Undesirable Publications Bill

Bill No. 1/1967

Read the first time on 27th February 1967.

An Act to prevent the importation, distribution or reproduction of undesirable publications and for purposes connected therewith, and to repeal the Undesirable Publications Ordinance (Chapter 124 of the Revised Edition).

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

Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Undesirable Publications Act, 1967.

Interpretation

2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“periodical publication” includes every publication issued periodically or in parts or numbers at intervals whether regular or irregular;

“place” includes any vehicle, vessel, train or aircraft, whether in a public place or not;

“prohibited publication” means any publication the importation, sale or circulation of which has been prohibited under section 3 of this Act;

“publication” includes all written pictorial or printed matter and everything, whether of a nature similar to written or printed matter or not, containing any visible representation, or by its form, shape, or in any manner capable of suggesting words or ideas, and every copy and reproduction or substantial reproduction of any publication.

Power to prohibit importation, sale or circulation of publications

3.—(1) If the Minister is of opinion that the importation, sale or circulation of any publication or series of publications published or printed outside Singapore or within Singapore by any person would be contrary to the public interest, he may in his absolute discretion, by order published in the Gazette, prohibit the importation, sale or circulation of that particular publication or series of publications or all publications published or printed by that person.

(2) If an order under the provisions of subsection (1) of this section specifies by name a publication which is a periodical publication, such order shall, unless a contrary intention be expressed therein, have effect with respect to —

(a)	all past and subsequent issues of such publication; and
(b)	any publication published or printed under any other name if the publishing or printing thereof is in any respect a continuation of, or in substitution for, the publishing or printing of the publication named in the order.

(3) If an order made under the provisions of subsection (1) of this section prohibits the importation, sale or circulation of all publications published or printed by a specified person such order shall, unless a contrary intention be expressed therein, have effect not only with respect to all publications published or printed by that person before the date of the order but also with respect to all publications so published or printed on or after such date.

(4) An order made under the provisions of subsection (1) of this section shall, unless a contrary intention is expressed therein, apply to any translation into any language whatsoever of the publication specified in the order.

(5) The Minister may at any time revoke, vary or amend any order made under the provisions of this section.

Offences

4.—(1) Any person who imports, publishes, sells, offers for sale, distributes or reproduces any prohibited publication or any extract therefrom shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable for a first offence to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars or to both such imprisonment and fine, and for a subsequent offence to imprisonment for a term not exceeding four years.

(2) Any person who without reasonable excuse has in his possession any prohibited publication or any extract therefrom shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable for a first offence to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or to both such imprisonment and fine, and for a subsequent offence to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.

(3) In any proceedings against any person for an offence under subsection (2) of this section such person shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, to have known the contents and the nature of the contents of any publication immediately after such publication came into his possession.

Delivery of prohibited publication to police station

5. Any person —

(a)	to whom any prohibited publication or any extract therefrom is sent without his knowledge or privity or is sent in response to a request made by such person before the prohibition of the importation, sale or circulation of such publication came into effect; or
(b)	who has such a publication or extract therefrom in his possession at the time when the prohibition of its importation, sale or circulation comes into effect,

shall forthwith, as soon as the nature of its contents has become known to him, or in the case of a publication or extract therefrom coming into the possession of such person before an order prohibiting its importation, sale or circulation has been made upon the coming into effect of such order, deliver such publication or extract therefrom to the officer in charge of a Police Station and in default thereof shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or to both such imprisonment and fine.

Power to examine packages

6.—(1) Any —

(a)	officer of the Postal Department not below the rank of Superintendent;
(b)	officer of the Customs and Excise Department not below the rank of Customs Officer;
(c)	Police Officer not below the rank of Inspector; and
(d)	other officer authorised in that behalf by the Minister,

may detain, open and examine any package or article which he suspects to contain any prohibited publication or extract therefrom and during such examination may detain any person importing, distributing, or posting such package or article, or in whose possession such package or article is found.

(2) If any prohibited publication or extract therefrom is found in such package or article, the whole package or article may be impounded and retained by the officer and the person importing, distributing or posting it, or in whose possession it is found, may forthwith be arrested by such officer and proceeded against for the commission of an offence under section 4 or 5 of this Act as the case may be.

Forfeiture

7. A court before which any proceedings are taken under this Act if satisfied that any document produced in the proceedings is a prohibited publication or an extract therefrom, shall whether the alleged offender is convicted or not, order such publication or extract therefrom to be forfeited to the Commissioner of Police, who shall order the same to be destroyed or otherwise disposed of in such manner as he thinks fit.

Issue of search warrant

8.—(1) Whenever it appears to any Magistrate upon information and after such enquiry as he thinks necessary that there is reasonable cause to believe that in any premises or place there is concealed or deposited any prohibited publication or extract therefrom, such Magistrate may, by warrant directed to any police officer not below the rank of Inspector, empower such officer to enter such premises or place by force if necessary to search for, seize, and detain any such publication.

(2) Whenever it appears to any police officer, not below the rank of Assistant Superintendent, that there is reasonable cause to believe that in any premises or place there is concealed or deposited any prohibited publication or extract therefrom, and he has good grounds for believing that by reason of the delay in obtaining a search warrant the object of the search is likely to be frustrated he may enter and search such premises or place as if he were empowered to do so by a warrant issued under subsection (1) of this section.

