Customs (Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 20/1993

Read the first time on 28th May 1993.
An Act to amend the Customs Act (Chapter 70 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.—(1)  This Act may be cited as the Customs (Amendment) Act 1993 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 the different provisions of this Act.
Amendment of section 3
2.  Section 3 of the Customs Act is amended —
(a)by deleting the definition of “alcohol” in subsection (1) and substituting the following definition:
“ “alcohol” means ethanol;”;
(b)by deleting the definition of “excise duty” in subsection (1) and substituting the following definition:
“ “excise duty” means duty on goods manufactured in or imported into Singapore;”;
(c)by inserting, immediately after the definition of “heavy oil or diesel oil” in subsection (1), the following definition:
“ “import duty” means duty on goods imported into Singapore;”;
(d)by deleting the definition of “intoxicating liquor” in subsection (1) and substituting the following definition:
“ “intoxicating liquor” means —
(a)a mixture of alcohol and some other substances containing more than 0.5 per cent alcohol by mass; or
(b)a mixture of alcohol and water containing more than 0.5 per cent alcohol by volume, which is fit, or intended, or can by any means be converted, for use as a beverage, but does not include toddy, bottled toddy or denatured spirit;”;
(e)by deleting paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) of the definition of “officer of customs” in subsection (1) and substituting the following paragraphs:
“(b)any Deputy Director-General, Senior Director or Director of Customs and Excise appointed under section 4(1);
(c)any Senior Superintendent, Higher Superintendent or Superintendent of Customs and Excise appointed under section 4(4);
(d)any Chief Customs Officer, Senior Customs Officer, Higher Customs Officer or Customs Officer appointed under section 5; and”;
(f)by inserting, immediately after the definition of “owner” in subsection (1), the following definitions:
“ “per cent alcohol by mass” means the measure of alcoholic strength of a mixture of alcohol and some other substances shown by the ratio, expressed as a percentage, of the mass of alcohol present in the mixture to the total mass of the mixture;
“per cent alcohol by volume” means the measure of alcoholic strength of a mixture of alcohol and water shown by the ratio, expressed as a percentage, of the volume of alcohol present in the mixture at a temperature of 20°C to the total volume of the mixture;”;
(g)by deleting paragraphs (b) and (c) of the definition of “senior officer of customs” in subsection (1) and substituting the following paragraphs:
“(b)any Deputy Director-General, Senior Director or Director of Customs and Excise appointed under section 4(1);
(c)any Senior Superintendent, Higher Superintendent or Superintendent of Customs and Excise appointed under section 4(4);”; and
(h)by inserting, immediately before the words “Government warehouse,” in the third line of subsection (2), the words “free trade zone,”.
Amendment of section 4
3.  Section 4 of the Customs Act is amended —
(a)by deleting the words “a Deputy Director-General of Customs and Excise and such number of” in subsection (1) and substituting the words “such number of Deputy Directors-General,”;
(b)by deleting the words “Deputy Director-General” in the first line of subsection (3) and substituting the words “Deputy Directors-General”;
(c)by deleting the words “Superintendents and Assistant Superintendents” in subsection (4) and substituting the words “Higher Superintendents and Superintendents”; and
(d)by deleting the words “Deputy Director-General” in the marginal note and substituting the words “Deputy Directors-General”.
Amendment of section 5
4.  Section 5 of the Customs Act is amended by inserting, immediately after the words “Senior Customs Officers”, the words “, Higher Customs Officers”.
Amendment of section 10
5.  Section 10 of the Customs Act is amended —
(a)by inserting, immediately after the words “customs duties” in subsection (1), the words “including import and excise duties”; and
(b)by inserting, immediately after the words “customs duty” in subsection (2), the words “including import or excise duty”.
Amendment of section 20
6.  Section 20 of the Customs Act is amended by deleting “$5” in the fourteenth line and substituting the words “$20 or such other amount as the Minister may by order prescribe”.
Repeal and re-enactment of section 34
7.  Section 34 of the Customs Act is repealed and the following section substituted therefor:
“Permits to remove goods
34.—(1)  Subject to subsections (2) and (3), no dutiable goods imported and no goods of a class dutiable on import intended for transhipment or in transit shall on arrival be removed —
(a)from the vessel on which the goods arrived;
(b)from the customs airport at which the goods arrived;
(c)from the railway station at which the goods arrived;
(d)beyond any customs station at Woodlands if the goods were brought into Singapore by road; or
(e)from the free trade zone in which the goods were deposited or landed,
except under and in accordance with the conditions contained in a permit issued by the proper officer of customs in such form as may be determined by the Director-General.
