Enforcement in Singapore: Using the Compliance Strategy

This article examines the compliance approach to regulatory law enforcement in Singapore, as exemplified in two enforcement programmes, namely, food control and industrial safety. In contrast to the traditional sanction-based strategy of enforcement which emphasises coercion and deterrence, the compliance strategy focuses upon voluntary commitment to standards through learning, inducements, and self responsibility The reasons why this strategy has been adopted in the two enforcement programmes are also considered. In addition, the article assesses the effectiveness of the compliance strategy, highlighting the greater degree of effectiveness in the food control programme than in the industrial safety programme, especially in the construction sector. The differences are explained in economic terms. Where the cost of violating regulations (both penal and non-penal) outweighs the cost of conforming, as in the food control programme, it is more likely that the strategy will work. If the reverse is true, as in ...