PART 10 | Provision as to jurisdiction in case of offences |
| 178. For the purpose of giving jurisdiction under this Act, every offence is deemed to have been committed, and every cause of complaint to have arisen, either in the place in which the offence actually was committed or arose or in any place in which the offender or person complained against may be. |
| Jurisdiction over ships lying off coast |
| 179. Where any place within which any court has jurisdiction either under this Act or any other written law or at common law for any purpose whatever is situate on the coast of any sea, or abutting on or projecting into any bay, channel, lake, river or other navigable water, every such court has jurisdiction over any ship being on, or lying or passing off, that coast or being in or near that bay, channel, lake, river or navigable water and over all persons on board that ship or for the time being belonging thereto, in the same manner as if the ship or persons were within the limits of the original jurisdiction of the court. |
| Jurisdiction in case of offences on board ship |
| 180. Where any person is charged with having committed any offence on board any Singapore ship on the high seas or elsewhere outside Singapore or on board any foreign ship to which the person does not belong and that person is found within the jurisdiction of any court in Singapore which would have had cognizance of the offence if it had been committed on board a Singapore ship within the limits of its ordinary jurisdiction, that court has jurisdiction to try the offence as if it had been so committed. |
| Presumption of jurisdiction |
| 181. Where, in any legal proceedings under this Act, a question arises whether or not any ship or person is or is not within the provisions of this Act or some part thereof, the ship or person is presumed to be within those provisions unless the contrary is proved. |
| Court for trial of offences |
| 182. Unless the context otherwise requires, any offence under this Act may be tried by a District Court or a Magistrate’s Court and such Court, despite the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010 and any other written law, has jurisdiction to impose the maximum penalty provided for by this Act. |
| Sums ordered to be paid leviable by distress on ship |
| 183. Where any court has power to make an order directing payment to be made of any crew member’s wages, fines or other sums of money, then, if the party so directed to pay the same is the person employing the crew member, or the owner of a ship, and the same is not paid at the time and in the manner prescribed in the order, the court which made the order may, in addition to payment, direct the amount remaining unpaid to be levied by distress and sale of the ship and its equipment. [6/2014] |
| Depositions to be received in evidence when witness cannot be produced |
184.—(1) Whenever in the course of any legal proceedings instituted before any court, or before any person authorised by law or by consent of parties to receive evidence, the testimony of any witness is required in relation to the subject matter of that proceedings, then upon due proof that the witness cannot be found in Singapore, any deposition that the witness has previously made on oath in relation to the same subject matter before any judge, magistrate or any consular officer elsewhere is admissible in evidence subject to the following provisions:| (a) | if the deposition was made in Singapore, it is not admissible in any proceedings instituted in Singapore; | | (b) | if the proceedings is criminal, it is not admissible unless it was made in the presence of the person accused. |
| (2) A deposition so made must be authenticated by the signature of the judge, magistrate or consular officer before whom it is made; and the judge, magistrate or consular officer is to certify, if the fact is so, that the accused was present at the taking thereof. |
| (3) A deposition so made is deemed to be duly authenticated if it purports to be signed by the judge, magistrate or consular officer before whom it is made. |
| (4) It is not necessary in any case to prove the signature or official character of the person appearing to have signed any such deposition, and in any criminal proceedings a certificate under this section is, unless the contrary is proved, sufficient evidence of the accused having been present in the manner thereby certified. |
| (5) Nothing herein affects any case in which depositions taken in any proceedings are rendered admissible in evidence by any written law or interfere with the practice of any court in which depositions not authenticated as hereinbefore mentioned are admissible. |
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| Proof of attestation not required |
| 185. Where any document is required by this Act to be executed in the presence of or to be attested by any witness, that document may be proved by the evidence of any person who is able to bear witness to the requisite facts without calling the attesting witness. |
| Admissibility of documents in evidence |
186.—(1) The following documents are admissible in evidence:| (a) | any register under Part 2 on its production from the custody of the Registrar or other person having lawful custody thereof; | | (b) | a certificate of registry under Part 2 purporting to be signed by the Registrar; | | (c) | any amendment to a certificate of registry purporting to be signed by the Registrar; | | (d) | every declaration made pursuant to Part 2 in respect of a Singapore ship; | | (e) | a certificate issued or deemed to be issued in accordance with regulations made under section 47; | | (f) | crew agreements and copies of entries given under Part 4 of additions to or changes in crew agreements; | | (g) | documents purporting to be submissions to or decisions by the Director under section 59; | | (h) | the official logbook kept under section 89 and, without affecting subsection (3), any document purporting to be a copy of an entry therein and to be certified as a true copy by the master of the ship; | | (i) | returns or reports made under section 91. |
| (2) The documents mentioned in subsection (1) are, on their production from the proper custody, admissible in evidence in any court or before any person having by law or consent of parties authority to receive evidence, and, subject to all just exceptions, are evidence of the matters stated therein pursuant to this Act or by any officer pursuant to his or her duties as such officer. |
| (3) A copy of any such document or extract therefrom is also so admissible in evidence, if proved to be an examined copy or extract, or if it purports to be signed and certified as a true copy or extract by the officer to whose custody the original document was entrusted, and that officer must furnish such certified copy or extract to any person applying at a reasonable time for the certified copy or extract, upon payment of any fee that may be prescribed. |