(2)  No permit shall be required for the removal —
(a)by an authority administering a free trade zone of any dutiable goods from a vessel directly into the free trade zone, if a full and correct inward manifest as required under section 39 has been furnished to the proper officer of customs;
(b)of dutiable goods (other than intoxicating liquors or tobacco) the duty on which does not exceed $300 or such other amount as the Minister may by order prescribe and which is in the possession or in the baggage of any person arriving in Singapore;
(c)of an amount not exceeding 10 litres of intoxicating liquors and two kilogrammes of tobacco in the possession or in the baggage of any person arriving in Singapore;
(d)of petroleum carried in the fuel supply tank or in a spare container of not more than 10 litres capacity of a motor vehicle or in the fuel supply tanks of aircraft for use in the propulsion thereof; and
(e)of dutiable goods imported by post unless so required by the proper officer of customs.
(3)  The Director-General may, subject to such conditions as he may impose, authorise any person to remove, without a permit, goods of a class dutiable on import intended for transhipment or in transit —
(a)from an aircraft into the free trade zone in a customs airport and to be transhipped from that free trade zone directly into another aircraft at the same airport; or
(b)from the free trade zone to be transhipped directly to a vessel berthed at the same free trade zone.”.
Repeal and re-enactment of section 37
8.  Section 37 of the Customs Act is repealed and the following section substituted therefor:
“Declaration
37.  Every importer or exporter of dutiable goods and every person transhipping goods of a class dutiable on import shall, before removing any such goods or any part thereof from customs control or from any of the following places (whether or not the goods are under customs control):
(a)the vessel on which the goods arrived;
(b)the customs airport at which the goods arrived;
(c)the railway station at which the goods arrived;
(d)any customs station at Woodlands if the goods were brought into Singapore by road; or
(e)the free trade zone in which the goods were deposited or landed,
make personally or by his agent to the proper officer of customs a declaration, in accordance with section 96, of the particulars of the goods imported or exported or to be transhipped.”.
Amendment of section 39
9.  Section 39 of the Customs Act is amended —
(a)by deleting the words “destined for” in paragraph (a) and substituting the words “brought into”; and
(b)by renumbering the section as subsection (1) of that section, and by inserting immediately thereafter the following subsection:
“(2)  The Director-General may, if he thinks fit and subject to such conditions as he may impose, permit the owner or agent of the vessel or aircraft or the station-master referred to in subsection (1) to authorise any other person to furnish on behalf of the owner, agent or station-master the whole or any part of any manifest or statement referred to in subsection (1).”.
Amendment of section 40
10.  Section 40 of the Customs Act is amended —
(a)by inserting, immediately after the word “station-master” in the third line of subsection (1) and in the eleventh line of subsection (2), the words “or the person authorised under section 39(2)”; and
(b)by deleting the words “any other cause” in the sixth and seventh lines of subsection (1) and substituting the words “such other cause as the Minister may by order specify”.
Repeal and re-enactment of section 41
11.  Section 41 of the Customs Act is repealed and the following section substituted therefor:
“Particulars of goods exported to be furnished
41.—(1)  Within 48 hours of the departure of every vessel, aircraft or train or within such further period as the Director-General may in his discretion allow, the owner or agent of the vessel or aircraft or the station-master of the railway station shall furnish to the proper officer of customs a full and correct outward manifest of all goods exported thereon, or which have been taken aboard the vessel or aircraft as sea or air stores, and shall in like manner furnish a full and correct statement of all goods transhipped.
(2)  The Director-General may, if he thinks fit and subject to such conditions as he may impose, permit the owner, agent or station-master referred to in subsection (1) to authorise any other person to furnish on behalf of the owner, agent or station-master the whole or any part of —
(a)a full and correct outward manifest of all goods exported on the vessel, aircraft or train; and
(b)a full and correct statement of all goods transhipped.
