SINGAPORE - The Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) has bagged an award for ensuring the taxi business stayed competitive, in the light of third-party booking apps entering the market.

It was named a winner on Tuesday at the 2014 Competition Advocacy Contest held in Washington. The annual contest is organised by the International Competition Network and the World Bank Group.

The CCS said it worked with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) when the authority was coming up with a regulatory framework for third-party taxi apps. The framework, introduced in May this year, was aimed at safeguarding commuters' interest while ensuring that the market stayed innovative and were in line with LTA's taxi regulations.

"CCS, on its part, undertook a market study of the taxi industry to better understand the competitive landscape and the competition issues faced by different stakeholders as they operate in this market," the competition body said.

There are at least five third-party booking apps in the market now, including MoobiTaxi, GrabTaxi, Easy Taxi, UberTaxi and Hailo. They currently account for about 4 per cent of taxi bookings made in Singapore.