Control of Plants (Amendment) Act 1998 - Singapore Statutes Online

REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE

GOVERNMENT GAZETTE

ACTS SUPPLEMENT

Published by Authority

NO. 35]

Friday, September 11

[1998

The following Act was passed by Parliament on 31st July 1998 and assented to by the President on 18th August 1998:—

Control of Plants (Amendment) Act 1998

(No. 32 of 1998)

I assent.

ONG TENG CHEONG,

President.

18th August 1998.

Date of Commencement: 8th January 1999

An Act to amend the Control of Plants Act (Chapter 57A of the 1994 Revised Edition).

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

Short title and commencement

1. This Act may be cited as the Control of Plants (Amendment) Act 1998 and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

Amendment of section 2

2. Section 2 of the Control of Plants Act (referred to in this Act as the principal Act) is amended —

(a)

by deleting the definition of “agricultural officer” and substituting the following definitions:

“ “authorised analyst” means any person appointed by the Director as an authorised analyst under section 3(2);

“authorised officer” means any person appointed by the Director as an authorised officer under section 3(1);”;

(b)

by deleting the words “the Director, Agriculture Division” in the definition of “Director” and substituting the words “any Divisional Director”;

(c)

by deleting the definition of “pest” and substituting the following definition:

“ “pest” means any species, strain or biotype of plant, animal or pathogenic agent which is or is capable of being injurious to plants or plant products;”;

(d)

by inserting, immediately after the definition of “premises”, the following definitions:

“ “prohibited pesticide” means a pesticide not specified in the Tenth Schedule to the Food Regulations (Cap.283, Rg 1);

“prohibited pesticide residue” means the remains of any substance resulting from the use of any prohibited pesticide;”and

(e)

by deleting the definition of “tranship” and substituting the following definition:

“ “tranship”, with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means to bring or cause to be brought into Singapore by land, sea or air from any place which is outside Singapore any plant and thereafter to —

(a)

remove or cause to be removed that plant from the conveyance in which it was brought into Singapore; and

b) return or cause to be returned that plant to the same conveyance or transfer it or cause it to be transferred to another conveyance, for the purpose of export,

whether such plant is to be transferred directly between conveyances or whether it is to be landed in Singapore after it was brought into Singapore and stored, pending export;”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 3

3. Section 3 of the principal Act is repealed and the following section substituted therefor:

“Authorised officers and authorised analysts

3.—(1) The Director may appoint such number of authorised officers as he considers necessary for the purposes of this Act and any rules made thereunder.

(2) The Director may appoint one or more persons with the prescribed qualifications and practical experience as authorised analysts for the purposes of this Act and any rules made thereunder.”.

New section 5A

4. The principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 5, the following section:

“Director may authorise public officer to exercise powers and perform duties

5A. The powers conferred and the duties imposed on the Director under this Act or any rules made thereunder may be exercised and carried out by any public officer generally or specially authorised by name or office by the Director and subject to his directions.”.

Repeal and re-enactment of Part II

5. Part II of the principal Act is repealed and the following Part substituted therefor:

“PART II

IMPORT AND TRANSHIPMENT OF FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

Prohibition of import or transhipment of fresh fruits or vegetables without licence

6.—(1) No person shall import for sale, supply or distribution or tranship any fresh fruit or vegetable except under and in accordance with the conditions of a licence issued by the Director.

(2) Any person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both.

Prohibition of import or transhipment of fresh fruits and vegetables without permit

7.—(1) No licensee shall import any fresh fruit or vegetable for sale, supply or distribution unless —

(a)	the licensee has obtained a permit from the Director in respect of each consignment of fresh fruits or vegetables to be imported by him and the import of such consignment is carried out in accordance with the conditions of the permit;
(b)	the whole consignment conforms to the description contained in the permit;
(c)	the whole consignment does not contain any prohibited pesticide residue, or levels of pesticide residue or toxic chemical residue exceeding the prescribed levels;
(d)	the whole consignment complies with such sanitary standards as may be prescribed by the Minister;
(e)	the licensee provides the Director with satisfactory evidence that the whole consignment complies with paragraphs (c) and (d); and
(f)	the container of the fruits or vegetables constituting the consignment bears the name and address of the producer and such other particulars as may be prescribed.

(2) No licensee shall tranship any fresh fruit or vegetable unless the licensee has obtained a permit from the Director in respect of each consignment of fresh fruits or vegetables to be transhipped by him and the transhipment is carried out by him in accordance with the conditions of the permit.

