Postal Services Act

(CHAPTER 237A)

(Original Enactment: Act 42 of 1999)

REVISED EDITION 2000

(30th December 2000)

An Act to provide for the operation and provision of postal systems and services in Singapore and for matters connected therewith.

[1st December 1999]

PART I

PRELIMINARY

Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Postal Services Act.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“addressee”, in relation to a postal article, means the person to whom the communication is addressed;

[34/2007 wef 24/08/2007]

“code of practice” and “standard of performance” mean, respectively, a code of practice and a standard of performance issued or approved under section 24;

“correspondent”, in relation to a postal article, means the sender or person to whom it is addressed;

[34/2007 wef 24/08/2007]

“direct mail” means a letter consisting solely of advertising, marketing or publicity material and comprising an identical message (except for the addressee’s name, address and identifying number and other modifications which do not alter the nature of the message) which is sent to more than one addressee, to be conveyed and delivered at the address indicated by the sender on the letter itself or on its wrapping;

[34/2007 wef 24/08/2007]

“equipment” includes any appliance, apparatus or accessory used or intended to be used for postal purposes;

“installation or plant used for posts” includes all buildings, lands, structures, machinery, equipment, boxes and receptacles used or intended for use in connection with the transmission of postal articles by post;

“letter box” means any box or receptacle which the owner or occupier of any premises has provided or agreed to be used for the receipt of postal articles addressed to those premises;

[34/2007 wef 24/08/2007]

“mail bag” means any form of container or covering in which postal articles in the course of transmission by post are enclosed by a postal licensee in Singapore or a foreign postal administration for the purpose of conveyance by post, whether or not it contains any such articles;

[34/2007 wef 24/08/2007]

“parcel” means a postal article which is posted at a post office in Singapore as a parcel in accordance with the provisions of this Act or is received at a post office in Singapore by parcel post;

“post” means any system for the collection, despatch, conveyance, sorting, handling and delivery of postal articles by or through a postal licensee;

[34/2007 wef 24/08/2007]

“post office” includes any building, house, room, vehicle or place used for the provision of any postal services;

[34/2007 wef 24/08/2007]

“postage” means the fee chargeable for the transmission by post of postal articles;

“postage stamp” means any label or stamp for denoting any postage or other sum payable in respect of a postal article, and includes any adhesive postage stamp or stamp printed, impressed or otherwise indicated on a postal article, whether the postage stamp is issued under this Act or by the government of any other country;

“postal article” means any article or thing transmissible by post but does not include such article or thing as the Postal Authority may prescribe to be not transmissible by post;

“Postal Authority” means the person appointed under section 3 to be responsible for the administration of this Act;

“postal licensee” means a person to whom a licence has been granted under section 6;

“postal service” means any service for the conveyance of postal articles from one place to another by post, and includes the incidental services of receiving, collecting, sorting, sending, despatching and delivering such postal articles and any other services which relates to any of those services and is provided in conjunction with any of them;

[34/2007 wef 24/08/2007]

“posting box” includes any pillar box, wall box or other box or receptacle provided by or under the authority of a postal licensee for the purpose of receiving postal articles for transmission by post;

[34/2007 wef 24/08/2007]

“public postal licensee” means a person designated by the Postal Authority under section 7;

“public postal licensee’s installation or plant” means any installation or plant used for posts belonging to or used by a public postal licensee;

“repealed Act” means the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore Act (Cap. 323, 1993 Ed.) repealed by the Info-communications Development Authority of Singapore Act (Cap. 137A);

“sender”, in relation to a postal article, means a person whose communication it originates from;

[34/2007 wef 24/08/2007]

“TAS” means the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore reconstituted under the repealed Act;

“vessel” includes any ship, boat, air-cushioned vehicle or floating rig or platform used in any form of operations at sea or any other description of vessel.

(2) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, “letter” means any communication in written form on any kind of physical medium to be conveyed and delivered (otherwise than electronically) to a particular addressee or address indicated by the sender on the letter itself or on its wrapping, and includes a postal article containing such communication, but does not include any book, catalogue, newspaper or periodical.

[34/2007 wef 24/08/2007]

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), any reference to communication to be conveyed or delivered otherwise than electronically shall be a reference to a communication to be conveyed or delivered otherwise than —

(a)	by means of a telecommunication system within the meaning of the Telecommunications Act (Cap. 323); or
(b)	by any other means but while in electronic form. [34/2007 wef 24/08/2007]

(4) For the purposes of this Act —

(a)

the deposit of a postal article into any posting box of a postal licensee, or its delivery to any employee of a postal licensee or any agent authorised by the postal licensee to receive postal articles of that description on its behalf, shall be a delivery to the postal licensee;

(b)

the delivery of a postal article —

(i)	by leaving it at the premises to which it is addressed or redirected, unless the premises are a post office from which the postal article is to be collected;
(ii)	by depositing it into the letter box of the premises to which it is addressed or redirected; or
(iii)	to the addressee’s agent or to any other person considered to be authorised to receive the postal article,

shall be a delivery to the addressee; and

(c)

a postal article shall be regarded to be in the course of transmission by post from the time of its being delivered to a postal licensee to the time of it being delivered to the addressee, or it being returned to the sender or otherwise disposed of under this Act.

[34/2007 wef 24/08/2007]

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