PART 1 | AMENDMENTS TO AIR NAVIGATION ACT |
2. Section 2(1) of the Air Navigation Act (Cap. 6) is amended —| (a) | by inserting, immediately after the definition of “damage or loss”, the following definition:| “ “designated person” means a person designated in voluntary reporting rules for the purposes of the voluntary reporting scheme established by those rules;”; and |
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| | (b) | by inserting, immediately after the definition of “unmanned aircraft system”, the following definition:| “ “voluntary reporting rules” means rules made under section 12A;”. |
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| 3. Section 3A(1) of the Air Navigation Act is amended by inserting, immediately after the words “in relation to safety of civil aviation”, the words “or mitigating specifically the environmental effect of international aviation emissions”. |
| New Division 6 of Part II |
4. The Air Navigation Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 11, the following Division:| “Division 6 — Protection of safety information |
| Interpretation of this Division |
12. In this Division, unless the context otherwise requires —“aviation safety matter” means any information about any conduct, transaction, process, practice, occurrence, circumstance or matter that affects, or might affect, aviation safety, and includes —| (a) | safety matter within the meaning given by section 4O; | | (b) | any facts, statistics or other data about any conduct, transaction, process, practice, occurrence, circumstance or matter affecting, or that might affect, aviation safety, and which is in a form that is capable of being communicated, analysed or processed (whether by an individual or a computer or other automated methods); and | | (c) | data sets that are relevant to aviation safety management, |
| but does not include excluded information; |
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| “competent authority” means the person designated by the voluntary reporting rules as the competent authority for the purpose of section 12C(4) in respect of each voluntary and confidential reporting scheme established by those rules; |
“excluded information” means —| (a) | all statements (whether oral or in writing) obtained from persons by an Inspector, or by a person acting under the authority of the Minister or Chief Inspector of Accidents, in the course of an investigation under Part IIA (including any record of any such statement); | | (b) | all communications with any person having been involved in the operation of an aircraft that is being or has been investigated under Part IIA; | | (c) | all medical or private information regarding persons (including deceased persons) involved in the accident or incident that is being or has been investigated under Part IIA; | | (d) | records of the analysis of information or evidential material acquired in the course of an investigation under Part IIA (such as but not limited to flight recorder information), including any opinion expressed by a person in the analysis of such information or evidential material; | | (e) | any information about any conduct, transaction, process, practice, occurrence, circumstance or matter that is prescribed by the voluntary reporting rules as excluded information; | | (f) | any reportable safety matter within the meaning given by section 4O; | | (g) | any information about any contravention of any provision of this Part which is not required by section 4O to be reported; | | (h) | any matter showing a serious and imminent threat to a person’s health or life; or | | (i) | an act of unlawful interference within the meaning of section 17; |
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“protected information” means —| (a) | information that is contained in a report of an aviation safety matter made under any voluntary reporting rules; | | (b) | information that is obtained or generated by a designated person in the course of considering a report of an aviation safety matter made under any voluntary reporting rules; | | (c) | records of the analysis of information contained in a report of an aviation safety matter made under any voluntary reporting rules, including opinions expressed by a person in that analysis; or | | (d) | information about any other aviation safety matter that is obtained or generated by the Authority in the performance of its functions or duties under this Act or any other written law. |
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| Voluntary reporting rules |
12A.—(1) The Minister may make rules in the Gazette providing for the voluntary and confidential reporting of an aviation safety matter to one or more persons designated in the rules (called in this Act a designated person) —| (a) | to identify deficiencies and problems arising out of such reports; and | | (b) | to provide data for safety improvements to the Singapore aviation system. |
(2) The voluntary reporting rules must provide for —| (a) | one or more schemes for the voluntary and confidential reporting of an aviation safety matter to a designated person; | | (b) | the manner in which such reports are to be made; | | (c) | the use and disclosure by a designated person for a scheme of —| (i) | information contained in such reports; or | | (ii) | information the designated person obtains or generates in the course of considering any such report, |
| only for a purpose in subsection (1) and in an anonymised form or as statistics which do not identify any particular person; |
| | (d) | the designation for the purposes of section 12C(4) of a competent authority in respect of each scheme; and | | (e) | any other matters necessary or incidental to the establishment or operation of such a scheme in accordance with subsection (1). |
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| (3) The voluntary reporting rules may provide that any contravention of any of the provisions of the rules shall be an offence punishable with a fine not exceeding $20,000. |
| (4) All voluntary reporting rules made under this section must be presented to Parliament as soon as possible after publication in the Gazette. |
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| Limits to disclosure of aviation safety matter reported voluntarily |
12B.—(1) Subject to subsection (4) —| (a) | a report of an aviation safety matter made by a person (called in this section the reporter) to any designated person in accordance with the voluntary reporting rules, or any evidence of the contents of such a report; and | | (b) | the fact that such a report of an aviation safety matter was made by the reporter to any designated person, |
| are not admissible in evidence against the reporter in any administrative proceedings before any tribunal in Singapore, any civil proceedings, or any criminal proceedings before any court other than criminal proceedings for an offence under section 29C. |