(3) Any licensee who contravenes or fails to comply with subsection (1) or (2) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both.

(4) Subject to subsection (5), in any proceedings for an offence under subsection (3), it shall be a defence for the person charged to prove —

(a)	that the commission of the offence was due to the act or default of another person or some other cause beyond his control; and
(b)	that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of such an offence by himself or by any person under his control.

(5) If in any case the defence provided by subsection (4) involves the allegation that the commission of the offence was due to the act or default of another person, the person charged shall not, without leave of the court, be entitled to rely on that defence unless, within a period ending 7 clear days before the hearing, he has served on the prosecutor a notice in writing giving such information as was then in his possession identifying or assisting in the identification of that other person.

(6) For the purposes of this section —

“container” means the basket, carton, bag, box, packet or other receptacle which contains the fresh fruits or vegetables and where any such receptacle is contained in another such receptacle, includes the latter receptacle;

“licensee” means a person who has obtained a licence as required under section 6 for the import or transhipment, as the case may be, of any fresh fruit or vegetable.”.

New sections 15A and 15B

6. The principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 15, the following sections:

“Protection of confidential supporting information about innovative pesticides

15A.—(1) Where the Director receives, or has received not more than 5 years before the commencement of the Control of Plants (Amendment) Act 1998, an innovative pesticide application and confidential supporting information, the Director, during the protected period in relation to that confidential supporting information —

(a)	shall take reasonable steps to ensure that the confidential supporting information is kept confidential to the Director; and
(b)	shall not use the confidential supporting information for the purposes of determining whether to grant any other application.

(2) For the purposes of this section and section 15B, unless the context otherwise requires —

“application” means an application for registration of a pesticide under section 15;

“confidential information” includes —

(a)	trade secrets; and
(b)	information that has commercial value that would be, or would be likely to be, diminished by disclosure;

“confidential supporting information” means confidential information given —

(a)	in, or in relation to, an innovative pesticide application; and
(b)	about the pesticide that is or was, as the case may be, the subject of that application;

“Director” includes any public officer authorised under section 5A to carry out registration of pesticides under section 15;

“ingredient” includes a chemical or biological entity;

“innovative pesticide application” means —

(a)

in relation to an application made after the commencement of the Control of Plants (Amendment) Act 1998, an application that refers to an active ingredient —

(i)	that is an active ingredient of the pesticide to which the application relates; and
(ii)	that has not, before that application is received by the Director, been referred to in any other application as an active ingredient of the pesticide; and

(b)

in relation to an application made before the commencement of the Control of Plants (Amendment) Act 1998, an application that referred to an active ingredient —

(i)	that is or was, as the case may be, an active ingredient of the pesticide to which the application related; and
(ii)	that had not, before the application was received by the Director, been referred to in any other application as an active ingredient of the pesticide;

“protected period”, in relation to confidential supporting information relating to an innovative pesticide application received by the Director, means a period of 5 years from the date the innovative pesticide application is or was, as the case may be, received by the Director.

Circumstances where protection under section 15A does not apply

15B.—(1) Notwithstanding section 15A, the Director may, during the protected period in relation to confidential supporting information —

(a)

disclose that confidential supporting information, or use that confidential supporting information for the purposes of determining whether to grant any application other than the application to which it relates or related, as the case may be —

(i)	with the consent of the applicant who made the application to which the confidential supporting information relates or related; or
(ii)	if that disclosure or use is, in the opinion of the Director, necessary to protect the health or safety of members of the public;

(b)

disclose that confidential supporting information to a Government department or statutory body for the purposes of the Government department or statutory body if, in the opinion of the Director, the Government department or statutory body will take reasonable steps to ensure the confidential supporting information is kept confidential; or

(c)

disclose that confidential supporting information to any one or more of the following:

(i)	the World Health Organisation;
(ii)	the Food and Agriculture Organisation;
(iii)	any regulatory agency of a WTO Country;
(iv)	any committee established under section 15(3);
(v)	any person or organisation, or a person or an organisation within a class or classes of persons or organisations, approved by any rules made under this Act, if the disclosure is in accordance with such conditions as may be specified in the rules.

(2) The power to grant consent under subsection (1)(a)(i) may be exercised by a person other than the applicant referred to in that subsection if —

(a)

that applicant —

(i)	has notified the Director in writing that that other person may grant that consent; and
(ii)	has not notified the Director in writing that that person’s authority to grant that consent has been withdrawn; or

(b)

that applicant’s rights in respect of the relevant confidential supporting information have been transferred to that person and the applicant or that other person has notified the Director in writing of the transfer.

