Singapore Productivity and Standards Board (Amendment) Act 2002

REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE

GOVERNMENT GAZETTE

ACTS SUPPLEMENT

Published by Authority

NO. 15]

Friday, August 2

[2002

The following Act was passed by Parliament on 8th July 2002 and assented to by the President on 17th July 2002:—

Singapore Productivity and Standards Board (Amendment) Act 2002

(No. 18 of 2002)

I assent.

S R NATHAN,

President.

17th July 2002.

Date of Commencement: 1st April 2002

An Act to amend the Singapore Productivity and Standards Board Act (Chapter 303A of the 1996 Revised Edition), and to make consequential amendments to certain other written laws.

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows:

Short title and commencement

1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Singapore Productivity and Standards Board (Amendment) Act 2002 and shall, with the exception of sections 9, 10, 11, 14 and 15, be deemed to have come into operation on 1st April 2002.

(2) Sections 9, 10, 11, 14 and 15 shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

Amendment of long title

2. The long title to the Singapore Productivity and Standards Board Act (referred to in this Act as the principal Act) is amended by deleting the words “Singapore Productivity and Standards Board” and substituting the words “Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board”.

Amendment of section 1

3. Section 1 of the principal Act is amended by deleting the words “Singapore Productivity and Standards Board” and substituting the words “Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board”.

Amendment of section 2

4. Section 2 of the principal Act is amended by deleting the definition of “Board” and substituting the following definition:

“ “Board” means the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board established under section 3;”.

Amendment of section 3

5. Section 3 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting the words “Singapore Productivity and Standards Board” in the 2nd line and substituting the words “Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board”;

(b)

by renumbering the section as subsection (1) of that section, and by inserting immediately thereafter the following subsection:

“(2) The Board may perform any of its functions or carry out any of its duties under the business name of SPRING Singapore, or such other business name as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, specify.”; and

(c)

by deleting the words “Singapore Productivity and Standards Board” in the marginal note and substituting the words “Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board”.

Amendment of section 5

6. Section 5(1) of the principal Act is amended by deleting the words “representing the interests of the Government, employers, trade unions,” in the 2nd and 3rd lines of paragraph (c) and substituting the words “from such sectors or classes of persons as the Minister may consider appropriate, including the Government, employers, trade unions, businesses,”.

Amendment of section 6

7. Section 6(1) of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting paragraphs (a) and (b) and substituting the following paragraphs:

“(a)	to raise total factor productivity and improve Singapore’s competitiveness through productivity and innovation promotion, domestic sector development, standards, conformance, metrology and any other activity considered necessary or desirable;
(b)	to promote, facilitate and assist in the development and upgrading of skills and expertise of persons preparing to join the workforce, persons in the workforce and persons rejoining the workforce, and to support the growth of small and medium enterprises and any other enterprise requiring its assistance;”;

(b)

by deleting paragraph (d) and substituting the following paragraphs:

“(d)	to assess and certify persons for achievements in productivity, innovation, skills or standards;
(da)	to register management systems personnel;”;

(c)

by deleting the words “to serve as the national standards body and” in the 1st line of paragraph (e);

(d)

by deleting paragraphs (f), (g) and (h) and substituting the following paragraphs:

“(f)

to be the accreditation body for the assessment and accreditation of bodies and institutions whose activities include sampling, testing, calibration, inspection or certification;

(g)

to designate, appoint, authorise or recognise for any purpose any person who performs conformity assessment and any person who performs any test relating to conformity assessment, and to perform all functions necessary or incidental thereto, including —

(i)	determining the qualifications of such persons;
(ii)	controlling and regulating the practice of such persons;
(iii)	suspending, lifting the suspension of or withdrawing the designation, appointment, authorisation or recognition of such persons; and
(iv)	establishing, maintaining and developing the standards of practice, and professional conduct and ethics, of such persons;

(h)

to serve as the national productivity, innovation and standards body, and to advise the Government and industrial, commercial, trading and other organisations in respect of matters relating to productivity, innovation and standards;”;

(e)

by inserting, immediately after the word “productivity,” in paragraph (i), the word “innovation,”; and

(f)

by deleting the word “and” at the end of paragraph (i), and by inserting immediately thereafter the following paragraph:

“(ia)

to administer the Weights and Measures Act (Cap. 349); and”.

