The data protection principles in the Act apply to any marketing activities (including electronic marketing) which involve the collection, use or disclosure of personal data.

In addition, any organization or person that wishes to engage in any telemarketing activities will need to comply with the "Do Not Call" provisions under the Act. Generally, a person or organization who wishes to send marketing messages to a Singapore telephone number should first obtain the clear and unambiguous consent of the individual to the sending of the messages to such Singapore telephone number. The consent must:

• be evidenced in written or other form so as to be accessible for subsequent reference;
• not be a condition for supplying goods, services, land, interest or opportunity; and
• not be obtained through the provision of false or misleading information or through deceptive or misleading practices.

In the absence of such consent, organizations must check and ensure that the telephone number is not on a Do-Not-Call register maintained by the Commission (“DNC Register”). There are also other requirements, including a duty to identify the sender of the marketing message and provide clear and accurate contact information, as well as a duty not to conceal the calling line identity of any voice calls containing such marketing messages. An individual may at any time apply to the Commission to add or remove his Singapore telephone number on the DNC Register.

Further, the current Act provides the role of “checkers” which are entities that provide information for gain on whether a Singapore telephone number is listed in the DNC Register for the purposes of another organization’s obligations under the Act. It imposes obligations on third party checkers, and checkers will be liable for DNC infringements resulting from any erroneous information provided by them.

The Act will apply to marketing messages addressed to a Singapore telephone number in the following circumstances:

• The sender of the marketing message is present in Singapore when the message was sent.
• The recipient of the marketing message is present in Singapore when the message is accessed.

Electronic marketing activities are also regulated under the Spam Control Act 2007 ("SCA"), to the extent that such activities involve the sending of unsolicited commercial communications in bulk by electronic mail or by SMS or MMS to a mobile telephone number.

The DNC provisions under the current Act include a prohibition on sending messages to telephone numbers generated or obtained through dictionary attacks (generating telephone numbers by combining numbers into numerous permutations) or address-harvesting software. Related amendments to the SCA to prohibit sending unsolicited electronic messages to instant messaging accounts are also in force.

The Commission issued the revised Advisory Guidelines on the Do Not Call Provisions on February 1, 2021.