State Immunity Bill

Bill No. 20/1979

Read the first time on 15th May 1979.

An Act to make provision with respect to proceedings in Singapore by or against other States, and for purposes connected therewith.

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

PART I

PRELIMINARY

Short title and commencement

1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the State Immunity Act, 1979, and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), Part II does not apply to proceedings in respect of matters that occurred before the commencement of this Act and, in particular —

(a)	subsection (2) of section 4 and subsection (3) of section 15 do not apply to any prior agreement; and
(b)	sections 5, 6 and 11 do not apply to any transaction, contract or arbitration agreement,

entered into before that date.

(3) Section 14 applies to any proceedings instituted after the commencement of this Act.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In this Act —

“commercial purposes” means purposes of such transactions or activities as are mentioned in subsection (3) of section 5;

“court” includes any tribunal or body exercising judicial functions;

“ship” includes hovercraft.

(2) In this Act —

(a)	references to an agreement in subsection (2) of section 4 and subsection (3) of section 15 include references to a treaty, convention or other international agreement;
(b)	references to entry of appearance and judgments in default of appearance include references to any corresponding procedures.

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