Amendment of section 7

8. Section 7 (1) of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting paragraph (a) and substituting the following paragraph:

“(a)

establish, administer and operate any scheme considered necessary or desirable to the development and upgrading of skills and expertise of persons preparing to join the workforce, persons in the workforce and persons rejoining the workforce, the development and upgrading of the domestic sectors, the promotion of productivity, innovation, standards, standardisation and conformity assessment, and the development of the measurement infrastructure;”;

(b)

by deleting paragraph (c) and substituting the following paragraph:

“(c)	provide information resources on matters relating to productivity, innovation and standards;”;

(c)

by deleting paragraphs (f), (g) and (h) and substituting the following paragraphs:

“(f)	organise courses, seminars, workshops and conferences in furtherance of its functions and award certificates of proficiency to persons who attend such courses, seminars, workshops and conferences;
(g)	conduct tests of proficiency on matters relating to productivity, innovation and standards;”;

(d)

by deleting the words “serviceability and other characteristics and report thereon, and for this purpose may establish such laboratories and other facilities as the Board may think fit,” in the 3rd to last lines of paragraph (k) and substituting the words “safety, serviceability and other characteristics and report thereon,”; and

(e)

by deleting the words “with the clients of the Board” in paragraph (o).

Amendment of section 17

9. Section 17(2) of the principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after the words “capital fund”, the words “, or for such other purposes,”.

Amendment of section 18

10. Section 18(1) of the principal Act is amended by deleting the words “as far as practicable by cheque signed” in the 3rd and 4th lines.

Amendment of section 19

11. Section 19 of the principal Act is amended by deleting the words “and, with the approval of the Minister,” in the 3rd and penultimate lines and substituting the word “, and”.

Amendment of section 32

12. Section 32 of the principal Act is amended by deleting the word “test” in the 4th line of subsection (2), in subsection (3) and in the marginal note.

Amendment of section 35

13. Section 35 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)	by inserting, immediately after the word “law,” in the 1st line, the words “except where consent has been granted by the Board,”; and
(b)	by deleting the words “or the name of the Board” in the 10th and 11th lines and substituting the words “or the names “Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board”, “SPRING Singapore” or “Singapore Productivity and Standards Board” ”.

Amendment of section 42

14. Section 42(3) of the principal Act is amended —

(a)	by deleting “$5,000” in the penultimate line and substituting “$10,000”; and
(b)	by deleting the words “6 months” in the last line and substituting the words “2 years”.

Amendment of First Schedule

15. Paragraph 13(3) of the First Schedule to the principal Act is amended by deleting the words “6 members” and substituting the words “4 members”.

Consequential amendments to other written laws

16.—(1) Section 2 of the Skills Development Levy Act (Cap. 306) is amended by deleting the definition of “Board” and substituting the following definition:

“ “Board” means the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board established under section 3 of the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board Act (Cap. 303A);”.

(2) Any reference in any written law to the Singapore Productivity and Standards Board and to the Singapore Productivity and Standards Board Act shall be read as a reference to the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board and the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board Act, respectively.

Saving and transitional provisions

17.—(1) The change of the name of the Singapore Productivity and Standards Board to the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board under this Act shall not —

(a)	operate to create a new legal entity;
(b)	prejudice or affect the identity of the body corporate constituted by the Board or its continuity as a body corporate;
(c)	affect the exercise of any right, or the enforcement of any obligation by or against the Board, or any other person; or
(d)	render defective any legal proceedings by or against the Board,

and any legal proceedings that might have been continued or commenced by or against it by its former name may be continued or commenced by or against it by its new name “Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board”.

(2) Any reference in any document to the Singapore Productivity and Standards Board and to the Singapore Productivity and Standards Board Act shall be read as a reference to the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board and the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board Act, respectively.

(3) Any contract, arrangement or other transaction purporting to be entered into by the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board, or by any person on behalf of the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board, on or after 1st April 2002 but prior to the enactment of this Act shall bind the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board and the Board shall be entitled to the benefit thereof as if it had been a party to the contract, arrangement or transaction, as the case may be.

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