no charges when ling the e-Notice of Transfer via myTaxPortal. Takes place simultaneously with previous procedure. Details – Registering Property in Singapore – Measure of Quality Answer Score Quality of the land administration index (0-30) 29.0 Reliability of infrastructure index (0-8) 8.0 What is the institution in charge of immovable property registration? Singapore Land Authority In what format are the majority of title or deed records kept in the largest business city Computer/Fully 2.0 —in a paper format or in a computerized format (scanned or fully digital)? digital Is there an electronic database for checking for encumbrances (liens, mortgages, Yes 1.0 restrictions and the like)? Page 32   Takes place simultaneously with previous procedure. Doing Business 2018 Singapore Details – Registering Property in Singapore – Measure of Quality Answer Score Quality of the land administration index (0-30) 29.0 Reliability of infrastructure index (0-8) 8.0 What is the institution in charge of immovable property registration? Singapore Land Authority In what format are the majority of title or deed records kept in the largest business city Computer/Fully 2.0 —in a paper format or in a computerized format (scanned or fully digital)? digital Is there an electronic database for checking for encumbrances (liens, mortgages, Yes 1.0 restrictions and the like)? Institution in charge of the plans showing legal boundaries in the largest business city: Singapore Land Authority In what format are the majority of maps of land plots kept in the largest business city— Computer/Fully 2.0 in a paper format or in a computerized format (scanned or fully digital)? digital Is there an electronic database for recording boundaries, checking plans and providing Yes 1.0 cadastral information (geographic information system)? Is the information recorded by the immovable property registration agency and the Di erent 1.0 cadastral or mapping agency kept in a single database, in di erent but linked databases databases but or in separate databases? linked Do the immovable property registration agency and cadastral or mapping agency use Yes 1.0 the same identi cation number for properties? Transparency of information index (0–6) 6.0 Who is able to obtain information on land ownership at the agency in charge of Anyone who 1.0 immovable property registration in the largest business city? pays the o cial fee Is the list of documents that are required to complete any type of property transaction Yes, online 0.5 made publicly available–and if so, how? Link for online access: http://www.sla.g ov.sg/Services/Pr opertyOwnershi p/Registrationof DeedsandInstru ments.aspx Is the applicable fee schedule for any property transaction at the agency in charge of Yes, online 0.5 immovable property registration in the largest business city made publicly available– and if so, how? Link for online access: http://www.sla.g ov.sg/Services/Pr opertyOwnershi p/Fees.aspx#top Does the agency in charge of immovable property registration commit to delivering a Yes, online 0.5 legally binding document that proves property ownership within a speci c time frame– Page 33   opertyOwnershi Doing Business 2018 Singapore p/Fees.aspx#top Does the agency in charge of immovable property registration commit to delivering a Yes, online 0.5 legally binding document that proves property ownership within a speci c time frame– and if so, how does it communicate the service standard? Link for online access: http://www.sla.g ov.sg/AboutSLA/ ServiceStandard s.aspx#.Va1zK_l3 k-c Is there a speci c and separate mechanism for ling complaints about a problem that Yes 1.0 occurred at the agency in charge of immovable property registration? Contact information: http://www.sla.g ov.sg/Services/Pr opertyOwnershi p/Complaints.as px?sm=pr Are there publicly available o cial statistics tracking the number of transactions at the Yes 0.5 immovable property registration agency? Number of property transfers in the largest business city in 2015: 32534.0 Who is able to consult maps of land plots in the largest business city? Anyone who 0.5 pays the o cial fee Is the applicable fee schedule for accessing maps of land plots made publicly available Yes, online 0.5 —and if so, how? Link for online access: http://www.sla.g ov.sg/Services/Pr opertyBoundarie s/Fees.aspx Does the cadastral or mapping agency commit to delivering an updated map within a Yes, online 0.5 speci c time frame—and if so, how does it communicate the service standard? Link for online access: http://www.sla.g ov.sg/AboutSLA/ ServiceStandard s.aspx#.Va1z4Pl3 k-c Is there a speci c and separate mechanism for ling complaints about a problem that Yes 0.5 occurred at the cadastral or mapping agency? Contact information: http://www.sla.g ov.sg/Services/Pr opertyBoundarie s/Complaints.asp x?sm=bs Geographic coverage index (0–8) 8.0 Are all privately held land plots in the economy formally registered at the immovable Yes 2.0 property registry? Page 34   Are all privately held land plots in the largest business city formally registered at the Yes 2.0 Geographic Doing coverage Business (0–8) indexSingapore 2018 8.0 Are all privately held land plots in the economy formally registered at the immovable Yes 2.0 property registry? Are all privately held land plots in the largest business city formally registered at the Yes 2.0 immovable property registry? Are all privately held land plots in the economy mapped? Yes 2.0 Are all privately held land plots in the largest business city mapped? Yes 2.0 Land dispute resolution index (0–8) 7.0 Does the law require that all property sale transactions be registered at the immovable Yes 1.5 property registry to make them opposable to third parties? Is the system of immovable property registration subject to a state or private Yes 0.5 guarantee? Is there a speci c compensation mechanism to cover for losses incurred by parties who Yes 0.5 engaged in good faith in a property transaction based on erroneous information certi ed by the immovable property registry? Does the legal system require a control of legality of the documents necessary for a Yes 0.5 property transaction (e.g., checking the compliance of contracts with requirements of the law)? If yes, who is responsible for checking the legality of the documents? Registrar; Lawyer. Does the legal system require veri cation of the identity of the parties to a property Yes 0.5 transaction? If yes, who is responsible for verifying the identity of the parties? Lawyer. Is there a national database to verify the accuracy of identity documents? Yes 1.0 For a standard land dispute between two local businesses over tenure rights of a Supreme Court property worth 50 times gross national income (GNI) per capita and located in the largest business city, what court would be in charge of the case in the rst instance? How long does it take on average to obtain a decision from the rst-instance court for Between 1 and 2 2.0 such a case (without appeal)? years Are there any statistics on the number of land disputes in the rst instance? Yes 0.5 Number of land disputes in the largest business city in 2015: 218.0 Equal access to property rights index (-2–0) 0.0 Do unmarried men and unmarried women have equal ownership rights to property? Yes 0.0 Do married men and married women have equal ownership rights to property? Yes 0.0 Getting Credit This topic explores two sets of issues—the strength of credit reporting systems and the e ectiveness of collateral and bankruptcy laws in facilitating lending. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. Page 35   Do married men and married women have equal ownership rights to property? Yes 0.0 Doing Business 2018 Singapore Getting Credit This topic explores two sets of issues—the strength of credit reporting systems and the e ectiveness of collateral and bankruptcy laws in facilitating lending. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Strength of legal rights index (0–12) Doing Business assesses the sharing of credit information and the legal rights of borrowers and lenders with respect to secured transactions Rights of borrowers and lenders through through 2 sets of indicators. The depth of credit information index collateral laws (0-10) measures rules and practices a ecting the coverage, scope and Protection of secured creditors’ rights through accessibility of credit information available through a credit registry or a bankruptcy laws (0-2) credit bureau. The strength of legal rights index measures the degree to Depth of credit information index (0–8) which collateral and bankruptcy laws protect the rights of borrowers and lenders and thus facilitate lending. For each economy it is first determined Scope and accessibility of credit information whether a unitary secured transactions system exists. Then two case distributed by credit bureaus and credit scenarios, case A and case B, are used to determine how a nonpossessory registries (0-8) security interest is created, publicized and enforced according to the law. Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) Special emphasis is given to how the collateral registry operates (if Number of individuals and firms listed in largest registration of security interests is possible). The case scenarios involve a credit bureau as a percentage of adult population secured borrower, company ABC, and a secured lender, BizBank. Credit registry coverage (% of adults) In some economies the legal framework for secured transactions will allow Number of individuals and firms listed in credit only case A or case B (not both) to apply. Both cases examine the same set registry as a percentage of adult population of legal provisions relating to the use of movable collateral. Several assumptions about the secured borrower (ABC) and lender (BizBank) are used: - ABC is a domestic limited liability company (or its legal equivalent). - ABC has up to 50 employees. - ABC has its headquarters and only base of operations in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city. - Both ABC and BizBank are 100% domestically owned. The case scenarios also involve assumptions. In case A, as collateral for the loan, ABC grants BizBank a nonpossessory security interest in one category of movable assets, for example, its machinery or its inventory. ABC wants to keep both possession and ownership of the collateral. In economies where the law does not allow nonpossessory security interests in movable property, ABC and BizBank use a fiduciary transfer-of-title arrangement (or a similar substitute for nonpossessory security interests). In case B, ABC grants BizBank a business charge, enterprise charge, floating charge or any charge that gives BizBank a security interest over ABC’s combined movable assets (or as much of ABC’s movable assets as possible). ABC keeps ownership and possession of the assets. East Asia & OECD high Indicator Singapore Pacific income Overall Best Performer Strength of legal