PART 4 | Offences by bodies corporate, etc. |
25.—(1) Where an offence under this Act committed by a body corporate is proved —| (a) | to have been committed with the consent or connivance of an officer of the body corporate; or | | (b) | to be attributable to any neglect on the officer’s part, |
| the officer as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of the 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) is to apply 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. |
(3) Where an offence under this Act committed by a partnership is proved —| (a) | to have been committed with the consent or connivance of a partner; or | | (b) | to be attributable to any neglect on the partner’s part, |
| the partner as well as the partnership shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. |
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(4) Where an offence under this Act committed by an unincorporated association (other than a partnership) is proved —| (a) | to have been committed with the consent or connivance of an officer of the unincorporated association or a member of its governing body; or | | (b) | to be attributable to any neglect on the part of such an officer or a member, |
| the officer or member as well as the unincorporated association shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. |
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(5) In this section —| “body corporate” includes a limited liability partnership which has the same meaning as in section 2(1) of the Limited Liability Partnerships Act (Cap. 163A); |
“officer” —| (a) | in relation to a body corporate, means any director, partner, member of the committee of management, chief executive, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate and includes any person purporting to act in any such capacity; or | | (b) | in relation to an unincorporated association (other than a partnership), means the president, the secretary, or any member of the committee of the unincorporated association, or any person holding a position analogous to that of president, secretary or member of a committee and includes any person purporting to act in any such capacity; |
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| “partner” includes a person purporting to act as a partner. |
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| (6) The Minister may make regulations to provide for the application of any provision of this section, with such modifications as the Minister considers appropriate, to a body corporate or an unincorporated association formed or recognised under the law of a territory outside Singapore. |
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26.—(1) The Authority may compound any offence under this Act which is prescribed as a compoundable offence by collecting from a person reasonably suspected of having committed the offence a sum not exceeding the lower of the following:| (a) | one half of the amount of the maximum fine that is prescribed for the offence; | | (b) | $5,000. |
| (2) On payment of such sum of money, no further proceedings are to be taken against that person in respect of the offence. |
| (3) All sums collected under this section are to be paid into the Consolidated Fund. |
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27.—(1) A document that is permitted or required by this Act to be served on a person may be served as described in this section.(2) A document permitted or required by this Act to be served on an individual may be served —| (a) | by giving it to the individual personally; | | (b) | by sending it by pre‑paid registered post to the address specified by the individual for the service of documents or, if no address is so specified, to the individual’s residential address or business address; | | (c) | by leaving it at the individual’s residential address with an adult apparently resident there, or at the individual’s business address with an adult apparently employed there; | | (d) | by affixing a copy of the document in a conspicuous place at the individual’s residential address or business address; | | (e) | by sending it by fax to the fax number last known to the officer of the Authority giving or serving the document as the fax number for the service of documents on the individual; or | | (f) | by sending it by email to the individual’s last email address. |
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(3) A document permitted or required by this Act to be served on a partnership (other than a limited liability partnership) may be served —| (a) | by giving it to any partner, secretary or other similar officer of the partnership; | | (b) | by leaving it at, or by sending it by pre‑paid registered post to, the partnership’s business address; | | (c) | by sending it by fax to the fax number used at the partnership’s business address; or | | (d) | by sending it by email to the partnership’s last email address. |
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(4) A document permitted or required by this Act to be served on a body corporate (including a limited liability partnership) or an unincorporated association may be served —| (a) | by giving it to the secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or the unincorporated association, or the limited liability partnership’s manager; | | (b) | by leaving it at, or by sending it by pre‑paid registered post to, the body corporate’s or unincorporated association’s registered office or principal office; | | (c) | by sending it by fax to the fax number used at the body corporate’s or unincorporated association’s registered office or principal office; or | | (d) | by sending it by email to the body corporate’s or unincorporated association’s last email address. |