(3)  In addition to the furnishing of the outward manifest under subsection (1), the owner or agent of the vessel or aircraft or the station-master of the railway station shall, within 48 hours of the departure of the vessel, aircraft or train, furnish to the proper officer of customs a full and correct loadlist in the form approved by the Director-General and certified by such owner, agent or station-master to contain full particulars of all the dutiable goods which have been received for loading onto the vessel, aircraft or train.”.
Amendment of section 42
12.  Section 42 of the Customs Act is amended —
(a)by deleting subsection (1) and substituting the following subsections:
“(1)  All dutiable goods unshipped or landed in a free trade zone or approved landing place, or deposited in a transit warehouse, shall, until —
(a)lawfully removed therefrom for export or entry into customs territory; or
(b)received for storage by the authority administering the free trade zone or the occupier or operator of the premises in which the goods are stored within the zone,
be at the risk of the master, owner or agent of the vessel or the pilot, owner or agent of the aircraft or any person authorised under section 39(2), as the case may be, as if those goods had not been unshipped; and the master, owner or agent of the vessel or the pilot, owner or agent of the aircraft or any person authorised under section 39(2) shall each be liable to pay the duty on such of the goods as are not accounted for to the satisfaction of a senior officer of customs as if those goods had been imported.
(1A)  Notwithstanding the provisions of any written law to the contrary, where dutiable goods have been received for storage by the authority administering the free trade zone or the occupier or operator of the premises in which the goods are stored, as the case may be, the authority, occupier or operator shall be liable to pay the duty on such of the goods as are not accounted for to the satisfaction of a senior officer of customs as if those goods had been imported.”; and
(b)by deleting the marginal note and substituting the following marginal note:
“Liability in respect of duty for goods unaccounted for.”.
Amendment of section 45
13.  Section 45 of the Customs Act is amended by inserting, immediately after the word “station” in the ninth line, the words “or any person authorised under section 39(2) or 41(2)”.
Amendment of section 59
14.  Section 59 of the Customs Act is amended by deleting the words “substantially in the form approved by the Director-General” in the fourth and fifth lines and substituting the words “, in accordance with section 96,”.
Amendment of section 76
15.  Section 76 of the Customs Act is amended by inserting, immediately after the words “within Singapore” at the end thereof, the words “or by such other means of payment as the Director-General may approve”.
Amendment of section 80
16.  Section 80 of the Customs Act is amended by deleting the words “in duplicate, substantially in the form approved by the Director-General” in the third and fourth lines and substituting the words “in accordance with section 96,”.
Repeal and re-enactment of section 92
17.  Section 92 of the Customs Act is repealed and the following section substituted therefor:
“Service of notices
92.—(1)  Every notice or document required by this Act or by any order or regulations made thereunder to be served on any person may be served —
(a)by delivering the notice or document to the person;
(b)by sending the notice or document by registered post addressed to the person at his usual or last known place of residence or business; or
(c)where the person is a body of persons or a company —
(i)by delivering the notice or document to the secretary or other like officer of the body of persons or company at its registered office or principal place of business; or
(ii)by sending the notice or document addressed to the body of persons or company at its registered office or principal place of business.
(2)  Any notice or document sent by registered post to any person in accordance with subsection (1) shall be deemed to be duly served on the person to whom the letter is addressed at the time when the letter would in the ordinary course of post be delivered and in proving service of such notice or document it shall be sufficient to prove that the envelope containing the notice or document was properly addressed, stamped and posted by registered post.”.
Amendment of section 96
18.  Section 96 of the Customs Act is amended by deleting subsection (1) and substituting the following subsection:
“(1)  The declarations referred to in sections 37, 59 and 80 shall be made on such form as may be determined by the Director-General and shall give a full and true account of the particulars for which provision is made in the form.”.
Amendment of section 101
19.  Section 101(1) of the Customs Act is amended —
(a)by inserting, immediately after the words “under this Act or any” in paragraph (c), the words “order or”;
(b)by inserting, immediately after the words “under this Act or any” in the sixth and seventh lines of sub-paragraph (i), the words “order or”;
(c)by deleting the word “and” at the end of sub-paragraph (i); and
(d)by deleting the full-stop at the end of sub-paragraph (ii) and substituting the word “; and”, and by inserting immediately thereafter the following sub-paragraph:
“(iii)to make copies of and take any reasonable steps to preserve any books, records, documents or other articles referred to in sub-paragraph (i).”.