| (2) A person is not entitled to take disciplinary action against the person’s employee by using information derived from a report of an aviation safety matter made by the employee to a designated person in accordance with the voluntary reporting rules. |
| (3) A person who contravenes subsection (2) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both. |
| (4) A tribunal is not entitled to make a decision of an administrative character (whether or not in the exercise of a discretion) under any written law against a reporter using information derived from a report of an aviation safety matter made by the reporter to a designated person in accordance with the voluntary reporting rules. |
| (5) To avoid doubt, this section does not prevent the use of information derived from a source that is not a report of an aviation safety matter made to any designated person in accordance with the voluntary reporting rules. |
| (6) In this section, “tribunal” includes any person or body of persons constituted and vested by or under any written law to make a decision of an administrative character. |
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| Limits to disclosure of protected information |
12C.—(1) Subject to subsection (2), every designated person and any other person who has or has had access to any protected information must not disclose or make available any protected information to any other person or a court.(2) However, subsection (1) does not apply —| (a) | to anything done by a person in performing functions or exercising powers under, or in connection with, any voluntary reporting rules; | | (b) | to disclosure to a court in civil proceedings where the High Court makes an order under subsection (3); | | (c) | to disclosure authorised by a competent authority under subsection (4); | | (d) | to disclosure to a court in criminal proceedings for an offence under section 29C; and | | (e) | to disclosure in an anonymised form or as statistics which do not identify any person. |
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| (3) If the High Court is satisfied that any adverse domestic or international impact that the disclosure might have on any current or future collection and availability of aviation safety matter is outweighed by the public interest in the administration of justice, the High Court may order the disclosure of protected information. |
| (4) If a competent authority is satisfied, having regard to the aviation safety matter in question, that any adverse domestic or international impact that the disclosure might have on any current or future collection and availability of aviation safety matter is outweighed by the need for maintaining or improving aviation safety, the competent authority may order the disclosure of protected information. |
(5) In making an order under subsection (3) or (4), the High Court or competent authority, as the case may be, may direct that the protected information, must not —| (a) | be published or communicated to any particular person or persons; or | | (b) | be published or communicated except —| (i) | in an anonymised form or as statistics which do not identify any person; or | | (ii) | in such other manner, and to such persons, as the High Court or competent authority specifies. |
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| (6) If a person is prohibited by this section from disclosing any protected information, then the person cannot be required by any court to disclose the information, and any information disclosed by the person in contravention of this section is not admissible in any civil proceedings or any criminal proceedings (other than proceedings against the person under this section).”. |
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5. Section 13 of the Air Navigation Act is amended —| (a) | by deleting the definitions of “aviation safety issue”, “designated person” and “voluntary reporting rules”; and | | (b) | by deleting the semi-colon at the end of the definition of “State of Manufacture” and substituting a full-stop. |
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| Deletion and substitution of heading of Division 2 of Part IIA |
6. Part IIA of the Air Navigation Act is amended by deleting the heading of Division 2 and substituting the following Division heading:| “Division 2 — Reporting of accidents and serious incidents”. |
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| Repeal of sections 13F and 13G |
| 7. Sections 13F and 13G of the Air Navigation Act are repealed. |
8. Section 14D(1) of the Air Navigation Act is amended —| (a) | by inserting the word “and” at the end of paragraph (f); | | (b) | by deleting the semi-colon at the end of paragraph (g) and substituting a full-stop; and | | (c) | by deleting paragraphs (h), (i) and (j). |
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| 9. Section 17(1) of the Air Navigation Act is amended by inserting, immediately after paragraph (b) of the definition of “aviation industry participant”, the following paragraph: |
10. Section 17F of the Air Navigation Act is amended by inserting, immediately after subsection (2), the following subsection:“(2A) To avoid doubt, an aviation industry participant may at any one time be 2 or more of the following:| (a) | an airport operator who holds an airport licence under the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore Act (Cap. 41) or who is exempted from holding such a licence under section 43 of that Act; | | (b) | an aircraft operator; | | (c) | a consignor; | | (d) | an air cargo agent; | | (e) | a person who occupies or controls an area of an airport (whether under a lease, sublease or other arrangement); | | (f) | the Authority; | | (g) | a contractor who provides services to any person mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (f), |
| and this Part and the aviation security regulations may prescribe requirements and duties or liabilities on the aviation industry participant accordingly, and may at any one time impose the same duty or liability on 2 or more aviation industry participants, whether in the same capacity or in different capacities.”. |
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11. Section 29G of the Air Navigation Act is amended —| (a) | by inserting, immediately after the words “the Commissioner of Police” in subsection (3), the words “, the Chief of Defence Force”; and | | (b) | by inserting, immediately after paragraph (a) of subsection (7), the following paragraph:| “(aa) | a member of the Singapore Armed Forces who is authorised by the Chief of Defence Force to exercise powers under this section;”. |
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