Hello again. Welcome to this special edition of NX's regulatory podcast. Today's program is above

and beyond the usual schedule, but it's all for a worthy cause.

The first year for SIA-IKKOR as Singapore's top competition regulator has been dominated by the economic upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unlike other competition regulators in Asia,

the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore intervened decisively and early

to ensure that competition law didn't get in the way of the survival of companies as the downturn set in.

It was a baptism of fire for the veteran regulator and one which overshadowed other regulatory issues

that have been bubbling away in both

Singapore and the rest of Southeast Asia. Jeteramazos Santos is M-Mex's Southeast Asia correspondent,

and she's put together a remarkable special report based on an extended interview with SIA.

It's free for listeners to download download and I think that anyone with an

interest in regulatory developments in the region would find it very interesting. To talk me through

the special report, JET joins me now from Jakarta and JETT let's start with this issue of COVID-19

and how the CCCS under SEA ended up dealing with the issue of COVID-19 and how the CCCS and the SEA ended up dealing with the effects of the pandemic.

Hi James, so the Commission seems to have been able to provide a balanced response. They relaxed some rules to take into account the impact of the pandemic,

especially on heavily affected sectors like aviation,

but at the same time, they've put enough safeguards in place to prevent abuse.

For example, they've basically said they will not investigate certain business collaborations

if they are meant to improve the supply of basic goods and services amid the pandemic.

But the scope is very limited. First, it only applies to a list of goods and services maintained by the

Ministry of Trade and Industry. And it doesn't cover the more egregious types of behavior, like

price fixing and bid rigging are still clearly

...