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(5) Service of a document under subsection (1) takes effect —| (a) | if the document is sent by fax and a notification of successful transmission is received, on the day of transmission; | | (b) | if the document is sent by email, at the time that the email becomes capable of being retrieved by the person; and | | (c) | if the document is sent by pre‑paid registered post, 2 days after the day the document was posted (even if it is returned undelivered). |
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| (6) This section does not apply to documents to be served in proceedings in court. |
(7) In this section —“business address” means —| (a) | in the case of an individual, the individual’s usual or last known place of business; or | | (b) | in the case of a partnership (other than a limited liability partnership), the partnership’s principal or last known place of business; |
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“last email address” means —| (a) | the last email address given by the addressee concerned to the officer of the Authority giving or serving the document as the email address for the service of documents under this Act; or | | (b) | the last email address of the addressee concerned known to the officer of the Authority giving or serving the document; |
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| “residential address” means an individual’s usual or last known place of residence. |
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| Financial penalties payable into Consolidated Fund |
28. Any financial penalty imposed on any person by the Authority under this Act and any interest payable because of section 29 —| (a) | are to be collected, and may be sued for and recovered by the Authority; | | (b) | are to be treated as a debt due to the Government for the purposes of section 127 of the Bankruptcy Act (Cap. 20) and section 10 of the Government Proceedings Act (Cap. 121); and | | (c) | are to be paid into the Consolidated Fund upon such collection or recovery, |
| and where the person has been registered under this Act, that person’s liability to pay is not to be affected by the person’s registration ceasing, for any reason, to be in force. |
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29.—(1) Where any fee or financial penalty payable by a person under this Act is not paid in full by the person by the due date for payment (called in this section the outstanding sum), the person concerned must pay an interest at the prescribed rate on the outstanding sum.| (2) The Authority may recover as a debt in a court of competent jurisdiction, the outstanding sum and any interest payable under subsection (1). |
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| 30. The Minister may, by order published in the Gazette, exempt any person or class of persons from all or any provisions of this Act, either generally or in a particular case and subject to such conditions as the Minister may impose. |
31.—(1) The Authority may, with the Minister’s approval, make regulations necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.(2) In particular, the Authority may, with the Minister’s approval, make regulations for or with respect to all or any of the following matters:| (a) | the class or classes of registered providers; | | (b) | the fees to be paid for any thing or matter done or to be done under this Act in respect of which it appears to the Authority to be expedient to charge fees; | | (c) | the conduct of taxi drivers in relation to the use of any registered provider’s third‑party taxi booking service; | | (d) | the offences under this Act which may be compounded; | | (e) | anything that is required or permitted to be prescribed under this Act. |
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(3) The regulations made under this section may —| (a) | provide that any contravention of any provision of the regulations shall be punishable —| (i) | in the case of a first offence, with a fine not exceeding $1,000 or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months; and | | (ii) | in the case of a second or subsequent offence, with a fine not exceeding $2,000 or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months; and |
| | (b) | provide for such transitional, savings and other consequential, incidental and supplemental provisions as the Authority, with the Minister’s approval, considers necessary or expedient. |
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| (4) All regulations made under this section are to be presented to Parliament as soon as possible after publication in the Gazette. |
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| Savings and transitional provisions |
32.—(1) Despite anything in this Act, any person who, on the date of commencement of this Act, is providing a third‑party taxi booking service may continue to provide that service —| (a) | for 3 months; and | | (b) | if, within that period in paragraph (a), the person applies for registration under section 9, the person may continue to do so until the earlier of the following:| (i) | the date on which the Authority registers the person; | | (ii) | the date that the application is refused or withdrawn. |
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| (2) For a period of 2 years after the date of commencement of any provision of this Act, the Minister may, by regulations, prescribe such additional provisions of a savings or transitional nature consequent on the enactment of that provision as the Minister may consider necessary or expedient. |
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| Consequential and related amendments to Land Transport Authority of Singapore Act |