rights index (0-12) 8 7.2 6.0 12.00 (4 Economies) Depth of credit information index (0-8) 7 4.2 6.6 8.00 (34 Economies) Page 36   Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 16.0 18.3 100.00 (3 Economies) possible). ABC keeps ownership and possession of the assets. Doing Business 2018 Singapore East Asia & OECD high Indicator Singapore Pacific income Overall Best Performer Strength of legal rights index (0-12) 8 7.2 6.0 12.00 (4 Economies) Depth of credit information index (0-8) 7 4.2 6.6 8.00 (34 Economies) Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 16.0 18.3 100.00 (3 Economies) Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 67.8 22.3 63.7 100.00 (23 Economies) Figure – Getting Credit in Singapore and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 75.00: Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank: 29) 75.00: Singapore (Rank: 29) 65.00: Korea, Rep. (Rank: 55) 60.00: China (Rank: 68) 57.00: Regional Average (East Asia & Pacific) 55.00: Japan (Rank: 77) Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of getting credit is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for getting credit. These scores are the distance to frontier score for the sum of the strength of legal rights index and the depth of credit information index. Figure – Legal Rights in Singapore and comparator economies 9 8 8 8 7.2 7 6 Index score 5 5 5 4 4 3 2 1 0 Singapore China Hong Kong SAR, China Japan Korea, Rep. East Asia & Pacific Details – Legal Rights in Singapore Strength of legal rights index (0-12) 8 Does an integrated or uni ed legal framework for secured transactions that extends to the creation, publicity and No enforcement of functional equivalents to security interests in movable assets exist in the economy? Does the law allow businesses to grant a non possessory security right in a single category of movable assets, without Yes requiring a speci c description of collateral? Page 37   Singapore China Hong Kong SAR, China Japan Korea, Rep. East Asia & Pacific Doing Business 2018 Singapore Details – Legal Rights in Singapore Strength of legal rights index (0-12) 8 Does an integrated or uni ed legal framework for secured transactions that extends to the creation, publicity and No enforcement of functional equivalents to security interests in movable assets exist in the economy? Does the law allow businesses to grant a non possessory security right in a single category of movable assets, without Yes requiring a speci c description of collateral? Does the law allow businesses to grant a non possessory security right in substantially all of its assets, without requiring Yes a speci c description of collateral? May a security right extend to future or after-acquired assets, and does it extend automatically to the products, proceeds Yes or replacements of the original assets? Is a general description of debts and obligations permitted in collateral agreements; can all types of debts and Yes obligations be secured between parties; and can the collateral agreement include a maximum amount for which the assets are encumbered? Is a collateral registry in operation for both incorporated and non-incorporated entities, that is uni ed geographically No and by asset type, with an electronic database indexed by debtor's name? Does a notice-based collateral registry exist in which all functional equivalents can be registered? No Does a modern collateral registry exist in which registrations, amendments, cancellations and searches can be Yes performed online by any interested third party? Are secured creditors paid rst (i.e. before tax claims and employee claims) when a debtor defaults outside an insolvency Yes procedure? Are secured creditors paid rst (i.e. before tax claims and employee claims) when a business is liquidated? Yes Are secured creditors subject to an automatic stay on enforcement when a debtor enters a court-supervised No reorganization procedure? Does the law protect secured creditors’ rights by providing clear grounds for relief from the stay and/or sets a time limit for it? Does the law allow parties to agree on out of court enforcement at the time a security interest is created? Does the law Yes allow the secured creditor to sell the collateral through public auction or private tender, as well as, for the secured creditor to keep the asset in satisfaction of the debt? Figure – Credit Information in Singapore and comparator economies 10 8 8 8 7 7 Index score 6 6 4.2 4 2 0 Singapore China Hong Kong SAR, China Japan Korea, Rep. East Asia & Pacific Details – Credit Information in Singapore Page 38   0 Singapore Doing Business 2018 China Singapore Hong Kong SAR, China Japan Korea, Rep. East Asia & Pacific Details – Credit Information in Singapore Credit Credit Depth of credit information index (0-8) bureau registry Score Are data on both firms and individuals distributed? Yes No 1 Are both positive and negative credit data distributed? Yes No 1 Are data from retailers or utility companies - in addition to data from banks and financial institutions - No No 0 distributed? Are at least 2 years of historical data distributed? (Credit bureaus and registries that distribute more Yes No 1 than 10 years of negative data or erase data on defaults as soon as they are repaid obtain a score of 0 for this component.) Are data on loan amounts below 1% of income per capita distributed? Yes No 1 By law, do borrowers have the right to access their data in the credit bureau or credit registry? Yes No 1 Can banks and financial institutions access borrowers’ credit information online (for example, Yes No 1 through an online platform, a system-to-system connection or both)? Are bureau or registry credit scores offered as a value-added service to help banks and financial Yes No 1 institutions assess the creditworthiness of borrowers? Score ("yes" to either public bureau or private registry) 7 Note: An economy receives a score of 1 if there is a "yes" to either bureau or registry. If the credit bureau or registry is not operational or covers less than 5% of the adult population, the total score on the depth of credit information index is 0. Coverage Credit bureau Credit registry Number of individuals 2,269,854 0 Number of firms 482,000 0 Total 2,751,854 0 Percentage of adult population 67.8 0.0 Protecting Minority Investors This topic measures the strength of minority shareholder protections against misuse of corporate assets by directors for their personal gain as well as shareholder rights, governance safeguards and corporate transparency requirements that reduce the risk of abuse. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Extent of disclosure index (0–10): Review and To make the data comparable across economies, a case study uses several approval requirements for related-party assumptions about the business and the transaction. transactions; Disclosure requirements for related-party transactions The business (Buyer): Extent of director liability index (0–10): Ability of - Is a publicly traded corporation listed on the economy’s most important minority shareholders to sue and hold interested stock exchange. If the number of publicly traded companies listed on that directors liable for prejudicial related-party exchange is less than 10, or if there is no stock exchange in the economy, it is assumed that Buyer is a large private company with multiple Page 39   transactions; Available legal remedies (damages, Percentage of adult population 67.8 0.0 Doing Business 2018 Singapore Protecting Minority Investors This topic measures the strength of minority shareholder protections against misuse of corporate assets by directors for their personal gain as well as shareholder rights, governance safeguards and corporate transparency requirements that reduce the risk of abuse. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Extent of disclosure index (0–10): Review and To make the data comparable across economies, a case study uses several approval requirements for related-party assumptions about the business and the transaction. transactions; Disclosure requirements for related-party transactions The business (Buyer): Extent of director liability index (0–10): Ability of - Is a publicly traded corporation listed on the economy’s most important minority shareholders to sue and hold interested stock exchange. If the number of publicly traded companies listed on that directors liable for prejudicial related-party exchange is less than 10, or if there is no stock exchange in the economy, it transactions; Available legal remedies (damages, is assumed that Buyer is a large private company with multiple disgorgement of profits, fines, imprisonment, shareholders. rescission of the transaction) - Has a board of directors and a chief executive o cer (CEO) who may legally act on behalf of Buyer where permitted, even if this is not speci cally Ease of shareholder suits index (0–10): Access to required by law. internal corporate documents; Evidence - Has a supervisory board (applicable to economies with a two-tier board obtainable during trial and allocation of legal system) on which 60% of the shareholder-elected members have been expenses appointed by Mr. James, who is Buyer’s controlling shareholder and a Extent of conflict of interest regulation index member of Buyer’s board of directors. (0–10): Simple average of the extent of disclosure, - Has not adopted any bylaws or articles of association that di er from extent of director liability and ease of default minimum standards and does not follow any nonmandatory codes, shareholder indices principles, recommendations or guidelines relating to corporate Extent of shareholder rights index (0-10): governance. Shareholders’ rights and role in major corporate - Is a manufacturing company with its own distribution network. decisions Extent of ownership and control index (0-10): The transaction involves the following details: Governance safeguards protecting shareholders - Mr. James owns 60% of Buyer and elected two directors to Buyer’s ve- from undue board control and entrenchment member board. Extent of corporate transparency index (0-10): - Mr. James also owns 90% of Seller, a company that operates a chain of Corporate transparency on ownership stakes, retail hardware stores. Seller recently closed a large number of its stores. compensation, audits and financial prospects - Mr. James proposes that Buyer purchase Seller’s unused eet of trucks to expand Buyer’s distribution of its food products, a proposal to which Buyer Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10): agrees. The price is equal to 10% of Buyer’s assets and is higher than the Simple average of the extent of shareholders market value. rights, extent of ownership and control and - The proposed transaction is part of the company’s ordinary course of extent of corporate transparency indices business and is not outside the authority of the company. Strength of minority investor protection index - Buyer enters into the transaction. All required approvals are obtained, (0–10): Simple average of the extent of conflict of and all required disclosures made (that is, the transaction is not interest regulation and extent of shareholder fraudulent). governance indices - The transaction causes damages to Buyer. Shareholders sue Mr. James and the other parties that approved the transaction. East Asia & OECD high Indicator Singapore Pacific income Overall Best Performer Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0- 9.3 5.7 6.4 9.3 (New Zealand) 10) Extent of shareholder governance index (0-10) 6.7 4.8 6.4 Page 40   9.00 (Kazakhstan) and the other parties that approved the transaction. Doing Business 2018 Singapore East Asia & OECD high Indicator Singapore Pacific income Overall Best Performer Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0- 9.3 5.7 6.4 9.3 (New Zealand) 10) Extent of shareholder governance index (0-10) 6.7 4.8 6.4 9.00 (Kazakhstan) Figure – Protecting Minority Investors in Singapore and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 80.00: Singapore (Rank: 4) 76.67: Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank: 9) 71.67: Korea, Rep. (Rank: 20) 58.33: Japan (Rank: 62) 52.33: Regional Average (East Asia & Pacific) 48.33: China (Rank: 119) Note: The ranking of economies on the strength of minority investor protections is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for protecting minority investors. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for the extent of con ict of interest regulation index and the extent of shareholder governance index. Figure – Protecting Minority Investors in Singapore and comparator economies – Measure of Quality Singapore 8 9 10 5 7 9 China 9 1 10 2 3 4 Hong Kong SAR, China 8 8 10 4 7 9 Japan 5 6 7 3 6 8 Korea, Rep. 9 6 7 6 7 8 OECD high income 7.3 5.6 6.5 5.2 6.3 7.4 East Asia & Pacific 5.6 4.6 6.2 3.9 5.3 6.1 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Sub-Indicator Score Extent of corporate transparency index (0­10) Extent of director liability index (0­10) Extent of disclosure index (0­10) Extent of ownership and control index (0­10) Extent of shareholder rights index (0­10) Ease of shareholder suits index (0­10) Details – Protecting Minority Investors in Singapore – Measure of Quality Answer Score Page 41   Extent of ownership and control index (0­10) Extent of shareholder rights index (0­10) Ease of shareholder suits index (0­10) Doing Business 2018 Singapore Details – Protecting Minority Investors in Singapore – Measure of Quality Answer Score Extent of con ict of interest regulation index (0-10) 9.3 Extent of disclosure index (0-10) 10 Which corporate body is legally su cient to approve the Buyer-Seller transaction? (0-3) Shareholders 3.0 excluding interested parties Must an external body review the terms of the transaction before it takes place? (0-1) Yes 1.0 Must Mr. James disclose his con ict of interest to the board of directors? (0-2) Full disclosure of 2.0 all material facts Must Buyer disclose the transaction in published periodic lings (annual reports)? (0-2) Disclosure on 2.0 the transaction and on the con ict of interest Must Buyer immediately disclose the transaction to the public and/or shareholders? (0- Disclosure on 2.0 2) the transaction and on the con ict of interest Extent of director liability index (0-10) 9 Can shareholders representing 10% of Buyer's share capital sue directly or derivatively Yes 1.0 for the damage the transaction caused to Buyer? (0-1) Can shareholders hold the interested director liable for the damage the transaction Liable if unfair or 2.0 caused to Buyer? (0-2) prejudicial Can shareholders hold the other directors liable for the damage the transaction caused Liable if unfair or 2.0 to Buyer (0-2) prejudicial Must Mr. James pay damages for the harm caused to Buyer upon a successful claim by Yes 1.0 shareholders? (0-1) Must Mr. James repay pro ts made from the transaction upon a successful claim by Yes 1.0 shareholders? (0-1) Is Mr. James disquali ed or ned and imprisoned upon a successful claim by Yes 1.0 shareholders? (0-1) Can a court void the transaction upon a successful claim by shareholders? (0-2) Voidable if 1.0 negligently concluded Ease of shareholder suits index (0-10) 9 Before suing can shareholders representing 10% of Buyer's share capital inspect the Yes 1.0 transaction documents? (0-1) Can the plainti obtain any documents from the defendant and witnesses at trial? (0-3) Any relevant 3.0 Page 42   shareholder Ease ofBusiness Doing suits index 2018 (0-10) Singapore 9 Before suing can shareholders representing 10% of Buyer's share capital inspect the Yes 1.0 transaction documents? (0-1) Can the plainti obtain any documents from the defendant and witnesses at trial? (0-3) Any relevant 3.0 document Can the plainti request categories of documents from the defendant without Yes 1.0 identifying speci c ones? (0-1) Can the plainti directly question the defendant and witnesses at trial? (0-2) Yes 2.0 Is the level of proof required for civil suits lower than that of criminal cases? (0-1) Yes 1.0 Can shareholder plainti s recover their legal expenses from the company? (0-2) Yes if successful 1.0 Extent of shareholder governance index (0-10) 6.7 Extent of shareholder rights index (0-10) 7 Does the sale of 51% of Buyer's assets require shareholder approval? Yes 1.0 Can shareholders representing 10% of Buyer's share capital call for a meeting of Yes 1.0 shareholders? Must Buyer obtain its shareholders’ approval every time it issues new shares? Yes 1.0 Do shareholders automatically receive preemption rights every time Buyer issues new No 0.0 shares? Must shareholders approve the election and dismissal of the external auditor? Yes 1.0 Are changes to the rights of a class of shares only possible if the holders of the a ected Yes 1.0 shares approve? Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, does the sale of 51% of its assets require No 0.0 member approval? Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, can members representing 10% call for a Yes 1.0 meeting of members? Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, must all members consent to add a new Yes 1.0 member? Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, must a member rst o er to sell their No 0.0 interest to the existing members before they can sell to non-members? Extent of ownership and control index (0-10) 5 Is it forbidden to appoint the same individual as CEO and chair of the board of No 0.0 directors? Must the board of directors include independent and nonexecutive board members? Yes 1.0 Can shareholders remove members of the board of directors without cause before the Yes 1.0 end of their term? Must the board of directors include a separate audit committee exclusively comprising Yes 1.0 board members? Must a potential acquirer make a tender o er to all shareholders upon acquiring 50% Yes 1.0 Page 43   of Buyer? Must the board of directors include a separate audit committee exclusively comprising Yes 1.0 board Doing members? Business 2018 Singapore Must a potential acquirer make a tender o er to all shareholders upon acquiring 50% Yes 1.0 of Buyer? Must Buyer pay declared dividends within a maximum period set by law? No 0.0 Is a subsidiary prohibited from acquiring shares issued by its parent company? Yes 1.0 Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, must Buyer have a mechanism to resolve No 0.0 disagreements among members? Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, must a potential acquirer make a tender No 0.0 o er to all shareholders upon acquiring 50% of Buyer? Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, must Buyer distribute pro ts within a No 0.0 maximum period set by law? Extent of corporate transparency index (0-10) 8 Must Buyer disclose direct and indirect bene cial ownership stakes representing 5%? Yes 1.0 Must Buyer disclose information about board members’ primary employment and Yes 1.0 directorships in other companies? Must Buyer disclose the compensation of individual managers? No 0.0 Must a detailed notice of general meeting be sent 21 days before the meeting? No 0.0 Can shareholders representing 5% of Buyer’s share capital put items on the general Yes 1.0 meeting agenda? Must Buyer's annual nancial statements be audited by an external auditor? Yes 1.0 Must Buyer disclose its audit reports to the public? Yes 1.0 Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, must members meet at least once a year? Yes 1.0 Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, can members representing 5% put items on Yes 1.0 the meeting agenda? Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, must Buyer's annual nancial statements be Yes 1.0 audited by an external auditor? Paying Taxes This topic records the taxes and mandatory contributions that a medium-size company must pay or withhold in a given year, as well as measures the administrative burden in paying taxes and contributions. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed on June 30, 2017 covering for the Paying Taxes indicator calendar year 2016 (January 1, 2016 – December 31, 2016). Last year (Doing Business 2017) the scope of data collection was expanded to better understand the overall tax environment in an economy. The questionnaire was expanded to include new questions on post- ling processes: VAT refund and tax audit. The data shows where post ling processes and practices work e ciently and what drives the di erences in the overall tax compliance cost across economies. The new section covers both the legal framework and the administrative burden on businesses to comply with post ling processes. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Page 44   Tax payments for a manufacturing company in Using a case scenario, Doing Business records taxes and mandatory Assuming that Buyer is a limited company, must Buyer's annual nancial statements be Yes 1.0 audited by an external auditor? Doing Business 2018 Singapore Paying Taxes This topic records the taxes and mandatory contributions that a medium-size company must pay or withhold in a given year, as well as measures the administrative burden in paying taxes and contributions. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed on June 30, 2017 covering for the Paying Taxes indicator calendar year 2016 (January 1, 2016 – December 31, 2016). Last year (Doing Business 2017) the scope of data collection was expanded to better understand the overall tax environment in an economy. The questionnaire was expanded to include new questions on post- ling processes: VAT refund and tax audit. The data shows where post ling processes and practices work e ciently and what drives the di erences in the overall tax compliance cost across economies. The new section covers both the legal framework and the administrative burden on businesses to comply with post ling processes. