High Court (Admiralty Jurisdiction) (Amendment) Bill

High Court (Admiralty Jurisdiction)
(Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 23/2020

Read the first time on 4 May 2020.

An Act to amend the High Court (Admiralty Jurisdiction) Act (Chapter 123 of the 2001 Revised Edition) and to make a related amendment to the Merchant Shipping Act (Chapter 179 of the 1996 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 is the High Court (Admiralty Jurisdiction) (Amendment) Act 2020 and comes into operation on a date that the Minister appoints by notification in the Gazette.

Amendment of section 3

2. Section 3 of the High Court (Admiralty Jurisdiction) Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting paragraph (i) of subsection (1) and substituting the following paragraph:

“(i)

subject to section 168 of the Merchant Shipping Act (Cap. 179) (which requires salvage disputes to be determined summarily by a District Court in certain cases), any claim —

(i)	under the Salvage Convention;
(ii)	under any contract for or in relation to salvage services; or
(iii)	in the nature of salvage other than a claim mentioned in sub‑paragraph (i) or (ii),

or any corresponding claim in connection with an aircraft mentioned in subsection (3A);”;

(b)

by deleting subsection (3) and substituting the following subsections:

“(3) For the purposes of subsection (1)(i)(ii) —

(a)	a claim for or in relation to salvage services includes a claim for services rendered in saving life from a ship or in saving cargo, apparel or wreck, that is authorised to be made in connection with a ship under paragraph 2 of Article 16 of the Salvage Convention or section 167 of the Merchant Shipping Act; and
(b)	a claim under any contract for or in relation to salvage services includes a claim that arises under that contract, whether or not during the provision of such services.

(3A) The reference in subsection (1)(i) to any corresponding claim in connection with an aircraft is a reference to any claim, corresponding to any claim mentioned in sub‑paragraph (i) or (ii) of that provision, which is available under section 11 of the Air Navigation Act (Cap. 6) or any regulations made under that section.”;

(c)

by deleting the words “to (3)” in subsection (4) and substituting the words “to (3A)”; and

(d)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (5), the following subsection:

“(6) In this section, “Salvage Convention” means the International Convention on Salvage, 1989, including any revision to that Convention or any protocol to that Convention that may apply to Singapore from time to time, as set out in the Second Schedule to the Merchant Shipping Act.”.

Related amendment to Merchant Shipping Act

3. Section 176 of the Merchant Shipping Act (Cap. 179) is repealed.

Saving and transitional provision

4. Despite section 2, section 3 of the High Court (Admiralty Jurisdiction) Act as in force immediately before the date of commencement of section 2 continues to apply to or in relation to any legal proceedings commenced in the High Court before that date.

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