To learn more, check out our guide to applying for halal certification for your restaurant. The process of opening a restaurant is clearly a regulatory minefield. The time and effort you have to put into paperwork before a penny walks into the door can potentially be quite intimidating. A custom is an established practice or behaviour that the people involved in it consider to be law. Customs has the force of law only if it is recognized in a case. “Legal practices” or “commercial practices” are not recognized as law unless they are safe and not inappropriate or illegal. [87] In Singapore, customs legislation is a secondary source of law, as few customs authorities are judicially recognized. You would have to set up a business to own the restaurant. This will make your life easier later on, especially when it comes to hiring employees and paying taxes, not to mention limiting your own liability in case the restaurant turns out to be an unsuccessful business.
We also invite you to watch a video on setting up a restaurant in Singapore: The first step to opening a restaurant in Singapore is to register a company with the commercial register and then submit the applications to start operations. To set up a restaurant, foreign investors must hire a local service agent or law firm in Singapore to complete the company registration process. The selection of premises and equipment for the restaurant are also steps to follow before applying for special licenses issued by the National Environment Agency (NEA). If the site has already been approved for use as a restaurant, you do not need to apply for a building permit. You must agree with your future owner that you can do any necessary renovations to the premises to comply with this code before you can start operating your restaurant. If you need help applying for licenses or other business services for your restaurant, please contact us. Foreign investors who want to set up a business in the tourism sector can set up hotels and travel agencies in Singapore. However, another safe option is to set up a restaurant in Singapore. To open a restaurant, an investor must comply with local legislation, which can be explained by our lawyers in Singapore.
Before opening your restaurant, you need to decide if you want to serve alcohol or become halal certified. You don‘t have to do one or the other, but depending on your restaurant‘s location and target market, there may be strategic business benefits to doing either. Singapore joined the Federation of Malaya on 16 September 1963 and ceased to be a colony of the British Empire. The legislation was developed through the enactment of the Malaysian Act 1963 (United Kingdom),[57] the Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore (State Constitutions) Order 1963,[58] and the Malaysian Act 1963 (Malaysia). [59] The Council Regulation of 1963 provided that all laws in force in Singapore would continue to apply, subject to such modifications, adaptations, limitations and exceptions as might be necessary to bring them into conformity with the new Constitution and the Malaysia Act. [60] As Singapore was now a state in a larger federation, the Legislative Assembly of Singapore was transformed into the Singapore legislature, which had the power to legislate only on certain matters contained in the Malaysian Federal Constitution. Article 75 of the Federal Constitution also provides: “If a law of the Land is incompatible with a federal law, the federal law prevails and the law of the Land is void to the extent of the incompatibility.” There are a number of company vehicles in which you can set up your restaurant. However, for most restaurants, a simple limited liability company might be ideal. The food store license is the biggest and biggest obstacle to opening your restaurant. It may take a few weeks or months to obtain this license, depending on how long it takes you to renovate the premises to the satisfaction of the Singapore Food Agency (SFA). Here you can apply for the Food Shop license.
Once you have the license, you can open your restaurant legally. The grocery store licence must be renewed annually. Opening a new restaurant in Singapore requires meeting an impressive number of regulatory requirements. This probably means you‘ll need to work with a variety of government agencies that carry a variety of acronyms such as NEA, SFA, URA, HDB, IRAS, MOM, CPF, ACRA, MUIS, SCDF, and SPF. On the other hand, the courts are reluctant to interpret the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (1985 Rev. Ed., 1999 Reprint) to examine foreign legal documents on the basis that a constitution should be interpreted primarily within its four walls and not in the light of analogies from other legal systems; And because economic, political, social and other conditions abroad are perceived as different. Measures to restrict appeals to the Privy Council were first taken in 1989. This year, the Act was amended[74] so that appeals to the Privy Council in a civil case are admissible only if all parties have agreed to such an appeal before the Court of Appeal hears the case. In criminal matters, an appeal to the Privy Council can only be lodged in the case of the death penalty and if the judges of the Court of Appeal for criminal matters do not decide unanimously.