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Tax payments for a manufacturing company in Using a case scenario, Doing Business records taxes and mandatory 2016 (number per year adjusted for electronic and contributions a medium size company must pay in a year, and measures joint ling and payment) the administrative burden of paying taxes, contributions and dealing with post ling processes. Information is also compiled on frequency of ling Total number of taxes and contributions paid, and payments, time taken to comply with tax laws, time taken to comply including consumption taxes (value added tax, with the requirements of post ling processes and time waiting. sales tax or goods and service tax) Method and frequency of filing and payment To make data comparable across economies, several assumptions are used: Time required to comply with 3 major taxes - TaxpayerCo is a medium-size business that started operations on January (hours per year) 1, 2015. It produces ceramic flowerpots and sells them at retail. All taxes Collecting information, computing tax payable and contributions recorded are paid in the second year of operation Completing tax return, filing with agencies (calendar year 2016). Taxes and mandatory contributions are measured at all levels of government. Arranging payment or withholding Preparing separate tax accounting books, if The VAT refund process: required - In June 2016, TaxpayerCo. makes a large capital purchase: the value of the Total tax and contribution rate (% of pro t before machine is 65 times income per capita of the economy. Sales are equally all taxes) spread per month (1,050 times income per capita divided by 12) and cost of goods sold are equally expensed per month (875 times income per Profit or corporate income tax capita divided by 12). The machinery seller is registered for VAT and excess Social contributions, labor taxes paid by input VAT incurred in June will be fully recovered after four consecutive employer months if the VAT rate is the same for inputs, sales and the machine and Property and property transfer taxes the tax reporting period is every month. Input VAT will exceed Output VAT Dividend, capital gains, financial transactions in June 2016. taxes The corporate income tax audit process: Waste collection, vehicle, road and other taxes - An error in calculation of income tax liability (for example, use of incorrect Post ling Index tax depreciation rates, or incorrectly treating an expense as tax deductible) leads to an incorrect income tax return and a corporate income Time to comply with a VAT refund tax underpayment. TaxpayerCo. discovered the error and voluntarily Time to receive a VAT refund noti ed the tax authority. The value of the underpaid income tax liability is Time to comply with a corporate income tax audit 5% of the corporate income tax liability due. TaxpayerCo. submits corrected information after the deadline for submitting the annual tax Time to complete a corporate income tax audit return, but within the tax assessment period. East Asia & OECD high Indicator Singapore Pacific income Overall Best Performer Payments (number per year) 5 21.8 10.9 3 (Hong Kong SAR, China) Page 45   return, but within the tax assessment period. Doing Business 2018 Singapore East Asia & OECD high Indicator Singapore Pacific income Overall Best Performer Payments (number per year) 5 21.8 10.9 3 (Hong Kong SAR, China) Time (hours per year) 64 189.2 160.7 55 (Luxembourg) Total tax and contribution rate (% of profit) 20.3 33.6 40.1 18.47% (32 Economies) Postfiling index (0-100) 71.97 56.55 83.45 99.38 (Estonia) Figure – Paying Taxes in Singapore and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 98.82: Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank: 3) 91.58: Singapore (Rank: 7) 86.69: Korea, Rep. (Rank: 24) 76.71: Japan (Rank: 68) 72.42: Regional Average (East Asia & Pacific) 62.90: China (Rank: 130) Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of paying taxes is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores on the ease of paying taxes. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the four component indicators – number of tax payments. time, total tax rate and post ling index – with a threshold and a nonlinear transformation applied to one of the component indicators, the total tax rate. The nonlinear distance to frontier for the total tax rate is equal to the distance to frontier for the total tax rate to the power of 0.8. The threshold is de ned as the total tax rate at the 15th percentile of the overall distribution for all years included in the analysis up to and including Doing Business 2015, which is 26.1%. All economies with a total tax rate below this threshold receive the same score as the economy at the threshold. Figure – Paying Taxes in Singapore and comparator economies – Measure of Quality 120 98.85 100 93.04 80 71.97 71.69 Index score 56.55 60 49.08 40 20 0 Singapore China Hong Kong SAR, China Japan Korea, Rep. East Asia & Pacific Details – Paying Taxes in Singapore Tax or mandatory Payments Notes on Time Statutory Total tax and contribution Notes contribution (number) Payments (hours) tax rate Tax base rate (% of profit) on TTR Employer paid - Social 1 online 10 17% gross 17.58 Page 46   security contributions salaries Doing Business 2018 Singapore Figure – Paying Taxes in Singapore and comparator economies – Measure of Quality 120 98.85 100 93.04 80 71.97 71.69 Index score 56.55 60 49.08 40 20 0 Singapore China Hong Kong SAR, China Japan Korea, Rep. East Asia & Pacific Details – Paying Taxes in Singapore Tax or mandatory Payments Notes on Time Statutory Total tax and contribution Notes contribution (number) Payments (hours) tax rate Tax base rate (% of profit) on TTR Employer paid - Social 1 online 10 17% gross 17.58 security contributions salaries Corporate income tax 1 24 17% taxable 1.48 profit Property tax 1 online 10% property 1.04 value Skills Development Levy 0 jointly 0.25% gross 0.21 salaries Road tax 1 fixed fee engine 0.03 size Employee paid - Social 0 jointly 20% gross 0.00 withheld security contributions salaries Value added tax (GST) 1 online 30 7% value 0.00 not added included Totals 5 64 20.3 Details – Paying Taxes in Singapore – Tax by Type Taxes by type Answer Profit tax (% of profit) 1.5 Labor tax and contributions (% of profit) 17.8 Other taxes (% of profit) 1.1 Details – Paying Taxes in Singapore – Measure of Quality Page 47   Answer Score Doing Business 2018 Singapore Details – Paying Taxes in Singapore – Measure of Quality Answer Score Post ling index (0-100) 71.97 VAT refunds Does VAT exist? Yes Does a VAT refund process exist per the case study? Yes Restrictions on VAT refund process None Percentage of cases exposed to a VAT audit (%) 50% - 74% Is there a mandatory carry forward period? No Time to comply with VAT refund (hours) 4.5 91 Time to obtain a VAT refund (weeks) 21.1 65.5 Corporate income tax audits Does corporate income tax exist? Yes Percentage of cases exposed to a corporate income tax audit (%) 50% - 74% Time to comply with a corporate income tax audit (hours) 17.0 71.56 Time to complete a corporate income tax audit (weeks) 12.9 59.82 Notes: Names of taxes have been standardized. For instance income tax, pro t tax, tax on company's income are all named corporate income tax in this table. The hours for VAT include all the VAT and sales taxes applicable. The hours for Social Security include all the hours for labor taxes and mandatory contributions in general. The post ling index is the average of the scores on time to comply with VAT refund, time to obtain a VAT refund, time to comply with a corporate income tax audit and time to complete a corporate income tax audit. N/A = Not applicable. Trading across Borders Doing Business records the time and cost associated with the logistical process of exporting and importing goods. Doing Business measures the time and cost (excluding tari s) associated with three sets of procedures—documentary compliance, border compliance and domestic transport—within the overall process of exporting or importing a shipment of goods. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. Given the importance of trade digitalization, in Doing Business 2018, the Trading across Borders questionnaire included research questions on the availability and status of implementation of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Single Window (SW) systems. With this information, Doing Business built a comprehensive dataset on the adoption and level of sophistication of electronic platforms in 190 economies. These data are not used to compute the distance to frontier score or ranking of the ease of doing business. The new dataset on EDI and SW systems is available here. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Documentary compliance To make the data comparable across economies, a few assumptions are made about the traded goods and the transactions: Obtaining, preparing and submitting documents during transport, clearance, inspections and port Time: Time is measured in hours, and 1 day is 24 hours (for example, 22 or border handling in origin economy Page 48   days are recorded as 22×24=528 hours). If customs clearance takes 7.5 a corporate income tax audit and time to complete a corporate income tax audit. N/A = Not applicable. Doing Business 2018 Singapore Trading across Borders Doing Business records the time and cost associated with the logistical process of exporting and importing goods. Doing Business measures the time and cost (excluding tari s) associated with three sets of procedures—documentary compliance, border compliance and domestic transport—within the overall process of exporting or importing a shipment of goods. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. Given the importance of trade digitalization, in Doing Business 2018, the Trading across Borders questionnaire included research questions on the availability and status of implementation of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Single Window (SW) systems. With this information, Doing Business built a comprehensive dataset on the adoption and level of sophistication of electronic platforms in 190 economies. These data are not used to compute the distance to frontier score or ranking of the ease of doing business. The new dataset on EDI and SW systems is available here. