Central Provident Fund (Amendment) Ordinance

Bill No. 13/1963

Read the first time on 28th November 1963.

An Ordinance to amend the Central Provident Fund Ordinance (Chapter 150 of the Revised Edition).

Be it enacted by the Yang di-Pertuan Negara with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of Singapore, as follows: —

Short title and commencement

1.—(1) This Ordinance may be cited as the Central Provident Fund (Amendment) Ordinance, 1963, and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may by notification in the Gazette appoint.

(2) The Minister may appoint different dates for the coming into operation of different provisions of this Ordinance.

Amendment of section 2

2. Section 2 of the Central Provident Fund Ordinance (hereinafter in this Ordinance referred to as the “principal Ordinance”) is hereby amended —

(a)

by inserting immediately after the definition of “the Board” appearing therein the following new definition: —

“ “contract” means any contract, whether written or oral, and whether express or implied;”;

(b)

by inserting immediately after the definition of “date of withdrawal” appearing therein the following new definition: —

“ “employed” means engaged under a contract of service or apprenticeship or in an employment which is in a class of employment deemed to be a class of employment, in respect of which contributions are payable, under regulations made under the provisions of section 25 of this Ordinance;”;

(c)

by deleting the definition of “employee” appearing therein and substituting therefor the following: —

“ “employee” means any person who —

(a)

is employed in the State of Singapore otherwise than as a master, seaman or apprentice in any vessel;

(b)

being a citizen of the State of Singapore is employed —

(i)	as a master, seaman or apprentice in any vessel, the owners of which have not been exempted from the provisions of this Ordinance; and
(ii)	under a contract of service or other agreement entered into in the State of Singapore;”; and

(d)

by deleting paragraphs (i) and (ii) of the definition of “employer” appearing therein and substituting therefor the following: —

“(i)	in respect of any employee as defined under paragraph (a) of the definition of “employee” the person by whom such employee is employed; or
(ii)	in respect of any employee as defined under paragraph (b) of the definition of “employee” the owners of any vessel in which an employee as so defined is employed; or
(iii)	in respect of any employee in a specified employment as provided under regulations made under the provisions of section 25 of this Ordinance;”; and

(e)

by deleting the definition of “wages” appearing therein and substituting therefor the following: —

“ “wages” means all the remuneration in money due to a person in respect of his employment as an employee.”.

Amendment of section 4

3. Section 4 of the principal Ordinance is hereby amended —

(a)

by deleting the words “or of the City Council” appearing in the second line of subsection (6) thereof;

(b)

by inserting immediately after the word “employee” appearing in the fifth and sixth lines of paragraph (ii) of subsection (12) thereof the words “or an employer”; and

(c)

by deleting subsection (13) thereof and substituting therefor the following: —

“(13) The members of the Board and the employees thereof, of every description, shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of the Penal Code.”.

Amendment of section 6

4. Section 6 of the principal Ordinance is hereby amended by deleting subsections (3) and (4) thereof and substituting therefor the following: —

“(3) Interest shall be payable on contributions to the Fund at such rate per annum, not being less than two and one-half per centum, as the Board may declare after and in respect of each year ending on the 31st day of December:

Provided that the Board shall not declare a rate of interest exceeding two and one-half per centum per annum except with the approval of the Minister for Finance.

(4) If the Board is at any time unable to pay any sum which the Fund is required to pay under this Ordinance, the sum required to be so paid shall be charged on and advanced to the Board from the Consolidated Fund and the Board shall as soon as practicable repay to the Government the sum so advanced.”.

Amendment of section 7

5. Section 7 of the principal Ordinance is hereby amended —

(a)

by deleting the words “who shall have worked for him continuously for a period of not less than one month” appearing in the fourth, fifth and sixth lines of subsection (1) thereof;

(b)

by deleting subsection (2) thereof;

(c)

by renumbering subsection (3) there of as subsection (2);

(d)

by deleting subsection (4) thereof and substituting therefor the following: —

“(3) Without prejudice to the provisions of subsections (1) and (2) of this section and the Schedule to this Ordinance —

(a)	an employee may at any time contribute voluntarily to the Fund a sum additional to that shown in the Schedule to this Ordinance as payable by the employer; or
(b)	an employee who desires to have contributions in excess of the appropriate rate deducted from his monthly wages by his employer may give to his employer written notice to that effect, and thereafter so long as he is employed by that employer, the employer shall make such deductions from his wages for each month until such time, not being less than six months from the giving of the previous notice, as he shall give further written notice to his employer of his desire to cease to have such excess monthly contributions deducted from his wages; or
(c)	an employer may at any time pay to the Fund contributions in respect of any of his employees at a rate in excess of the appropriate rate set out in the Schedule to this Ordinance; and
(d)	the amount of such excess deductions as is mentioned in paragraph (b) of this subsection shall be paid to the Fund by the employer in addition to the appropriate monthly contributions.”;