(3) For the purposes of this section, “WTO Country” means a country that is a party to the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organisation adopted at Marrakesh on 15th April 1994.”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 20

7. Section 20 of the principal Act is repealed and the following section substituted therefor:

“Power to direct destruction or treatment of plants, etc.

20.—(1) For the purpose of ascertaining whether any pest is present on or in any land or premises, an authorised officer may, upon serving notice in writing under the hand of the Director on the owner or occupier of the land or premises and upon producing, if so requested, an identification card —

(a)	enter the land or premises and examine any plant, plant product, package, soil or article thereon at all reasonable times; and
(b)	take, without payment, any sample of any plant, plant product or soil.

(2) The notice referred to in subsection (1) shall be served on the owner or occupier of the land or premises at least 6 hours before the time of intended entry of the land or premises.

(3) If, as a result of any examination by an authorised officer under subsection (1), it appears to the authorised officer that any land or premises or plant is in a condition favourable to the introduction or spread of any pest or that any plant is diseased, the Director may, by notice in writing under his hand addressed to the owner or occupier of the land or premises where that condition exists or where the plant is, direct him to take within a time to be stated in the notice such measures as may appear to the Director necessary or expedient for —

(a)	the eradication or the prevention of the spread of any pest, either by destruction or by treatment in a manner to be specified in the notice of that plant or any plant or of any pest or of any tool or utensil used for agricultural or industrial purposes on the land or premises including the cessation of obtaining or abstracting any product from any plant on the land or premises; and
(b)	the treatment of the land or premises or plant or of any tool or utensil used for agricultural or industrial purposes on the land or premises with a view to bringing them into a condition not favourable to the introduction or spread of any pest.

(4) If the owner or occupier of any land or premises fails to comply with a notice under subsection (3) within the time stated for the performance of the acts required to be done, any authorised officer may enter upon the land or premises to which the notice refers and may cause any person authorised by him to enter with such instruments and things as are necessary and may proceed to perform all acts required by the notice, and the costs and expenses thereof shall be recoverable as a debt due from the owner or occupier to the Government.

(5) Nothing in subsection (4) shall affect the liability of any person to prosecution and punishment under subsection (7).

(6) Any person who obstructs or hinders the Director or an authorised officer in the exercise of any of his powers under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both.

(7) Any owner or occupier of any land or premises who wilfully fails to comply with the notice under subsection (3) within the time stated shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $100 for every day during which the offence continues after conviction.”.

Amendment of section 24

8. Section 24(2) of the principal Act is amended —

(a)	by deleting the words “section 20(2)” and substituting the words “section 20(4)”; and
(b)	by deleting the words “section 20(1)” and substituting the words “section 20(3)”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 26

9. Section 26 of the principal Act is repealed and the following section substituted therefor:

“Accredited pest control agency

26. The Director may register any fit and proper person possessing the prescribed qualifications and practical experience as an accredited pest control agency to carry out, at any place, any inspection, identification, analysis, treatment, detention, destruction or disposal of any plant, plant product, pest, or any soil or other material attached to any plant or plant product under this Act and any rules made thereunder, and to issue phytosanitary certificates.”.

Amendment of section 29

10. Section 29(1) of the principal Act is amended by deleting the words “agricultural officer” and substituting the words “authorised officer or accredited pest control agency”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 30

11. Section 30 of the principal Act is repealed and the following section substituted therefor:

“Application for licence or permit

30.—(1) An application —

(a)	for a licence under section 6 or 11;
(b)	for a permit under section 7; or
(c)	where provision is made by an order under section 16(1) or 27(1) for the issue by the Director of a permit, for a permit under that section,

shall be made to the Director in such manner and form as the Director may require and shall be accompanied by the prescribed fee and such particulars, information and documents as the Director may require.

(2) On the receipt of an application under subsection (1), the Director may —

(a)	issue the licence or permit applied for, with or without conditions; or
(b)	refuse to issue the licence or permit applied for.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (2), the Director may, in respect of an application for a licence under section 6 or a permit under section 7 —

(a)	refuse to issue the licence or permit; or
(b)	impose a condition restricting or prohibiting the import or transhipment of any fresh fruit or vegetable from any country, territory, place or farm,

if he considers that this is necessary to protect the health or safety of members of the public.

