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Standards & Governance
Every certification standard published by Data Bureau (Singapore) is developed through a structured process governed by the Standards Review Committee. No certification domain is adopted without completing each stage below.
Overview
A certification standard goes through six stages before it is adopted and published. The process ensures that every standard is grounded in a genuine and documentable need, is verifiable using existing Singapore data infrastructure, and has been subject to independent public review before it carries the Data Bureau (Singapore) name.
The Standards Review Committee governs each stage. A standard may be rejected or returned at any stage.
Domain Proposal
A certification domain is proposed and evaluated against four Committee criteria.
Committee Review
The Standards Review Committee formally accepts or rejects the domain.
Position Paper
A position paper is published articulating the basis for the proposed standard.
Consultation Draft
A full draft standard is prepared and reviewed internally.
Public Consultation
The draft is published for public comment. All substantive responses are reviewed.
Adoption
The finalised standard is adopted, versioned, and published.
Stage 1
A certification domain may be proposed internally or in response to an identified need in the market or regulatory landscape. Every proposal must be supported by evidence of the specific need it is intended to address — an identifiable absence in Singapore's existing certification landscape that affects business trust, consumer protection, or governance integrity.
Proposals that duplicate an existing mandatory regulatory scheme are not progressed. Data Bureau (Singapore) does not certify compliance with requirements already administered by a Singapore government agency or statutory board.
Stage 2
Every proposed domain is evaluated by the Standards Review Committee against four criteria before progressing. All four must be satisfied:
The domain must address a need not already covered by a mandatory Singapore regulatory or certification scheme. The Committee documents the specific need and the existing landscape reviewed.
Every criterion proposed must be assessable using data available through Singapore's existing public registries, institutional records, or commercial data agreements. Criteria that cannot be independently verified are not adopted.
The proposed domain must be consistent with Data Bureau (Singapore)'s institutional mandate — business verification, trust intelligence, and data governance.
The proposed domain must not create material overlap with an existing Data Bureau (Singapore) standard. The Committee determines whether a new standard, an extension, or a supplementary module is the appropriate vehicle.
Rejected proposals are documented. The proposer may resubmit with amendments.
Stage 3
Before a consultation draft is prepared, Data Bureau (Singapore) publishes a Position Paper for the proposed domain. The Position Paper articulates the institution's view on the need being addressed and invites initial public comment on whether the proposed scope is appropriate.
Position Papers are published under Resources — Position Papers. They are not draft standards. Submissions received in response to a Position Paper are reviewed before the consultation draft is finalised.
Stage 4
The Standards Review Committee prepares a full draft standard covering assessment domains, criteria, scoring architecture, pass threshold, and administrative provisions including appeals and revocation.
The draft undergoes internal review against the four Committee criteria before publication. Scoring arithmetic is validated in full. All criteria are confirmed as assessable using existing Singapore data infrastructure.
Stage 5
The consultation draft is published on the Public Consultations page for a defined period — typically four to six weeks — and is open to comment from any party.
All substantive responses are reviewed by the Standards Review Committee. The Committee's response to each substantive theme — including themes where no change was made — is documented in a Consultation Response Summary, published when the standard is adopted. A second consultation period may be opened if material changes require further public review.
Stage 6
Following the close of consultation and incorporation of Committee-approved changes, the finalised standard is submitted for adoption. Upon adoption, the standard is assigned a unique reference code and version number (v1.0), and published in the Publications & Intelligence section.
The Consultation Response Summary is published simultaneously. The standard becomes effective for new applications from the adoption date.
Governance
All standards carry a version number. Version 1.0 is the standard as published following initial consultation. Subsequent amendments increment the version number. Material amendments — those affecting assessment criteria, scoring, or pass thresholds — require a new consultation period before adoption. Administrative amendments may be adopted without consultation and are documented in a change notice.
Superseded versions are archived and remain accessible for reference.
A certification fee applies. Refer to the Schedule of Fees, provided by your appointed agency prior to application.
Last reviewed: May 2026