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187.—(1) Where for the purposes of this Act, any document is to be served on any person, that document may be served —| (a) | in any case by delivering a copy thereof personally to the person to be served, or by leaving the copy at the person’s last known place of abode; | | (b) | if the document is to be served on the master of a ship, where there is one, or on a person belonging to a ship, by leaving the document for him or her on board that ship with the person being or appearing to be in command or charge of the ship; and | | (c) | if the document is to be served on the master of a ship, where there is no master, and the ship is in Singapore, on the operator of the ship, or on some agent of the owner residing in Singapore, or by affixing a copy thereof at the means of access to the ship, or in any place on board the ship which appears to be frequented by people. |
| (2) Any person who obstructs the service on the master of a ship of any document under section 113 (relating to the detention of ships as unsafe ships) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction for each offence to a fine not exceeding $2,000. |
| (3) Any owner or master of the ship who is party or privy to such obstruction shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction for each offence to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both. |
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| Mode of making declarations |
188.—(1) Any declaration required by this Act may be made before the Director, a Justice of the Peace, a Commissioner for Oaths, a surveyor of ships or any other person authorised to take or receive a declaration by any law in force in Singapore.| (2) Any declaration required by this Act may be made on behalf of a corporation by the director, the secretary or any other agent of the corporation authorised by the corporation for that purpose. |
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| 189. Where by a provision of this Act an act or thing is required to be done within a particular period or before a particular time, the obligation to do that act or thing continues, even though that period has expired or that time has passed, until that act or thing is done. |
| Liability of beneficial owners |
190.—(1) Where any person has a beneficial interest in any ship or any share therein registered in the name of some other person as owner, the person so interested, as well as the registered owner of the ship, is subject to all pecuniary penalties imposed by this Act or any other written law on the owner of the ship or the shares therein and proceedings may be taken for the enforcement of any such penalty against both or either of the aforesaid parties, with or without joining them.| (2) For the purpose of this section, a person who has an interest in any ship or any share therein by way of mortgage, charge or lien, is not deemed to have a beneficial interest in the ship unless the person is in possession of the ship. |
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| Offences by body corporate |
191.—(1) Where an offence under this Act which has been committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he or she as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.| (2) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, subsection (1) applies in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with the member’s functions of management as if the member were a director of the body corporate. |
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| 192. A person must not be charged with any offence under this Act except on the complaint or with the consent of the Public Prosecutor, the Director, the Port Master, a Port Health Officer or a surveyor of ships. [15/2010] |
| Forgery, etc., of documents and fraudulent use |
193.—(1) Any person who forges, or fraudulently alters, or assists in forging or fraudulently altering, or procures or suffers to be forged or fraudulently altered any of the following documents:| (a) | any declaration; | | (b) | any builder’s certificate, bill of sale or other document or instrument of title to a ship or any share therein; | | (c) | any document evidencing the deletion of a ship from its former registry; | | (d) | any crew agreement, instrument of mortgage, register, certificate, licence, book, instrument or other document prescribed by this Act (including replacement or certified copies thereof or certified extracts therefrom) or any entry or endorsement prescribed by this Act to be made in or on any of those documents; | | (e) | any document produced to the Director for the purposes of obtaining for the person or any other person any certificate, licence, book or other document issued under this Act (including replacement or certified copies thereof) or for the purposes of obtaining an entry or endorsement in or on any of those documents, |
| shall be guilty of an offence. |
(2) Any person who fraudulently uses or allows any other person to fraudulently use —| (a) | any of the documents mentioned in subsection (1) which is forged, altered or otherwise false or misleading in any material particular; or | | (b) | any of the documents mentioned in subsection (1)(d) which has expired or has been cancelled or suspended, or has become invalid for any reason, |
| shall be guilty of an offence. |
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| (3) If any person (A) fraudulently uses any document mentioned in subsection (1)(d) which is issued to or issued in relation to a person and A is not the person named in the document or to which the document relates, A shall be guilty of an offence. |
| (4) If any person (A) allows any other person (B) to fraudulently use any of the documents mentioned in subsection (1)(d) which is issued to or issued in relation to a person and B is not the person named in the document or to which the document relates, A shall be guilty of an offence. |
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194. If any person knowingly or recklessly, for any purpose prescribed by this Act —| (a) | makes a declaration, statement or representation which is false or otherwise misleading in any material particular; | | (b) | gives false evidence on oath; or | | (c) | makes in any document produced or delivered to any person authorised to receive it under this Act, any statement or entry which is false or otherwise misleading in any material particular, |
| the person shall be guilty of an offence. |
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| Interfering with person in carrying out duty, etc. |