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Documentary compliance To make the data comparable across economies, a few assumptions are made about the traded goods and the transactions: Obtaining, preparing and submitting documents during transport, clearance, inspections and port Time: Time is measured in hours, and 1 day is 24 hours (for example, 22 or border handling in origin economy days are recorded as 22×24=528 hours). If customs clearance takes 7.5 Obtaining, preparing and submitting documents hours, the data are recorded as is. Alternatively, suppose documents are required by destination economy and any transit submitted to a customs agency at 8:00a.m., are processed overnight and economies can be picked up at 8:00a.m. the next day. The time for customs clearance Covers all documents required by law and in would be recorded as 24 hours because the actual procedure took 24 practice, including electronic submissions of hours. information Border compliance Cost: Insurance cost and informal payments for which no receipt is issued are excluded from the costs recorded. Costs are reported in U.S. dollars. Customs clearance and inspections Contributors are asked to convert local currency into U.S. dollars based on Inspections by other agencies (if applied to more the exchange rate prevailing on the day they answer the questionnaire. than 20% of shipments) Contributors are private sector experts in international trade logistics and Handling and inspections that take place at the are informed about exchange rates. economy’s port or border Assumptions of the case study: - For all 190 economies covered by Doing Domestic transport Business, it is assumed a shipment is in a warehouse in the largest Loading or unloading of the shipment at the business city of the exporting economy and travels to a warehouse in the warehouse or port/border largest business city of the importing economy. - It is assumed each Transport between warehouse and port/border economy imports 15 metric tons of containerized auto parts (HS 8708) from its natural import partner—the economy from which it imports the Traffic delays and road police checks while shipment is en route largest value (price times quantity) of auto parts. It is assumed each economy exports the product of its comparative advantage (de ned by the largest export value) to its natural export partner—the economy that is the largest purchaser of this product. Shipment value is assumed to be $50,000. - The mode of transport is the one most widely used for the chosen export or import product and the trading partner, as is the seaport, or land border crossing. - All electronic information submissions requested by any government agency in connection with the shipment are considered to be documents obtained, prepared and submitted during the export or import process. - A port or border is a place (seaport, airport or land border crossing) where merchandise can enter or leave an economy. - Relevant government agencies include customs, port authorities, road police, border guards, standardization agencies, ministries or departments of agriculture or industry, national security agencies and any other government authorities. Page 49   of agriculture or industry, national security agencies and any other Doing Business 2018 Singapore government authorities. East Asia & OECD high Indicator Singapore Pacific income Overall Best Performer Time to export: Border compliance (hours) 10 55.9 12.7 0 (17 Economies) Cost to export: Border compliance (USD) 335 387.5 149.9 0.00 (19 Economies) Time to export: Documentary compliance 2 68.2 2.4 1.0 (25 Economies) (hours) Cost to export: Documentary compliance (USD) 37 112.1 35.4 0.00 (19 Economies) Time to import: Border compliance (hours) 33 70.5 8.7 0.00 (21 Economies) Cost to import: Border compliance (USD) 220 431.0 111.6 0.00 (27 Economies) Time to import: Documentary compliance 3 65.6 3.5 1.0 (30 Economies) (hours) Cost to import: Documentary compliance (USD) 40 111.4 25.6 0.00 (30 Economies) Figure – Trading across Borders in Singapore and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 93.56: Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank: 31) 92.52: Korea, Rep. (Rank: 33) 89.57: Singapore (Rank: 42) 86.51: Japan (Rank: 51) 69.97: Regional Average (East Asia & Pacific) 69.91: China (Rank: 97) Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of trading across borders is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for trading across borders. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for the time and cost for documentary compliance and border compliance to export and import (domestic transport is not used for calculating the ranking). Figure – Trading across Borders in Singapore – Time and Cost Time Cost 35 33 400 335 350 30 300 25 Time (hours) Cost (USD) 220 250 20 200 15 10 150 10 100 5 37 3 40 2 50 0 0 Export - Border Compliance Export - Documentary Compliance Import - Border Compliance Import - Documentary CompliancePage 50   Doing Business 2018 Singapore Figure – Trading across Borders in Singapore – Time and Cost Time Cost 35 33 400 335 350 30 300 25 Time (hours) Cost (USD) 220 250 20 200 15 10 150 10 100 5 37 3 40 2 50 0 0 Export - Border Compliance Export - Documentary Compliance Import - Border Compliance Import - Documentary Compliance Details – Trading across Borders in Singapore Characteristics Export Import Product HS 85 : Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and HS 8708: Parts and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, and parts and accessories of motor accessories of such articles vehicles Trade partner Hong Kong, China Germany Border Singapore port Singapore port Distance (km) 15 15 Domestic 2 1 transport time (hours) Domestic 212 214 transport cost (USD) Details – Trading across Borders in Singapore – Components of Border Compliance Time to Complete Associated Costs (hours) (USD) Export: Clearance and inspections required by customs authorities 1.6 50.0 Export: Clearance and inspections required by agencies other than customs 0.0 0.0 Export: Port or border handling 10.0 285.0 Import: Clearance and inspections required by customs authorities 1.0 50.0 Import: Clearance and inspections required by agencies other than customs 0.0 0.0 Import: Port or border handling 33.0 170.0 Page 51   Details – Trading across Borders in Singapore – Trade Documents (USD) Doing Business 2018 Singapore Details – Trading across Borders in Singapore – Components of Border Compliance Time to Complete Associated Costs (hours) (USD) Export: Clearance and inspections required by customs authorities 1.6 50.0 Export: Clearance and inspections required by agencies other than customs 0.0 0.0 Export: Port or border handling 10.0 285.0 Import: Clearance and inspections required by customs authorities 1.0 50.0 Import: Clearance and inspections required by agencies other than customs 0.0 0.0 Import: Port or border handling 33.0 170.0 Details – Trading across Borders in Singapore – Trade Documents Export Import Commercial Invoice Commercial Invoice Packing List Packing List Export permit Import Permit SOLAS certificate SOLAS certificate Bill of lading Bill of lading Enforcing Contracts The enforcing contracts indicator measures the time and cost for resolving a commercial dispute through a local rst-instance court, and the quality of judicial processes index, evaluating whether each economy has adopted a series of good practices that promote quality and e ciency in the court system. The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Time required to enforce a contract through the The dispute in the case study involves the breach of a sales contract courts (calendar days) between 2 domestic businesses. The case study assumes that the court hears an expert on the quality of the goods in dispute. This distinguishes Time to file and serve the case the case from simple debt enforcement. Time for trial and to obtain the judgment To make the data comparable across economies, Doing Business uses Time to enforce the judgment several assumptions about the case: Cost required to enforce a contract through the - The dispute concerns a lawful transaction between two businesses (Seller courts (% of claim) and Buyer), both located in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 Attorney fees economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city. - The buyer orders custom-made goods, then fails to pay. Court fees - The value of the dispute is 200% of the income per capita or the Enforcement fees equivalent in local currency of USD 5,000, whichever is greater. Quality of judicial processes index (0-18) - The seller sues the buyer before the court with jurisdiction over commercial cases worth 200% of income per capita or $5,000. Court structure and proceedings (-1-5) Page 52   - The seller requests a pretrial attachment to secure the claim. Case management (0-6) Bill of lading Bill of lading Doing Business 2018 Singapore Enforcing Contracts The enforcing contracts indicator measures the time and cost for resolving a commercial dispute through a local rst-instance court, and the quality of judicial processes index, evaluating whether each economy has adopted a series of good practices that promote quality and e ciency in the court system. The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Time required to enforce a contract through the The dispute in the case study involves the breach of a sales contract courts (calendar days) between 2 domestic businesses. The case study assumes that the court hears an expert on the quality of the goods in dispute. This distinguishes Time to file and serve the case the case from simple debt enforcement. Time for trial and to obtain the judgment To make the data comparable across economies, Doing Business uses Time to enforce the judgment several assumptions about the case: Cost required to enforce a contract through the - The dispute concerns a lawful transaction between two businesses (Seller courts (% of claim) and Buyer), both located in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 Attorney fees economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city. - The buyer orders custom-made goods, then fails to pay. Court fees - The value of the dispute is 200% of the income per capita or the Enforcement fees equivalent in local currency of USD 5,000, whichever is greater. Quality of judicial processes index (0-18) - The seller sues the buyer before the court with jurisdiction over commercial cases worth 200% of income per capita or $5,000. Court structure and proceedings (-1-5) - The seller requests a pretrial attachment to secure the claim. Case management (0-6) - The dispute on the quality of the goods requires an expert opinion. Court automation (0-4) - The judge decides in favor of the seller; there is no appeal. Alternative dispute resolution (0-3) - The seller enforces the judgment through a public sale of the buyer’s movable assets. Standardized Case Claim value SGD 138,571.00 Court name Singapore District Court, State Court City Covered Singapore East Asia & OECD high Indicator Singapore Pacific income Overall Best Performer Time (days) 164 565.7 577.8 164.00 (Singapore) Cost (% of claim value) 25.8 47.3 21.5 9.00 (Iceland) Quality of judicial processes index (0-18) 15.0 7.9 11.0 15.50 (Australia) Figure – Enforcing Contracts in Singapore and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 84.15: Korea, Rep. (Rank: 1) 83.61: Singapore (Rank: 2) 78.23: China (Rank: 5) Page 53   of judicial processes Quality Business Doing index (0-18) 2018 Singapore 15.0 7.9 11.0 15.50 (Australia) Figure – Enforcing Contracts in Singapore and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 84.15: Korea, Rep. (Rank: 1) 83.61: Singapore (Rank: 2) 78.23: China (Rank: 5) 69.13: Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank: 28) 65.26: Japan (Rank: 51) 53.09: Regional Average (East Asia & Pacific) Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of enforcing contracts is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for enforcing contracts. