Regulation of Imports and Exports (Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 25/2003

Read the first time on 16th October 2003.

An Act to amend the Regulation of Imports and Exports Act (Chapter 272A 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 may be cited as the Regulation of Imports and Exports (Amendment) Act 2003 and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

Amendment of section 3

2. Section 3(2) of the Regulation of Imports and Exports Act (referred to in this Act as the principal Act) is amended —

(a)

by inserting, immediately after paragraph (d), the following paragraph:

“(da)

for prohibiting the exportation of all goods or goods of any specified class or description except in compliance with such conditions as may be prescribed for the purpose of complying with any preferential tariff arrangement or agreement between Singapore and a country or territory outside Singapore, including any condition that the goods exported are to be from a prescribed source or that the manufacture of such goods is to be carried out or procured by any person registered under regulations made under this Act;”;

(b)

by inserting, immediately after paragraph (n), the following paragraph:

“(na)

for requiring security to be provided to secure compliance with this Act, any regulations made thereunder or any condition imposed under this Act or such regulations, and to make provision for the form, manner, amount, period and forfeiture of such security;”; and

(c)

by deleting the word “and” at the end of paragraph (p), and by inserting immediately thereafter the following paragraph:

“(pa)

for the bringing of appeals to the Minister in respect of any matter referred to in this Act or any regulations made thereunder, and the procedure for such appeals; and”.

Amendment of section 24

3. Section 24 of the principal Act is amended by deleting the words “or 23” wherever they appear and substituting in each case the words “, 23 or 28A”.

New section 28A

4. The principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 28, the following section:

“Penalty for incorrect trade descriptions

28A.—(1) Any person who imports, exports or tranships any goods and —

(a)	applies or causes to be applied to such goods an incorrect trade description; or
(b)	has in his possession for sale or for any purpose of trade any such goods to which an incorrect trade description has been applied,

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction —

(i)	in respect of a first offence, to a fine not exceeding $100,000 or 3 times the value of the goods in respect of which the offence was committed, whichever is the greater, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both; and
(ii)	in respect of a second or subsequent offence, to a fine not exceeding $200,000 or 4 times the value of the goods in respect of which the offence was committed, whichever is the greater, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both.

(2) For the purpose of subsection (1), a person shall be treated as applying a trade description to goods if he —

(a)

affixes or annexes the trade description to, or in any manner marks the trade description on or incorporates it with —

(i)	the goods themselves; or
(ii)	anything in, on or with which the goods are supplied;

(b)

places the goods in or with anything that the trade description has been affixed or annexed to, marked on or incorporated with or places any such thing with the goods; or

(c)

uses the trade description in any manner likely to be taken as referring to the goods.

(3) For the purpose of subsection (1), where the goods are for export or transhipment and the ultimate destination of the goods is a foreign country which has entered into a prescribed agreement with Singapore, a trade description applied to such goods shall be treated as being incorrect if it is not in accordance with any rules of origin specified in that agreement.

(4) For the purpose of subsection (1), a person referred to in that subsection shall be treated as being in possession of goods if he is in any way entitled to the custody or control of those goods.

(5) Without prejudice to the provisions of this Act, for the purpose of determining whether an offence under subsection (1) is being or has been committed, an authorised officer may —

(a)

at any reasonable time enter upon the premises of any person referred to in subsection (1) and carry out an inspection of those premises; and

(b)

require any person —

(i)	to furnish any information within his knowledge; or
(ii)	to produce for inspection any book or document within his custody or possession, and to provide copies of or extracts from such book or document.

(6) In this section —

“foreign country” means any country or territory outside Singapore;

“prescribed agreement” means an agreement between Singapore and a foreign country which is prescribed as an agreement for the purpose of subsection (3);

“trade description” means any description, statement or indication which, directly or indirectly and by whatever means given, relates to the place of origin, manufacture or production of the goods.”.

Amendment of section 31

5. Section 31 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting the word “or” at the end of subsection (1)(iii);

(b)

by deleting the full-stop at the end of paragraph (iv) of subsection (1) and substituting the word “; or”, and by inserting immediately thereafter the following paragraph:

“(v)	complying with any provision of any prescribed agreement and where the conditions specified in subsection (5) are satisfied.”; and

(c)

by deleting subsection (5) and substituting the following subsections:

“(5) The conditions referred to in subsection (1)(v) are as follows:

(a)	the particulars, information or documents requested by the foreign country are available to the Director-General;
(b)	unless the Government otherwise allows, the foreign country undertakes to keep the information given confidential at all times; and
(c)	the disclosure of the information is not likely to prejudice the essential security interests of Singapore.

(6) In this section —

“foreign country” means any country or territory outside Singapore;

“prescribed agreement” means an agreement between Singapore and a foreign country which is prescribed as an agreement for the purpose of subsection (1)(v).”.

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