The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA)of Singapore issued a notice that it will implement a New Contact Address Regime recently for corporate officers (such as Directors, Secretaries, and CEOs) of all Singapore companies by the end of 2024 to enhance the protection of residential address for those individuals.

1. What is the purpose?
   
   This policy is aimed at protecting information on personal residential address and does not apply to corporate shareholders.
   
   
2. For which individuals?
   
   Eligible individuals include the company’s individual shareholders, directors, secretaries, chief executives, etc.
   
   
3. What is the main purpose of this new policy?
   
   If eligible individuals do not wish to disclose their personal residential address to the public, they can voluntarily declare a non-resident address as their alternative/backup contact address. After the implementation of this new policy, the contact address will become the only address information made publicly available.
   
   
4. What are the requirements of contact address?
   
   The contact address must be the same country (region) as the eligible individual’s originally registered residential address. It can be a residential or commercial address. No proof of address is required, but the contact address must be declared truthfully.
   
   For example, if the eligible individual’s residential address is in China, the declared contact address must also be in China. The contact address can be another residence, an office building, a shop, etc. All addresses outside of China will not be accepted.
   
   
5. How should eligible individuals declare their contact address if they hold positions in multiple companies?
   
   If an eligible individual holds position in multiple companies in Singapore, he only needs to declare his contact address in one of the companies, and the contact address of all related entities will be updated simultaneously.
   
   
6. Is it okay not to declare a contact address?
   
   Declaring a contact address is voluntary. If you choose not to declare, the originally registered residential address will automatically become the contact address and be disclosed to the public. If you do not intend to declare a contact address, you do not need to take any action.
   
   
7. Kaizen’s recommendation
   
   In view of the implementation of this policy, the SGD40 government fee for filing a contact address before the end of 2024 has been temporarily waived. Kaizen recommends that you/your company submit your contact address before the end of the year to enjoy the discount.
   
   In addition, please note that ACRA will continue to send formal letters to residential address rather than contact address.