12.—(1) No person shall operate a seafarer recruitment and placement service in Singapore unless he is authorised to do so by the Director.
(2) Notwithstanding any written law to the contrary, no person shall demand or receive, directly or indirectly, from a seafarer or a person seeking employment as a seafarer (referred to as a prospective employee), or from a person on behalf of a prospective employee, any remuneration whatsoever for providing the prospective employee with employment.
(3) Any person who contravenes subsection (1) or (2) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both.
(4) The Authority may, with the approval of the Minister, make regulations for the control and management of seafarer recruitment and placement services for the purposes of this Act and, in particular, in respect of all or any of the following matters:
(a)
prohibiting seafarer recruitment and placement services from using means, mechanisms or lists intended to prevent or deter seafarers from gaining employment for which they are qualified;
(b)
maintenance of a seafarer recruitment and placement register by the seafarer recruitment and placement services;
(c)
the recruitment and placement process;
(d)
ensuring that shipowners have the means to protect seafarers from being stranded in a foreign port;
(e)
the procedure for the examination of and response by the seafarer recruitment and placement services to any complaint concerning their activities;
(f)
prescribing a compensation scheme for the protection of seafarers in the event the seafarer recruitment and placement services or the shipowner fails to meet obligations under the seafarer’s employment agreement;
(g)
inspection of the premises and documents of any seafarer recruitment and placement service.
(5) The Director or an inspector may, at any time, for the purposes of this section —
(a)
enter and inspect any premises of any seafarer recruitment and placement service;
(b)
require and enforce the production of any book, certificate or document relating to any ship, seafarer or seafarer recruitment and placement service; and
(c)
summon any person before him and require him to answer questions.
(6) For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in this section shall affect the requirement of a person to comply with the Employment Agencies Act (Cap. 92).
(7) A shipowner shall not use a seafarer recruitment and placement service located in a state or territory that has not acceded to or ratified the Convention unless he has satisfied the Director that the seafarer recruitment and placement service is compliant with the requirements of the Convention.