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the component indicators. Figure – Enforcing Contracts in Singapore – Time and Cost Time Cost 700 47.3 50 565.7 577.8 600 Cost (% of claim value) 496.3 40 500 Time (days) 385 30 400 360 25.8 23.6 23.4 290 21.5 300 16.2 20 12.7 164 200 10 100 0 0 China East Asia & Hong Kong SAR, China Japan Korea, Rep. OECD high income Singapore Pacific Figure – Enforcing Contracts in Singapore and comparator economies – Measure of Quality Singapore 2 4.5 4 4.5 China 3 4.5 3 4.5 Hong Kong SAR, China 2.5 2 1 4.5 Japan 2.5 1 1 3 Korea, Rep. 3 4 4 3.5 OECD high income 2.5 2.9 2 3.6 East Asia & Pacific 2.2 2 1.3 3 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 Page 54   16 China East Asia & Hong Kong SAR, China Japan Korea, Rep. OECD high income Singapore Pacific Doing Business 2018 Singapore Figure – Enforcing Contracts in Singapore and comparator economies – Measure of Quality Singapore 2 4.5 4 4.5 China 3 4.5 3 4.5 Hong Kong SAR, China 2.5 2 1 4.5 Japan 2.5 1 1 3 Korea, Rep. 3 4 4 3.5 OECD high income 2.5 2.9 2 3.6 East Asia & Pacific 2.2 2 1.3 3 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 Sub-Indicator Score Alternative dispute resolution (0­3) Case management (0­6) Court automation (0­4) Court structure and proceedings (­1­5) Details – Enforcing Contracts in Singapore Indicator Time (days) 164 Filing and service 6 Trial and judgment 118 Enforcement of judgment 40 Cost (% of claim value) 25.8 Attorney fees 20.9 Court fees 2.8 Enforcement fees 2.1 Quality of judicial processes index (0-18) 15.0 Court structure and proceedings (-1-5) 4.5 Case management (0-6) 4.5 Court automation (0-4) 4.0 Alternative dispute resolution (0-3) 2.0 Details – Enforcing Contracts in Singapore – Measure of Quality Page 55   Alternative dispute resolution (0-3) 2.0 Doing Business 2018 Singapore Details – Enforcing Contracts in Singapore – Measure of Quality Answer Score Quality of judicial processes index (0-18) 15.0 Court structure and proceedings (-1-5) 4.5 1. Is there a court or division of a court dedicated solely to hearing commercial cases? Yes 1.5 2. Small claims court 1.5 2.a. Is there a small claims court or a fast-track procedure for small claims? Yes 2.b. If yes, is self-representation allowed? Yes 3. Is pretrial attachment available? Yes 1.0 4. Are new cases assigned randomly to judges? Yes, but manual 0.5 5. Does a woman's testimony carry the same evidentiary weight in court as a man's? Yes 0.0 Case management (0-6) 4.5 1. Time standards 0.0 1.a. Are there laws setting overall time standards for key court events in a civil case? Yes 1.b. If yes, are the time standards set for at least three court events? No 1.c. Are these time standards respected in more than 50% of cases? Yes 2. Adjournments 0.5 2.a. Does the law regulate the maximum number of adjournments that can be No granted? 2.b. Are adjournments limited to unforeseen and exceptional circumstances? Yes 2.c. If rules on adjournments exist, are they respected in more than 50% of cases? Yes 3. Can two of the following four reports be generated about the competent court: (i) Yes 1.0 time to disposition report; (ii) clearance rate report; (iii) age of pending cases report; and (iv) single case progress report? 4. Is a pretrial conference among the case management techniques used before the Yes 1.0 competent court? 5. Are there any electronic case management tools in place within the competent court Yes 1.0 for use by judges? 6. Are there any electronic case management tools in place within the competent court Yes 1.0 for use by lawyers? Court automation (0-4) 4.0 1. Can the initial complaint be led electronically through a dedicated platform within Yes 1.0 the competent court? 2. Is it possible to carry out service of process electronically for claims led before the Yes 1.0 competent court? Page 56   1. Can the initial complaint be led electronically through a dedicated platform within Yes 1.0 Businesscourt? the competent Doing 2018 Singapore 2. Is it possible to carry out service of process electronically for claims led before the Yes 1.0 competent court? 3. Can court fees be paid electronically within the competent court? Yes 1.0 4. Publication of judgments 1.0 4.a Are judgments rendered in commercial cases at all levels made available to the Yes general public through publication in o cial gazettes, in newspapers or on the internet or court website? 4.b. Are judgments rendered in commercial cases at the appellate and supreme Yes court level made available to the general public through publication in o cial gazettes, in newspapers or on the internet or court website? Alternative dispute resolution (0-3) 2.0 1. Arbitration 1.5 1.a. Is domestic commercial arbitration governed by a consolidated law or Yes consolidated chapter or section of the applicable code of civil procedure encompassing substantially all its aspects? 1.b. Are there any commercial disputes—aside from those that deal with public No order or public policy—that cannot be submitted to arbitration? 1.c. Are valid arbitration clauses or agreements usually enforced by the courts? Yes 2. Mediation/Conciliation 0.5 2.a. Is voluntary mediation or conciliation available? Yes 2.b. Are mediation, conciliation or both governed by a consolidated law or No consolidated chapter or section of the applicable code of civil procedure encompassing substantially all their aspects? 2.c. Are there nancial incentives for parties to attempt mediation or conciliation (i.e., No if mediation or conciliation is successful, a refund of court ling fees, income tax credits or the like)? Resolving Insolvency Doing Business studies the time, cost and outcome of insolvency proceedings involving domestic legal entities. These variables are used to calculate the recovery rate, which is recorded as cents on the dollar recovered by secured creditors through reorganization, liquidation or debt enforcement (foreclosure or receivership) proceedings. To determine the present value of the amount recovered by creditors, Doing Business uses the lending rates from the International Monetary Fund, supplemented with data from central banks and the Economist Intelligence Unit. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Time required to recover debt (years) To make the data on the time, cost and outcome comparable across economies, several assumptions about the business and the case are Measured in calendar years used: Appeals and requests for extension are included - A hotel located in the largest city (or cities) has 201 employees and 50 Cost required to recover debt (% of debtor’s estate) suppliers. The hotel experiences nancial di culties. Page 57   Measured as percentage of estate value - The value of the hotel is 100% of the income per capita or the equivalent if mediation or conciliation is successful, a refund of court ling fees, income tax credits or the like)? Doing Business 2018 Singapore Resolving Insolvency Doing Business studies the time, cost and outcome of insolvency proceedings involving domestic legal entities. These variables are used to calculate the recovery rate, which is recorded as cents on the dollar recovered by secured creditors through reorganization, liquidation or debt enforcement (foreclosure or receivership) proceedings. To determine the present value of the amount recovered by creditors, Doing Business uses the lending rates from the International Monetary Fund, supplemented with data from central banks and the Economist Intelligence Unit. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Time required to recover debt (years) To make the data on the time, cost and outcome comparable across economies, several assumptions about the business and the case are Measured in calendar years used: Appeals and requests for extension are included - A hotel located in the largest city (or cities) has 201 employees and 50 Cost required to recover debt (% of debtor’s estate) suppliers. The hotel experiences nancial di culties. Measured as percentage of estate value - The value of the hotel is 100% of the income per capita or the equivalent Court fees in local currency of USD 200,000, whichever is greater. - The hotel has a loan from a domestic bank, secured by a mortgage over Fees of insolvency administrators the hotel’s real estate. The hotel cannot pay back the loan, but makes Lawyers’ fees enough money to operate otherwise. Assessors’ and auctioneers’ fees In addition, Doing Business evaluates the adequacy and integrity of the Other related fees existing legal framework applicable to liquidation and reorganization Outcome proceedings through the strength of insolvency framework index. The index tests whether economies adopted internationally accepted good Whether business continues operating as a going practices in four areas: commencement of proceedings, management of concern or business assets are sold piecemeal debtor’s assets, reorganization proceedings and creditor participation. Recovery rate for creditors Measures the cents on the dollar recovered by secured creditors Outcome for the business (survival or not) determines the maximum value that can be recovered Official costs of the insolvency proceedings are deducted Depreciation of furniture is taken into account Present value of debt recovered Strength of insolvency framework index (0- 16) Sum of the scores of four component indices: Commencement of proceedings index (0-3) Management of debtor’s assets index (0-6) Reorganization proceedings index (0-3) Creditor participation index (0-4) East Asia & OECD high Indicator Singapore Pacific income Overall Best Performer Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 88.7 35.4 71.2 93.1 (Norway) Time (years) 0.8 2.6 1.7 0.4 (Ireland) Page 58   Cost (% of estate) 4.0 20.6 9.1 1.00 (Norway) Creditor participation index (0-4) Doing Business 2018 Singapore East Asia & OECD high Indicator Singapore Pacific income Overall Best Performer Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 88.7 35.4 71.2 93.1 (Norway) Time (years) 0.8 2.6 1.7 0.4 (Ireland) Cost (% of estate) 4.0 20.6 9.1 1.00 (Norway) Outcome (0 as piecemeal sale and 1 as going 1 .. .. .. concern) Strength of insolvency framework index (0-16) 8.5 7.0 12.1 15.00 (6 Economies) Figure – Resolving Insolvency in Singapore and comparator economies – Ranking and DTF DB 2018 Distance to Frontier (DTF) 0 100 93.44: Japan (Rank: 1) 89.33: Korea, Rep. (Rank: 5) 74.31: Singapore (Rank: 27) 65.69: Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank: 43) 55.82: China (Rank: 56) 40.78: Regional Average (East Asia & Pacific) Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of resolving insolvency is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for resolving insolvency. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for the recovery rate and the strength of insolvency framework index. Figure – Resolving Insolvency in Singapore – Time and Cost Time Cost 3 25 22.0 2.6 20.6 2.5 20 Cost (% of estate) Time (years) 2 1.7 1.7 15 1.5 1.5 9.1 10 1 0.8 0.8 5.0 0.6 4.2 3.5 4.0 5 0.5 0 0 China East Asia & Hong Kong SAR, China Japan Korea, Rep. OECD high income Singapore Pacific Figure – Resolving Insolvency in Singapore and comparator economies – Measure of Quality Singapore 4 3 1 0.5 Page 59   China 5 3 1 2.5 China East Asia & Hong Kong SAR, China Japan Korea, Rep. OECD high income Singapore Pacific Doing Business 2018 Singapore Figure – Resolving Insolvency in Singapore and comparator economies – Measure of Quality Singapore 4 3 1 0.5 China 5 3 1 2.5 Hong Kong SAR, China 3 2 1 0 Japan 6 3 2 3 Korea, Rep. 5.5 2.5 3 3 OECD high income 5.4 2.8 2.3 1.9 East Asia & Pacific 3.7 2.3 1.2 1 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 Sub-Indicator Score Management of debtor's assets index (0­6) Commencement of proceedings index (0­3) Creditor participation index (0­4) Reorganization proceedings index (0­3) Figure – Resolving Insolvency in Singapore and comparator economies – Recovery Rate Recovery Rate (cents on the dollar) 100 92.4 88.7 87.2 90 84.7 80 70 60 50 40 36.9 35.4 30 20 10 0 Singapore China Hong Kong SAR, China Japan Korea, Rep. East Asia & Pacific Details – Resolving Insolvency in Singapore Indicator Answer Explanation Proceeding receivership Upon Mirage's default, BizBank will try to appoint a receiver in accordance with the loan agreement to recover its money. It's likely that Mirage will challenge this appointment, after which BizBank will file an application to the High Court. Then the court will appoint a receiver, who will try to sell Mirage as a going concern in order to maximize the return to BizBank. This will be in-court receivership. Outcome going concern The hotel will continue operating as a going concern after the receivership procedure, since the receiver and manager will seek to sell Mirage as a going concern to maximize the return for BizBank. Time (in years) 0.8 The receivership procedure until BizBank is repaid some or all of the money owed to it takes approximately 9 months. Page 60   Cost (% of 4.0 The costs associated with the case would amount to approximately 4% of the value of the Singapore China Hong Kong SAR, China Japan Korea, Rep. East Asia & Pacific Doing Business 2018 Singapore Details – Resolving Insolvency in Singapore Indicator Answer Explanation Proceeding receivership Upon Mirage's default, BizBank will try to appoint a receiver in accordance with the loan agreement to recover its money. It's likely that Mirage will challenge this appointment, after which BizBank will file an application to the High Court. Then the court will appoint a receiver, who will try to sell Mirage as a going concern in order to maximize the return to BizBank. This will be in-court receivership. Outcome going concern The hotel will continue operating as a going concern after the receivership procedure, since the receiver and manager will seek to sell Mirage as a going concern to maximize the return for BizBank. Time (in years) 0.8 The receivership procedure until BizBank is repaid some or all of the money owed to it takes approximately 9 months. Cost (% of 4.0 The costs associated with the case would amount to approximately 4% of the value of the estate) debtor's estate. Costs incurred during the entire insolvency process mainly include attorneys’ fees (0,75%), receiver’s fees (3%), and auctioneer's fees (0,6%). Recovery rate (cents on the 88.7 dollar) Details – Resolving Insolvency in Singapore – Measure of Quality Answer Score Strength of insolvency framework index (0-16) 8.5 Commencement of proceedings index (0-3) 3.0 What procedures are available to a DEBTOR when commencing insolvency (a) Debtor may 1.0 proceedings? le for both liquidation and reorganization Does the insolvency framework allow a CREDITOR to le for insolvency of the debtor? (a) Yes, a creditor 1.0 may le for both liquidation and reorganization What basis for commencement of the insolvency proceedings is allowed under the (a) Debtor is 1.0 insolvency framework? generally unable to pay its debts as they mature Management of debtor's assets index (0-6) 4.0 Does the insolvency framework allow the continuation of contracts supplying essential No 0.0 goods and services to the debtor? Does the insolvency framework allow the rejection by the debtor of overly burdensome Yes 1.0 contracts? Does the insolvency framework allow avoidance of preferential transactions? Yes 1.0 Page 61   Does the insolvency framework allow avoidance of undervalued transactions? Yes 1.0 dollar) Doing Business 2018 Singapore Details – Resolving Insolvency in Singapore – Measure of Quality Answer Score Strength of insolvency framework index (0-16) 8.5 Commencement of proceedings index (0-3) 3.0 What procedures are available to a DEBTOR when commencing insolvency (a) Debtor may 1.0 proceedings? le for both liquidation and reorganization Does the insolvency framework allow a CREDITOR to le for insolvency of the debtor? (a) Yes, a creditor 1.0 may le for both liquidation and reorganization What basis for commencement of the insolvency proceedings is allowed under the (a) Debtor is 1.0 insolvency framework? generally unable to pay its debts as they mature Management of debtor's assets index (0-6) 4.0 Does the insolvency framework allow the continuation of contracts supplying essential No 0.0 goods and services to the debtor? Does the insolvency framework allow the rejection by the debtor of overly burdensome Yes 1.0 contracts? Does the insolvency framework allow avoidance of preferential transactions? Yes 1.0 Does the insolvency framework allow avoidance of undervalued transactions? Yes 1.0 Does the insolvency framework provide for the possibility of the debtor obtaining credit Yes 1.0 after commencement of insolvency proceedings? Does the insolvency framework assign priority to post-commencement credit? (c) No priority is 0.0 assigned to post- commencement creditors Reorganization proceedings index (0-3) 0.5 Which creditors vote on the proposed reorganization plan? (a) All creditors 0.5 Does the insolvency framework require that dissenting creditors in reorganization No 0.0 receive at least as much as what they would obtain in a liquidation? Are the creditors devided into classes for the purposes of voting on the reorganization No 0.0 plan, does each class vote separately and are creditors in the same class treated equally? Creditor participation index (0-4) 1.0 Does the insolvency framework require approval by the creditors for selection or No 0.0 appointment of the insolvency representative? Does the insolvency framework require approval by the creditors for sale of substantial No 0.0 Page 62   Creditor Doing participation Business 2018 index (0-4) Singapore 1.0 Does the insolvency framework require approval by the creditors for selection or No 0.0 appointment of the insolvency representative? Does the insolvency framework require approval by the creditors for sale of substantial No 0.0 assets of the debtor? Does the insolvency framework provide that a creditor has the right to request No 0.0 information from the insolvency representative? Does the insolvency framework provide that a creditor has the right to object to Yes 1.0 decisions accepting or rejecting creditors' claims? Note: Even if the economy’s legal framework includes provisions related to insolvency proceedings (liquidation or reorganization), the economy receives 0 points for the strength of insolvency framework index, if time, cost and outcome indicators are recorded as “no practice”. Labor Market Regulation Doing Business presents the data for the labor market regulation indicators in an annex. The report does not present rankings of economies on these indicators or include the topic in the aggregate distance to frontier score or ranking on the ease of doing business. Detailed data collected on labor market regulation are available on the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploretopics/labor-market-regulation). The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Hiring To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions (i) whether xed-term contracts are prohibited for about the worker and the business are used. permanent tasks; (ii) maximum cumulative duration of xed-term contracts; (iii) length of the The worker: probationary period; (iv) minimum wage. - Is a cashier in a supermarket or grocery store, age 19, with one year of work experience. Working hours - Is a full-time employee. (i) maximum number of working days allowed per - Is not a member of the labor union, unless membership is mandatory. week; (ii) premiums for work: at night, on a weekly rest day and overtime; (iii) whether there are The business: restrictions on work at night, work on a weekly rest - Is a limited liability company (or the equivalent in the economy). day and for overtime work; (iv) whether nonpregnant - Operates a supermarket or grocery store in the economy’s largest and nonnursing women can work same night hours business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second as men; (v) length of paid annual leave. largest business city. - Has 60 employees. Redundancy rules - Is subject to collective bargaining agreements if such agreements cover (i) whether redundancy can be basis for terminating more than 50% of the food retail sector and they apply even to rms that workers; (ii) whether employer needs to notify are not party to them. and/or get approval from third party to terminate 1 - Abides by every law and regulation but does not grant workers more redundant worker and a group of 9 redundant bene ts than those mandated by law, regulation or (if applicable) collective workers; (iii) whether law requires employer to bargaining agreements. reassign or retrain a worker before making worker redundant; (iv) whether priority rules apply for redundancies and reemployment. Redundancy cost (i) notice period for redundancy dismissal; (ii) severance payments due when terminating a redundant worker. Job quality (i) whether law mandates equal remuneration for Page 63   work of equal value and nondiscrimination based on the economy receives 0 points for the strength of insolvency framework index, if time, cost and outcome indicators are recorded as “no practice”. Doing Business 2018 Singapore Labor Market Regulation Doing Business presents the data for the labor market regulation indicators in an annex. The report does not present