33.—(1) Section 6(1) of the Land Transport Authority of Singapore Act (Cap. 158A, 1996 Ed.) is amended —| (a) | by deleting the word “and” at the end of paragraph (g)(iii); | | (b) | by inserting the word “and” at the end of sub‑paragraph (iv) of paragraph (g), and by inserting immediately thereafter the following sub‑paragraph:| “(v) | to regulate the provision of third‑party taxi booking services under the Third‑Party Taxi Booking Service Providers Act 2015;”; |
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| | (c) | by deleting the word “and” at the end of paragraph (r)(iv); and | | (d) | by inserting the word “and” at the end of sub‑paragraph (v) of paragraph (r), and by inserting immediately thereafter the following sub‑paragraph:| “(vi) | all composition sums and financial penalties under the Third‑Party Taxi Booking Service Providers Act 2015;”. |
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(2) Section 7(1) of the Land Transport Authority of Singapore Act is amended by deleting paragraph (a) and substituting the following paragraph:| “(a) | to grant licences or permits, or to register persons, for land transport purposes and to supervise and enforce compliance with such licences, permits or registration;”. |
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(3) Section 10 of the Land Transport Authority of Singapore Act is repealed and the following section substituted therefor:| “Protection from personal liability |
| 10. No liability shall lie personally against any member, officer or employee of the Authority or any other person acting under the direction of the Authority for anything done or intended to be done in good faith and with reasonable care in the execution or purported execution of this Act.”. |
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| (4) Section 11(2) of the Land Transport Authority of Singapore Act is amended by inserting, immediately after the word “fees”, the words “, composition sums, financial penalties”. |
(5) The Second Schedule to the Land Transport Authority of Singapore Act is amended by inserting, immediately after paragraph 21, the following paragraphs:| “22. All fees prescribed under section 31(2)(b) of the Third‑Party Taxi Booking Service Providers Act 2015. |
| 23. All fees prescribed under section 111J of the Road Traffic Act (Cap. 276).”. |
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(6) Part II of the Fifth Schedule to the Land Transport Authority of Singapore Act is amended by inserting, immediately after item 1, the following item:| “2. All provisions of the Third‑Party Taxi Booking Service Providers Act 2015 and any subsidiary legislation made thereunder.”. |
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| Related amendments to Road Traffic Act |
34.—(1) Section 111A of the Road Traffic Act (Cap. 276, 2004 Ed.) is repealed and the following section substituted therefor:111A.—(1) For the purposes of this Part, a person operates a taxi service if, in the course of business —| (a) | the person owns more than one taxi; and | | (b) | the person causes or permits individuals to drive taxis owned by that person for one or both of the following purposes:| (i) | the taxis are for hire for journeys within, or partly within, Singapore; | | (ii) | the person provides taxi booking services to individuals driving such taxis. |
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(2) For the purposes of this section, a person provides a taxi booking service if the person does all of the following in the course of business:| (a) | facilitate bookings for taxi services; | | (b) | send information about bookings for taxi services to taxi drivers; | | (c) | assign bookings for taxi services to taxi drivers; | | (d) | assign taxis to persons making bookings for taxi services. |
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(3) In this section —| “business” includes a venture or concern in trade or commerce conducted on a regular, repetitive or continuous basis; |
| “taxi” means a public service vehicle which is classified as a taxi under the Second Schedule.”. |
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(2) Section 111H of the Road Traffic Act is amended —| (a) | by deleting the words “his licence” in subsection (1)(a) and substituting the words “the licensee’s licence”; | | (b) | by deleting the words “his employees” in subsection (1)(b) and (i) and substituting in each case the words “the licensee’s employees”; | | (c) | by inserting, immediately after the word “suspend” in subsection (1)(iii), the words “(for not more than 3 months)”; | | (d) | by deleting subsection (2) and substituting the following subsection:“(2) The Authority must, before issuing any written order under subsection (1)(i), requiring payment of any financial penalty under subsection (1)(ii), or suspending or cancelling a licence under subsection (1)(iii), give notice to a licensee —| (a) | stating that the Authority intends to issue the written order, require payment of the financial penalty, or suspend or cancel the licence; and | | (b) | requiring the licensee to show cause within such time as may be specified in the notice, why the Authority should not impose the written order, require payment of the financial penalty, or suspend or cancel the licence.”; |
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| | (e) | by deleting the words “by which the financial penalty shall be paid or from which the suspension or cancellation of his licence is to take effect” in subsection (3) and substituting the words “the written order takes effect, the date by which the financial penalty must be paid, or the date the suspension or cancellation of the licence takes effect”; and | | (f) | by deleting subsection (5) and substituting the following subsection:| “(5) An appeal under subsection (4) must be brought within 14 days after the date the notice in writing under subsection (3) is given by the Authority to the licensee.”. |
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