Singapore Law Survey

Non-Competes in Singapore

Name: Non-Competes in Singapore
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

A side-by-side comparison of how each covered jurisdiction treats employee non-compete agreements. Use country, search, and enforceability filters to narrow the full worldwide table. This is legal research, not legal advice.

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Non-Competes in Singapore — 1 jurisdictions. Open a row for details, or follow a link to the full practice note.
Jurisdiction	Are non-competes enforceable?	Summary	Main law or case	Last reviewed	Details
Singapore	Allowed if reasonable	Singapore has no non-compete statute; a post-employment restraint is presumptively void and binds a former employee only if the employer proves a legitimate proprietary interest and shows the clause is reasonable between the parties and in the public interest.	Man Financial (S) Pte Ltd v Wong Bark Chuan David [2007] SGCA 53	Jun 3, 2026
Main exceptions No statutory industry carve-outs; sale-of-business covenants are judged more leniently (CLAAS Medical Centre [2010] SGCA 3). The confidentiality over-and-above trap (Stratech [2005] SGCA 17) often defeats employment non-competes. When the ban took effect — Can a court narrow it? Only strikes wording Applies to contractors? Unclear Restriction extended during a breach? Not addressed Maximum length set by law No statutory limit Must the employer pay to enforce? —