Cinematograph Film Hire Duty (Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 28/1979

Read the first time on 7th September 1979.

An Act to amend the Cinematograph Film Hire Duty Act (Chapter 132 of the 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 Cinematograph Film Hire Duty (Amendment) Act, 1979, and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

Amendment of section 2

2. Section 2 of the Cinematograph Film Hire Duty Act (hereinafter in this Act referred to as the principal Act) is amended —

(a)

by deleting the words “Cinematograph Films Ordinance” in the definition of “Chairman of the Board of Film Censors” and substituting therefor the words “Films Act”;

(b)

by deleting the definition of “Comptroller” and substituting therefor the following: —

“ “Director-General” means the Director-General of Customs and Excise appointed under the provisions of subsection (1) of section 4 of the Customs Act (Cap. 133);”; and

(c)

by deleting paragraphs (a) and (b) of the definition of “senior officer of customs” and substituting therefor the following: —

“(a)	the Director-General;
(b)	the Deputy Director-General, any Senior Director and any Director of Customs and Excise appointed under the provisions of subsection (1) of section 4 of the Customs Act (Cap. 133);”.

Amendment of section 5

3. Section 5 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting paragraph (c) of subsection (2) thereof and substituting therefor the following: —

“(c)	he is registered under the provisions of the Business Registration Act, 1973 (Act 36 of 1973), or is incorporated under the provisions of the Companies Act (Cap. 185).”; and

(b)

by deleting the words “Cinematograph Films Ordinance” in subsection (8) thereof and substituting therefor the words “Films Act”.

Amendment of section 8

4. Section 8 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)	by deleting the words “, with the consent of the Minister,” in the first line of subsection (6) thereof; and
(b)	by deleting the word “one” in the penultimate line of subsection (7) thereof and substituting therefor the word “two”.

Amendment of section 9

5. Section 9 of the principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after the word “receipts” at the end of subsection (2) thereof, the words “or at such other rate as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, specify”.

Amendment of section 10

6. Section 10 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting the word “and” at the end of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) thereof;

(b)

by deleting the full-stop at the end of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) thereof and substituting therefor the word “; and”;

(c)

by inserting, immediately after paragraph (b) of subsection (1) thereof, the following paragraph: —

“(c)	house expenses which exceed twenty-five per cent of the receipts from the charge for admission exclusive of entertainments duty leviable under the Entertainments Duty Act (Cap. 136).”; and

(d)

by inserting, immediately after subsection (2) thereof, the following subsection: —

“(3) For the purposes of this section, “house expenses”, in relation to any cinema, theatre or other place where films are exhibited, means expenses of all kinds incurred in connection with the exhibition of films and which are approved as such by the Director-General.”.

Amendment of section 13

7. Section 13 of the principal Act is amended by deleting subsections (1) and (2) thereof and substituting therefor the following: —

“(1) No renter, registered renter or exhibitor of films and no proprietor of a cinema or any other place where films are exhibited shall impose or increase the charges for admission without the prior approval in writing of the Minister.

(2) Any renter, registered renter, exhibitor of films or proprietor of a cinema or any other place where films are exhibited, who acts in contravention of subsection (1), shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars in respect of every day on which such offence is committed.”.

New section 14A

8. The principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 14 thereof, the following section: —

“Penalty for fraudulent evasion or attempts to fraudulently evade film hire duty

14A. A person who is in any way concerned in any fraudulent evasion of, or attempts to fraudulently evade, any film hire duty shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or to both such imprisonment and fine.”.

Amendment of section 17

9. Section 17 of the principal Act is amended by deleting the word “one” in the last line thereof and substituting therefor the word “five”.

Miscellaneous amendments

10. The following provisions of the principal Act are amended by deleting the word “Comptroller” wherever it appears therein and substituting therefor in each case the word “Director-Ceneral”: —

Sections 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 15, 16, 17, 21 and 22.

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