195. Any person who —| (a) | by violence, threat or intimidation, hinders or interferes with or otherwise obstructs the master or an officer of a ship in performing his or her duty; or | | (b) | resists or wilfully obstructs, assaults, molests or otherwise intimidates a person who is carrying out or exercising any duty, function, right or power imposed on him or her by this Act, |
| shall be guilty of an offence. |
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| Misleading officer, refusal to answer questions, produce documents, etc. |
196. Any person who —| (a) | misleads any other person on whom a duty, function or power is imposed on him or her under this Act in any material particular which is likely to affect the discharge thereof; | | (b) | refuses to answer any question lawfully put to him or her, or to produce documents in his or her possession or custody lawfully demanded of him or her; | | (c) | refuses to give all reasonable assistance to any person who is carrying out any duty, function or power imposed on him or her under this Act; or | | (d) | refuses to attend as a witness before an inspector or any person having the powers of an inspector, or to make or subscribe any declaration required by the inspector or person having the powers of an inspector, |
| shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000. |
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| Offences relating to markings of ship |
197.—(1) The markings required by this Act to be made on or in a ship must be permanently continued, and no alteration is to be made, except in the manner provided by this Act.| (2) An owner or a master of a ship who, without reasonable cause, neglects to cause the ship to be so marked, or to keep it so marked; shall be guilty of an offence. |
| (3) Any person who, without reasonable cause, conceals, removes, alters, defaces, obliterates or suffers any other person under the firstmentioned person’s control to conceal, remove, alter, deface or obliterate any of the marks mentioned in subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence. |
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| Unauthorised presence on board ship |
198. Where a ship registered in Singapore or elsewhere is in Singapore and a person who is not authorised by law to do so —| (a) | goes on board the ship without the consent of the master or any other person authorised to give it; or | | (b) | remains on board the ship after being requested to leave by the Director, the Port Master, the master or a police officer, |
| the person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000. |
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| Taking person performing duty to sea |
| 199. If any person performing his or her duties or functions under this Act is taken to sea in a ship without his or her consent, the owner and the master of the ship shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 and shall both be jointly and severally liable to pay all expenses incidental to the person’s return to duty. |
200.—(1) Any person guilty of an offence under this Act for which no penalty is expressly provided shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both.| (2) Any person who fails to comply with or does or suffers to be done anything contrary to the provisions of this Act shall, unless otherwise provided, be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000. |
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| Persons appointed or authorised under this Act deemed public servants |
| 201. Every person appointed or authorised under this Act for any of the purposes of this Act, when acting pursuant to any such purpose, is deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of the Penal Code 1871. |
| Costs of detention of unsafe ships |
202.—(1) If it appears that there was no reasonable or probable cause for the provisional detention of a ship under section 113, the Authority shall be liable to pay to the owner of the ship the owner’s costs of and incidental to the detention and survey of the ship, and also compensation for any loss or damage sustained by the owner by reason of the detention or survey.| (2) An action for any costs or compensation payable by the Authority under subsection (1) may be brought against the Director by his or her official title. |
(3) If —| (a) | a ship is finally detained under section 113; | | (b) | a ship is provisionally detained under section 113 and the ship was, at the time of detention, an unsafe ship; or | | (c) | a ship is detained under this Act which provides for the detention of a ship, |
| the owner of the ship shall be liable to pay to the Authority its costs of and incidental to the detention and survey of the ship. |
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| (4) Any costs payable to the Authority under this Act may be recovered by the Director and those costs are, without affecting any other remedy, recoverable as salvage is recoverable. |
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| Security for costs of detention of unsafe ships |
203.—(1) Where a complaint is made to the Director that a ship is an unsafe ship, the Director may, if he or she thinks fit, require the complainant to give security to his or her satisfaction for any costs and compensation which the Director may become liable to pay in consequence of the detention and survey of the ship.| (2) Such security must not be required where the complaint is made by 3 or more crew members belonging to the ship and is not in the opinion of the Director frivolous or vexatious, and if the complaint is made in sufficient time before the sailing of the ship, the Director must take proper steps to ascertain whether the ship ought to be detained. [6/2014] |
| (3) Where a ship is detained in consequence of any complaint, and the circumstances are such that the Authority is liable under section 202 to pay to the owner of the ship any costs or compensation, the complainant shall be liable to pay the Authority all costs incurred and compensation paid by the Authority in respect of the detention and survey of the ship. |
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| Immunity of Government, Authority and their employees, etc. |
| 204. No suit or other legal proceedings shall lie against the Government, the Authority or any officer or employee of the Government or the Authority or any person appointed under this Act or acting under the direction of the Government or the Authority for any act done in good faith in the performance, or intended performance, of any duty, or in the exercise of any power under this Act, or for any failure or default in the performance or exercise in good faith of any duty or power under this Act. |
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