On 25 September 2007, The Minister for Trade and Industry issued an Exclusion Order to exclude the Air Shuttle Service Operation Agreement between MAS and SIA on the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur sector ('Singapore-KL Shuttle Agreement'), from Section 34 of the Competition Act (Cap. 50B) ('Act') which prohibits business agreements that prevent, restrict or distort competition.
The Competition Act allows the Minister for Trade and Industry to exclude agreements (or agreements of a particular description) from the Section 34 prohibition in specific situations. One such situation is if the Minister is satisfied that it is appropriate to exclude an agreement to avoid a conflict between the Act's provisions and an international obligation of Singapore, or an international arrangement relating to civil aviation (as in the present case).