(e)

by renumbering subsection (5) thereof as subsection (4) and by deleting the expressions “(3)” and “(4)” appearing in the sixth and eighth lines of that subsection and substituting therefor the expressions “(2)” and “(3)” respectively;

(f)

by renumbering subsection (6) thereof as subsection (5) and by deleting the expression “(3) and (4)” appearing in the fourth line of that subsection and substituting therefor the expression “(2) and (3)”; and

(g)

by deleting subsection (7) thereof and substituting therefor the following: —

“(6) For the purpose of this section and of the Schedule to this Ordinance an employee’s wages for any month shall mean —

(a)	in respect of an employee paid monthly or at intervals longer than a month, the amount of wages due to be paid to him in respect of that month; and
(b)	in respect of any other employee the aggregate amount of wages due to be paid to him as wages on such pay days as fall within that month:

Provided that in the case of any employee who is in continuous employment with the same employer for a period of not less than one month and whose wages are calculated at a rate for a period of time any wages earned by the employee in respect of such employment on account of time worked in excess of his usual periods of employment may be disregarded.”.

Amendment of section 10

6. Section 10 of the principal Ordinance is hereby amended —

(a)	by deleting the expression “(3)” appearing in the second line of subsection (1) thereof and substituting therefor the expression “(2)”;
(b)	by deleting the expression “(a)” appearing in the seventh line of subsection (1) thereof;
(c)	by deleting the expression “; and” appearing in the twenty-sixth line of subsection (1) thereof and substituting therefor a full-stop;
(d)	by deleting proviso (b) to subsection (1) thereof;
(e)	by deleting subsection (2) thereof; and
(f)	by renumbering subsections (3) and (4) thereof as subsections (2) and (3) respectively.

New section 22A

7. The principal Ordinance is hereby amended by inserting immediately after section 22 thereof the following new section: —

“Refund of contributions to Government

22A. The Board may, when a public officer is confirmed in a pensionable office in the service of the Government, refund to the Government, in respect of the period before such confirmation, such proportion of the contributions paid by the Government as have not been recovered from such public officer’s wages and is standing to the credit of such public officer in the Fund, together with the interest thereon.”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 23

8. Section 23 of the principal Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following section substituted therefor: —

“Transfer to the Fund from private provident fund

23. Where by virtue of his employment as an employee any member of the Fund has acquired a right to any pecuniary benefit in a provident fund or other scheme, not being an approved fund as defined in subsection (2) of section 21 of this Ordinance, any part or the whole of such benefit may, if the rules of such provident fund or other scheme permit, be transferred to the Fund and treated as an excess contribution paid for him under the provisions of subsection (3) of section 7 of this Ordinance.”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 24

9. Section 24 of the principal Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following section substituted therefor: —

“Refund of contributions paid in error

24.—(1) When the Board is satisfied that any amount has been paid to the Fund by error in respect of any employee either wholly or partly in excess of the amount that was due to be paid, the Board may subject to the provisions of subsection (2) of this section refund the amount so paid in excess to the person by whom it was made:

Provided that if the excess payment was in the opinion of the Board made by error occasioned by negligence on the part of the person by whom it was made or if the refund such excess payment is not claimed within three years of the date on which it was made or if the member in respect of whom it was made has withdrawn it, such excess payment shall not be refunded but shall be deemed to have been properly made as an excess contribution under subsection (3) of section 7 of this Ordinance for the employee in respect of whom it was made:

Provided further that if any amount is due to the Fund from the person to whom refund of the amount paid in excess would otherwise be made the Board may retain the whole or any part of such excess payment and set it off against such amount as is due.

(2) No refund shall be made and no amount shall be set off under this section except with the consent of the Board who may require the person by whom the excess payment was made to make a written application for refund and to furnish such information as the Board may require to determine the amount of the excess payment and the circumstances in which it ocurred.

(3) If any contribution or excess amount or part thereof paid in error is refunded to any person after it has been in the Fund throughout the whole of any year, the Board may at its discretion credit to the amount repaid interest at two and one-half per centum in respect of any such year.”.

Amendment of section 25

10. Subsection (1) of section 25 of the principal Ordinance is hereby amended —

(i)

by deleting the full-stop appearing at the end of paragraph (b) thereof and substituting therefor a semi-colon; and

(ii)

by inserting immediately after paragraph (b) thereof the following new paragraphs: —

“(c)	to provide that a class of employment, not being employment under a contract or apprenticeship, shall be deemed to be a class of employment in respect of which contributions are payable under the provisions of this Ordinance;
(d)	to provide that where an employee is employed in a specified employment a person specified as the principal employer shall be treated as his employer for the purposes of this Ordinance notwithstanding that such principal employer is not the immediate employer of the employee.”.

Amendment of Schedule

11. The Schedule to the principal Ordinance is hereby amended by deleting the expression “No contribution is payable in respect of the wages earned for the period of one month following the first day of employment. Thereafter the contributions payable are as follows:—” appearing in the third, fourth and fifth lines thereof and substituting therefor the expression “The contributions payable are as follows:—”.

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