Amendments to sections 103, 113, 121 and 123
20.  The Customs Act is amended by inserting, immediately after the words “under this Act or any” in sections 103(c), 113, 121(3) (first line) and 123(2) (third line), the words “order or”.
Amendment of section 110
21.  Section 110(1) of the Customs Act is amended —
(a)by inserting, immediately after the words “under this Act or any” in the third line, the words “order or”; and
(b)by inserting, immediately after the words “this Act or of any” in the fourth and fifth lines, the words “order or”.
Amendment of section 112
22.  Section 112 of the Customs Act is amended —
(a)by inserting, immediately after the words “under this Act or any” in subsection (1)(a) and (c), the words “order or”; and
(b)by deleting the words “24 hours” in the first line of subsection (4) and substituting the words “48 hours”.
Amendments to sections 115, 118 and 137
23.  The Customs Act is amended by inserting, immediately after the words “under this Act” in sections 115 (fourth line), 118(1) (fifth line) and 137(a) (fourth and sixth lines), the words “or any order or regulations made thereunder”.
Amendment of section 126
24.  Section 126 of the Customs Act is amended —
(a)by deleting “$2,000” in subsection (1) and substituting “$5,000”; and
(b)by deleting the words “the manufacture of which is prohibited except under licence” in the seventh and eighth lines of subsection (2) and substituting the words “manufactured in Singapore without a licence in contravention of this Act or any order or regulations made thereunder”.
Amendment of section 128
25.  Section 128 of the Customs Act is amended —
(a)by inserting, immediately after the words “required by this Act” in subsection (1)(a), (d) and (f), the words “or any order or regulations made thereunder”;
(b)by inserting, immediately after the words “required under this Act” in subsection (1)(c), the words “or any order or regulations made thereunder”; and
(c)by inserting, immediately after subsection (2), the following subsection:
“(3)  When a failure to make a declaration as referred to in subsection (1)(f) has been proved, it shall be no defence to allege that the failure was inadvertent or without criminal or fraudulent intent or that it was not known that such a declaration is required to be made.”.
Amendment of section 129
26.  Section 129(1) of the Customs Act is amended —
(a)by deleting “$1,000” in the ninth line and substituting “$5,000”; and
(b)by deleting the words “6 months” in the tenth line and substituting the words “12 months”.
Amendment of section 130
27.  Section 130(1) of the Customs Act is amended —
(a)by inserting, immediately after the words “this Act” at the end of paragraph (d), the words “or any order or regulations made thereunder”; and
(b)by deleting paragraph (j) and substituting the following paragraph:
“(j)sells, exchanges or gives away or offers to sell, exchange or give away to any person in Singapore, goods which are his duty-free allowances in Singapore,”.
Amendment of section 136A
28.  Section 136A of the Customs Act is amended —
(a)by inserting, immediately after the words “motor vehicle” in the fifth line of subsection (1), the words “or with that motor vehicle in a vessel”;
(b)by inserting, immediately after the word “Woodlands,” in the fourth line of subsection (2)(a), the words “Changi Ferry Terminal or any other prescribed place,”;
(c)by inserting, immediately after the words “motor vehicle” at the end of subsection (2)(a), the words “or with that motor vehicle in a vessel, as the case may be”; and
(d)by deleting the words “more than half a tank” in the marginal note and substituting the words “prescribed amount”.
Amendment of section 139
29.  Section 139 of the Customs Act is amended by deleting “$3,000” at the end thereof and substituting “$5,000”.
Amendment of section 140
30.  Section 140 of the Customs Act is amended by inserting, immediately after the words “under this Act”, the words “or any order or regulations made thereunder”.
Amendment of section 141
31.  Section 141 of the Customs Act is amended —
(a)by inserting, immediately after the words “under this Act or any” in the first line of subsection (1), the words “order or”; and
(b)by inserting, immediately after the words “under this Act” in the first line of subsection (2), the words “or any order or regulations made thereunder”.
Amendment of section 143
32.  Section 143(1) of the Customs Act is amended by inserting, immediately after sub-paragraph (i), the following sub-paragraph:
“(ia)to provide for the ranks, uniforms, insignias or badges of rank, accoutrements and equipment of officers of customs;”.
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