Public Consultation Toolkit - Civil Service College

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Public Consultation Toolkit 27 28 Public Consultation Toolkit Case 8: Regulation of investment products Agency/country: • Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapore Background: • In 2009, MAS developed proposals to safeguard consumers’ interests and promote higher industry standards for the sale and marketing of unlisted investment products. • The proposed amendments to regulations typically did not attract much interest from the wider populace due to their complexity. Nevertheless, MAS felt that it was important to consult the wider populace because this particular set of regulations would have direct impact on the way consumers purchased investment products. Consultation Process: Subsequent steps: • MAS published its response to the feedback received in the consultation paper in September 2009 and January 2010. MAS also issued a new consultation paper on some additional proposals later in January 2010. Learning points: • For issues which may attract low volume of public feedback, input from the public can be obtained through: - Partnership with community leaders, - Educating stakeholders on how the policies impact them; and - Ensuring that materials and terminology used are jargon-free and accessible. • MAS engaged experts and industry players during policy development to provide technical inputs to the policy. • To consult the wider populace, MAS leveraged on consumer groups such as CASE and the Securities Investors’ Association Singapore (SIAS) to reach out to their members. • MAS also put its consultation paper on the REACH portal to solicit feedback from REACH members. • In addition, MAS briefed the local media on the significance of the proposed amendments for consumers and encouraged feedback from the public through the media. • It was ensured that the information used to brief the public was free of jargon and easy to understand. Outcomes: • MAS received a wide range of useful feedback from investors, market practitioners, and industry associations. The consultation paper attracted significantly more feedback from the general public than previous ones.
Public Consultation Toolkit 29 30 Public Consultation Toolkit Case 9: Contract period and early termination charges for telecommunication services offered to consumers Agency/country: • Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), Singapore Background: • In December 2008, IDA proposed to issue Guidelines on the maximum contract period and early termination charges (ETC) that providers of residential fixed-line, mobile and broadband services could impose on consumers. The Guidelines specified that: - The maximum contract periods should not exceed 24 months; and - Consumers who signed contracts that were longer than three months and who terminated their contracts before the end of their contract period should not have to pay a fixed ETC. Rather, ETCs should decrease over time. • In proposing the Guidelines, IDA considered that long contract periods and excessive ETCs may unfairly penalise consumers and hinder them from legitimately terminating services and switching operators. • IDA issued the final Guidelines in December 2009 and issued a press release to explain the Guidelines. IDA worked closely with the media to ensure that the public was made aware of the changes that would be put in place. • The final Guidelines were accompanied by an explanatory memorandum setting out IDA’s views and responses to the key comments received from the earlier consultation, and the considerations behind IDA’s decision. • IDA provided the operators with a three and a half month lead time to implement the Guidelines. Over the next few months, IDA continued to provide guidance to both operators as well as consumers on the implementation of the Guidelines. Learning points: • For issues in which public feedback and support is important, it is necessary to proactively engage the mass media to ensure that any consultation is widely publicised. • It is also important to ensure that technical policies are clearly explained and the materials made available are easily understood by the wider populace. • As part of the overall stakeholder management strategy, for decisions which may adversely affect any stakeholders, it is important to engage the stakeholders and provide some form of advance notification prior to announcing the final decision. Consultation process: • IDA conducted a public consultation on the proposed Guidelines on 23 December 2009, which lasted four weeks. • To ensure the issues were understood by the wider public, IDA avoided using industry jargon in the consultation paper, but tried to explain the issues and the proposed solutions in simple clear language. • IDA worked closely with the media to explain the issues in the consultation. Outcomes: • IDA received 13 sets of comments – three from telecommunication operators and 10 from individual consumers. Consumers were overwhelmingly in favour of the proposed Guidelines, while responses from the telecommunication operators were mixed but generally negative. The media published two articles and an editorial on the proposed Guidelines.
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Public Consultation Toolkit - Civil Service College

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