Arrest without warrant

9. Any police officer not under the rank of Inspector may arrest without warrant any person found or reasonably suspected of committing or attempting to commit or of procuring or abetting any person to commit any offence against this Act, or reasonably suspected of the unlawful possession of any article liable to forfeiture thereunder.

Examination of articles coming into Singapore

10.—(1) A Controller and any authorised officer may detain, open and examine any article coming into Singapore in any manner whatsoever from any place outside Singapore which he has reason to believe contains or consists of a publication the importation, sale or circulation of which is prejudicial to public safety or public interest in Singapore.

(2) If after such article has been opened and examined it is found to contain or to consist of a publication which in the opinion of the Controller or authorised officer is prejudicial to public safety or public interest in Singapore he may detain such article for so long as he deems necessary and may in his absolute discretion destroy or cause to be destroyed such article or such contents thereof consisting of any such publication:

Provided that instead of destroying or causing any such article to be destroyed the Controller or authorised officer may in his discretion cause the same to be returned to the sender thereof.

(3) The provisions of this section shall not apply to any article sent from any country outside Singapore and coming into Singapore by land, air or water (whether or not landed or transhipped in Singapore) for the sole purpose of being carried to any country outside Singapore either by the same or another conveyance.

Examination of persons entering Singapore

11.—(1) Any person entering Singapore shall, if he is required so to do by a Controller or any authorised officer —

(a)	declare whether or not he has with him any publication; and
(b)	produce such publication for examination.

(2) A Controller or an authorised officer may examine or search any person entering Singapore or any article which such person has with him for the purpose of ascertaining whether he has in his possession any publication which the Controller or the authorised officer considers prejudicial to public safety or public interest in Singapore, and may seize any such publication produced or found upon such examination or search.

(3) Any publication seized under the provisions of subsection (2) of this section may be detained for so long as the Controller or authorised officer deems necessary and the Controller or authorised officer —

(a)

may, if such publication is in his opinion a publication prejudicial to public safety or public interest in Singapore confiscate such publication and in his absolute discretion destroy it or cause it to be destroyed:

Provided that instead of destroying or causing any such publication to be destroyed the Controller may in his discretion permit the same to be sent to a destination outside Singapore; and

(b)

shall, if such publication is not in his opinion a publication prejudicial to public safety or public interest in Singapore return such publication to the person from whom it was seized.

(4) Any person who fails to comply with any requirement made by a Controller or authorised officer under the provisions of subsection (1) of this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or to both such imprisonment and fine.

Search of premises or place

12.—(1) A Controller may authorise any police officer not below the rank of Inspector to enter and search any premises or place where he has reasonable cause to believe any publication prejudicial to public safety or public interest in Singapore is likely to be found, and to seize such publication so found.

(2) A Controller may detain such publication for so long as he deems necessary and may in his absolute discretion destroy or cause to be destroyed such publication so detained.

Appointment of Controllers and authorised officers

13.—(1) The Postmaster-General, the Controller of Posts, the Comptroller of Customs and Excise, the Controller of Immigration and such other officers as the Minister may by notification in the Gazette appoint shall be Controllers for the purposes of sections 10, 11 and 12 of this Act.

(2) The Minister may, by writing under his hand, appoint any public officer to be an authorised officer for the purposes of sections 10 and 11 of this Act.

(3) In the exercise of their powers and in carrying out their duties under this Act, Controllers and authorised officers shall be guided by such general or special directions as may, from time to time, be given to them by the Minister.

Bar to legal proceedings

14. No legal proceedings whatsoever shall lie, or be instituted or maintained in any court for or on account of any loss of, or damage to any article or publication seized, detained, confiscated or destroyed under the provisions of section 10, 11 or 12 of this Act, or for or on account of any delay in the delivery or return of such article or publication to the person to whom such article or publication would otherwise have been delivered or returned.

Appeals

15.—(1) Any person aggrieved by the detention of any article or publication under the provisions of section 10, 11 or 12 of this Act may appeal against such detention to the Minister whose decision thereon shall be final and shall not be called into question in any Court:

Provided that no such appeal shall be allowed unless notice of appeal in writing together with the reasons for the appeal is given to the Minister within fourteen days of the date of service of the notification referred to in subsection (2) of this section.

(2) A Controller or an authorised officer shall notify the addressee or consignee of any article detained under the provisions of section 10 of this Act or the person from whom any publication has been seized and detained under the provisions of section 11 or 12 of this Act of his right to appeal under the provisions of subsection (1) of this section.

(3) A notification given by a Controller or an authorised officer under the provisions of subsection (2) of this section may be given personally or may be served by post and the day on which a notification which has been posted would be received in the ordinary course of post shall be deemed to be the date of service of each notification.

(4) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act no article or publication shall be destroyed under the provisions of section 10, 11 or 12 of this Act unless its detention has not been appealed against or any appeal against such detention has been dismissed or abandoned.

Repeal

16. The Undesirable Publications Ordinance is hereby repealed.

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