Customs (Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 10/1997

Read the first time on 25th August 1997.

An Act to amend the Customs Act (Chapter 70 of the 1995 Revised Edition) and to make consequential amendments to the Free Trade Zones Act (Chapter 114 of the 1985 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 Customs (Amendment) Act 1997 and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

Amendment of section 22

2. Section 22 of the Customs Act is amended —

(a)	by inserting, immediately after the words “purposes of” in the first line of subsection (1), the words “levying excise duty under”;
(b)	by deleting the word “duty” in the third and in the sixth lines of subsection (7) and substituting in each case the words “excise duty”; and
(c)	by deleting the word “customs” in subsection (8)(c) and substituting the word “excise”.

New sections 22A and 22B

3. The Customs Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 22, the following sections:

“Value of imported goods other than motor spirit for import duty

22A.—(1) For the purposes of levying import duty under this Act, the value of any imported goods other than motor spirit shall be determined according to the regulations made by the Minister for the purposes of this section.

(2) Regulations made under subsection (1) may provide for requiring any importer or other person concerned with the importation of goods —

(a)	to furnish to a proper officer of customs, in such form as he may require, such information as is in his opinion necessary for a proper valuation of the goods;
(b)	to produce any books of accounts or other documents of whatever nature relating to the purchase, importation or sale of the goods by that person.

Objection and appeal on valuation

22B.—(1) If any person disagrees with any determination by the proper officer of customs of the value of any goods under section 22 or 22A, he may object to that value by making an application to the Director-General, stating the grounds of his objection and the amount that he considers should be the value of the goods.

(2) An objection under this section shall be given in writing to the Director-General within 14 days after any determination made under section 22 or 22A or within such further time as the Director-General may allow.

(3) The Director-General shall consider the objection and inform the importer in writing of his decision.

(4) Where a proper officer of customs amends his determination of the value of any goods pursuant to this Act otherwise than as a result of an objection received from the importer of the goods, he shall give notice to the importer of the amended determination.

(5) If any person is dissatisfied with the decision of the Director-General in respect of his objection under subsection (1), he may appeal to the High Court against that decision.

(6) Every appeal under subsection (5) shall be made by giving notice of appeal within 28 days after the date on which the importer is notified in writing under subsection (3) of the decision or within such further period as the High Court may allow.

(7) On any appeal under subsection (5), the High Court may confirm, vary or set aside the decision of the Director-General and make such further or other order on such appeal, whether as to costs or otherwise, as the High Court may think fit.

(8) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this section, where, in the course of determining any appeal, it becomes necessary to delay the final determination of the appeal, the importer shall be given delivery of his goods from customs control subject to the Director-General receiving such security as he thinks sufficient to cover the full amount of customs duty on the goods.”.

Amendment of section 130

4. Section 130(1)(j) of the Customs Act is amended —

(a)	by deleting the word “and” in the ninth line of sub-paragraph (iii) and substituting the word “or”;
(b)	by inserting, immediately after the words “3 years” in the last line of sub-paragraph (iii), the words “or to both”;
(c)	by deleting the words “the goods consist” in the first line of sub-paragraph (iv) and substituting the words “he has been convicted on a previous occasion of an offence under this section involving goods consisting”;
(d)	by deleting the words “— on the second or subsequent conviction to both” in the fourth and fifth lines of sub-paragraph (iv) and substituting the words “, and he is again convicted of such offence — to”;
(e)	by deleting the word “and” in the penultimate line of sub-paragraph (iv) and substituting the word “or”; and
(f)	by inserting, immediately after the words “6 years” in the last line of sub-paragraph (iv), the words “or to both”.

Consequential amendment to Free Trade Zones Act

5. The Free Trade Zones Act (Cap. 114) is amended —

(a)

by deleting the semi-colon at the end of the definition of “senior officer of customs” in section 2 and substituting a full-stop;

(b)

by deleting the definition of “value” in section 2; and

(c)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (2) of section 7, the following subsection:

“(3) The valuation applicable to any goods subject to customs duty shall be ascertained in accordance with the Customs Act (Cap. 70).”.

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