rankings of economies on these indicators or include the topic in the aggregate distance to frontier score or ranking on the ease of doing business. Detailed data collected on labor market regulation are available on the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploretopics/labor-market-regulation). The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Hiring To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions (i) whether xed-term contracts are prohibited for about the worker and the business are used. permanent tasks; (ii) maximum cumulative duration of xed-term contracts; (iii) length of the The worker: probationary period; (iv) minimum wage. - Is a cashier in a supermarket or grocery store, age 19, with one year of work experience. Working hours - Is a full-time employee. (i) maximum number of working days allowed per - Is not a member of the labor union, unless membership is mandatory. week; (ii) premiums for work: at night, on a weekly rest day and overtime; (iii) whether there are The business: restrictions on work at night, work on a weekly rest - Is a limited liability company (or the equivalent in the economy). day and for overtime work; (iv) whether nonpregnant - Operates a supermarket or grocery store in the economy’s largest and nonnursing women can work same night hours business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second as men; (v) length of paid annual leave. largest business city. - Has 60 employees. Redundancy rules - Is subject to collective bargaining agreements if such agreements cover (i) whether redundancy can be basis for terminating more than 50% of the food retail sector and they apply even to rms that workers; (ii) whether employer needs to notify are not party to them. and/or get approval from third party to terminate 1 - Abides by every law and regulation but does not grant workers more redundant worker and a group of 9 redundant bene ts than those mandated by law, regulation or (if applicable) collective workers; (iii) whether law requires employer to bargaining agreements. reassign or retrain a worker before making worker redundant; (iv) whether priority rules apply for redundancies and reemployment. Redundancy cost (i) notice period for redundancy dismissal; (ii) severance payments due when terminating a redundant worker. Job quality (i) whether law mandates equal remuneration for work of equal value and nondiscrimination based on gender in hiring; (ii) whether law mandates paid or unpaid maternity leave; (iii) length of paid maternity leave; (iv) whether employees on maternity leave receive 100% of wages; (v) availability of ve fully paid days of sick leave a year; (vi) eligibility requirements for unemployment protection. Details – Labor Market Regulation in Singapore Answer Hiring Page 64   Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks? No days of sick leave a year; (vi) eligibility requirements for unemployment protection. Doing Business 2018 Singapore Details – Labor Market Regulation in Singapore Answer Hiring Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks? No Maximum length of a single xed-term contract (months) No limit Maximum length of xed-term contracts, including renewals (months) No limit Minimum wage applicable to the worker assumed in the case study (US$/month) 0.0 Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker 0.0 Maximum length of probationary period (months) 6.0 Working hours Standard workday 8.0 Maximum number of working days per week 6.0 Premium for night work (% of hourly pay) 0.0 Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay) 100.0 Premium for overtime work (% of hourly pay) 50.0 Restrictions on night work? No Whether nonpregnant and nonnursing women can work the same night hours as men Yes Restrictions on weekly holiday? No Restrictions on overtime work? No Paid annual leave for a worker with 1 year of tenure (working days) 7.0 Paid annual leave for a worker with 5 years of tenure (working days) 11.0 Paid annual leave for a worker with 10 years of tenure (working days) 14.0 Paid annual leave (average for workers with 1, 5 and 10 years of tenure, in working days) 10.7 Redundancy rules Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law? Yes Third-party noti cation if one worker is dismissed? No Third-party approval if one worker is dismissed? No Third-party noti cation if nine workers are dismissed? Yes Third-party approval if nine workers are dismissed? No Retraining or reassignment obligation before redundancy? No Page 65   Third-party Doing approval Business 2018 if nine workers are dismissed? Singapore No Retraining or reassignment obligation before redundancy? No Priority rules for redundancies? No Priority rules for reemployment? No Redundancy cost Notice period for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 1 year of tenure 1.0 Notice period for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 5 years of tenure 4.0 Notice period for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 10 years of tenure 4.0 Notice period for redundancy dismissal (average for workers with 1, 5 and 10 years of tenure) 3.0 Severance pay for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 1 year of tenure 0.0 Severance pay for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 5 years of tenure 0.0 Severance pay for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 10 years of tenure 0.0 Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (average for workers with 1, 5 and 10 years of tenure) 0.0 Job quality Equal remuneration for work of equal value? No Gender nondiscrimination in hiring? No Paid or unpaid maternity leave mandated by law? Yes Minimum length of maternity leave (calendar days)? 105.0 Receive 100% of wages on maternity leave? Yes Five fully paid days of sick leave a year? Yes Unemployment protection after one year of employment? No Minimum contribution period for unemployment protection (months)? n.a. Business Reforms in Singapore In the year ending June 1, 2017, 119 economies implemented 264 total reforms across the di erent areas measured by Doing Business. Doing Business has recorded more than 2,900 regulatory reforms making it easier to do business since 2004. Reforms inspired by Doing Business have been implemented by economies in all regions. The following are the reforms for Singapore implemented since Doing Business 2008. = Doing Business reform making it easier to do business. = Change making it more di cult to do business. DB2018 Trading across Borders: Singapore made exporting and importing easier by improving infrastructure and electronic equipment at the port. Resolving Insolvency: Singapore made resolving insolvency easier by establishing a new scheme of arrangement procedure with features of the debtor-in-possession reorganization regime and introducing provisions applicable to prepackaged restructurings. Labor Market Regulation: Singapore adopted legislation that requires employers with more than 10 employees to notify the Ministry of Manpower if ve or more employees are retrenched within any six-month period. Page 66   Minimum contribution period for unemployment protection (months)? n.a. Doing Business 2018 Singapore Business Reforms in Singapore In the year ending June 1, 2017, 119 economies implemented 264 total reforms across the di erent areas measured by Doing Business. Doing Business has recorded more than 2,900 regulatory reforms making it easier to do business since 2004. Reforms inspired by Doing Business have been implemented by economies in all regions. The following are the reforms for Singapore implemented since Doing Business 2008. = Doing Business reform making it easier to do business. = Change making it more di cult to do business. DB2018 Trading across Borders: Singapore made exporting and importing easier by improving infrastructure and electronic equipment at the port. Resolving Insolvency: Singapore made resolving insolvency easier by establishing a new scheme of arrangement procedure with features of the debtor-in-possession reorganization regime and introducing provisions applicable to prepackaged restructurings. Labor Market Regulation: Singapore adopted legislation that requires employers with more than 10 employees to notify the Ministry of Manpower if ve or more employees are retrenched within any six-month period. DB2017 Dealing with Construction Permits: Singapore made dealing with construction permits easier by streamlining procedures and improving the online one-stop shop. Registering Property: Singapore made it easier to transfer a property by introducing an independent mechanism for reporting errors on titles and maps. Paying Taxes: Singapore made paying taxes easier by introducing improvements to the online system for ling corporate income tax returns and VAT returns. At the same, the social security contribution rate paid by employers increased and the rebate of 30% on vehicle tax expired. DB2015 Enforcing Contracts: Singapore made enforcing contracts easier by introducing a new electronic litigation system that streamlines litigation proceedings. DB2014 Registering Property: Singapore made transferring property easier by introducing an online procedure for property transfers. Getting Credit: Singapore improved its credit information system by guaranteeing by law borrowers’ right to inspect their own data. DB2011 Getting Credit: Singapore improved its credit information system by collecting and distributing information on rms. DB2010 Starting a Business: Singapore made starting a business easier by combining tax registration with business registration on a single online form. Dealing with Construction Permits: Singapore made dealing with construction permits easier through new workplace safety and health regulations allowing companies in low-risk industries to submit documents online. Registering Property: Singapore made registering property easier by upgrading electronic systems and streamlining the administrative procedures of the government agencies involved. DB2009 Starting a Business: Singapore reduced the time and number of procedures to start a business by simplifying the online start- up process. Dealing with Construction Permits: Singapore made dealing with construction permits easier by improving internal data Page 67   management and processing at agencies involved in the permitting process. Starting a Business: Singapore reduced the time and number of procedures to start a business by simplifying the online start- Doing up Business 2018 process. Singapore Dealing with Construction Permits: Singapore made dealing with construction permits easier by improving internal data management and processing at agencies involved in the permitting process. Page 68   Dealing with Construction Permits: Singapore made dealing with construction permits easier by improving internal data management and processing Doing Business at agencies involved in the permitting process. 2018 Singapore Page 69