Businesses Now Permitted To Hold Larger Work-related Events
SINGAPORE – Starting Today (3 January), companies here can conduct larger work-related events for between 51 and 1,000 individuals subject to certain conditions, reported ChannelNewsAsia (CNA) on Saturday afternoon (1 January, SGT).
The conditions include no mask-off activities at the event, like the consumption of food and beverages, according to a joint statement issued by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) on Saturday.
In addition, participants must be “predominantly static”. This means that they must be “seated or standing in a fixed position”, said the government agencies. Organizers must also implement social distancing of at least 1 metre between each participant, who must be clustered into groups with 100 people each, and each group must be separated from other groups by at least 2 metres.
More importantly, the participants must either be fully inoculated, have recovered from COVID-19 within the past 180 days, or not medically eligible to be vaccinated under Singapore’s national vaccination programme.
Organisers of work-related events with over 50 participants must also submit an online application before the event and submit documents, including a floor plan and event itinerary.
Based on the online submission form, work-related events include training, seminars, meetings, conferences, award ceremonies, townhall sessions, corporate retreats, tender briefings to vendors, and annual general meetings (AGM).
“This change will give businesses more flexibility to organise work-related events,” said MOM and MTI, adding that they will carry out spot checks for such events and punish companies that violate the rules.
As for work-related events with up to 50 participants, these can continue to be held without notifying or seeking approval from the government.
Meanwhile, meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) with up to 1,000 participants where attendees are expected to interact more with each other will continue to require permission from the Ministry of Trade.