(4) Where the Director has refused to issue the licence or permit applied for, he shall give the applicant notice in writing of the reasons for his refusal.

(5) The Director may at any time vary or revoke any of the conditions imposed under subsection (2)(a) or impose new conditions.

(6) Every licence or permit issued under this section —

(a)	shall be in such form as the Director may determine;
(b)	shall be valid for the period stated therein unless it is sooner revoked under section 31; and
(c)	may, unless it is a permit under section 7, be renewed upon its expiry.

(7) Subsections (1) to (6) shall apply, with the necessary modifications, to an application for the renewal of a licence under section 6 or 11 or a permit under section 16(1) or 27(1).”.

Amendment of section 31

12. Section 31 of the principal Act is amended by deleting subsection (5).

New section 31A

13. The principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 31, the following section:

“Appeals

31A.—(1) Any person who is aggrieved by —

(a)	the refusal of the Director to issue or renew a licence or permit under section 30;
(b)	the decision of the Director to suspend or revoke a licence or permit under section 31,

may, within 7 days of the receipt of the notice informing him of the refusal, suspension or revocation, as the case may be, appeal in writing to the Minister whose decision shall be final.

(2) Notwithstanding the pendency of any appeal under subsection (1) in respect of the suspension or revocation of a licence or permit, such suspension or revocation shall , unless the Minister otherwise orders, take effect from the date specified by the Director therefor.”.

Amendment of section 32

14. Section 32 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)	by deleting “6, 8, 9(1),” in paragraph (a); and
(b)	by deleting “7,” in paragraph (b).

Repeal and re-enactment of section 37

15. Section 37 of the principal Act is repealed and the following section substituted therefor:

“Power to take samples for analysis

37.—(1) An authorised officer may, for the purposes of ascertaining the presence of prohibited pesticide residue, and the levels of pesticide residue or toxic chemical residue, contained in any fresh fruit or vegetable, enter any premises at all reasonable times to take, without payment, any reasonable sample of fresh fruits and vegetables for analysis by an authorised analyst and detain the whole lot from which the sample is taken under normal storage conditions until a report of the result of the analysis is obtained.

(2) A report of the result of an analysis which is signed by an authorised analyst shall be admissible in evidence in any proceedings under this Act or any rules made thereunder and, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, is proof of the matters stated in the report.”.

Amendment of section 38

16. Section 38 (1) of the principal Act is amended by deleting the words “a Scientific Officer to contain” in the second line and substituting the words “an authorised analyst to contain any prohibited pesticide residue, or any”.

Amendment of section 46

17. Section 46 (2) of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting the words “agricultural officers” in paragraph (a) and substituting the words “authorised officers”;

(b)

by inserting, immediately after the word “import” in paragraph (c), the words “or transhipment”; and

(c)

by inserting, immediately after paragraph (c), the following paragraphs:

“(ca)	providing for matters relating to the taking of samples of fresh fruits and vegetables under section 37 for analysis, and for matters relating to such analysis;
(cb)	prescribing the qualifications and practical experience of an authorised analyst;
(cc)	prescribing the sanitary standards referred to in section 7(1)(d);”.

Repeal and re-enactment of sections 47 and 48

18. Sections 47 and 48 of the principal Act are repealed and the following sections substituted therefor:

“Saving of licences and permits

47. Any licence or permit issued under the repealed section 30 of this Act in force immediately before the date of commencement of the Control of Plants (Amendment) Act 1998, being a licence or permit which is in force immediately before that date —

(a)	shall have effect from that date as if issued under section 30; and
(b)	in the case of any licence or permit for a specified period, shall remain in force, subject to the provisions of this Act, for so much of that period as remains after that date.

Agricultural officers to be deemed authorised officers

48. Any person who immediately before the date of commencement of the Control of Plants (Amendment) Act 1998 is an agricultural officer under this Act in force immediately before that date shall be deemed to be an authorised officer as if that person had been appointed under section 3 on the same terms and conditions for a term expiring on the day on which his previous appointment would otherwise expire.”.

Miscellaneous amendments

19. The principal Act is amended by deleting the words “agricultural officer” and “agricultural officers” wherever they appear in the following provisions and substituting in each case the words “authorised officer” and “authorised officers”, respectively:

Sections 4, 5, 21, 22, 24, 35, 36(1) and 43.

Transitional provision

20. In any written law and in any document, any reference to an agricultural officer shall be construed as a reference to an authorised officer.

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