Customs (Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 38/1968

Read the first time on 3rd December 1968.

An Act to amend the Customs Ordinance, 1960 (No. 44 of 1960).

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

Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Customs (Amendment) Act, 1968.

Amendment of section 3

2. Section 3 of the Customs Ordinance, 1960 (hereinafter in this Act referred to as “the Ordinance”) is hereby amended by deleting the definition of “customs duty” appearing therein and substituting therefor the following definition: —

“ “customs duty” means any import or excise duty imposed by or under this Ordinance;”.

Amendment of section 11

3. Section 11 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —

(a)

by deleting the full-stop appearing at the end of subsection (1) thereof and substituting therefor a colon; and

(b)

by adding thereto the following proviso: —

“Provided that where the customs duty payable does not exceed five dollars in any one case the Comptroller may in his discretion waive the payment of such duty.”.

New section 14A

4. The Ordinance is hereby amended by inserting immediately after section 14 thereof the following section: —

“Relief from duty on Singaporemade goods reimported

14A. Goods manufactured, assembled or produced in Singapore which are not subject to excise duties and which have been exported may be imported or brought back into Singapore without payment of import duty if it is shown to the satisfaction of the Comptroller —

(a)	that such goods were manufactured, assembled or produced in Singapore; and
(b)	that such goods have not undergone any processing or manipulation outside Singapore since their exportation.”.

Amendment of section 15

5. Subsection (1) of section 15 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —

(a)	by deleting the words “which have been imported” appearing in the first line thereof; and
(b)	by deleting the expression “after their arrival within Singapore, and” appearing in the fourth line thereof.

Amendment of section 16

6. Subsection (2) of section 16 of the Ordinance is hereby deleted and the following substituted therefor: —

“(2) Such special tax shall be levied in accordance with such scales as may from time to time be prescribed by the Minister by order published in the Gazette.”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 18

7. Section 18 of the Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —

“Payment of duty, etc., short levied or erroneously refunded

18. Whenever any customs duty, tax, fee or other charge under this Ordinance has been short levied or erroneously refunded for any reason or owing to any cause, the person who should have paid the amount short levied or to whom the refund has erroneously been made shall pay the deficiency or repay the amount erroneously refunded to him on demand being made within one year from the date of the short levy or refund, and without prejudice to any other remedy for the recovery of the amount due, any dutiable goods belonging to such person which may be in customs control may be detained until the deficiency be paid or the refund be repaid, as the case may be:

Provided that where the short levy or erroneous refund does not exceed five dollars in any one case, the Comptroller may waive the recovery of such short levy or erroneous refund.”.

Amendment of section 20

8. Subsection (8) of section 20 of the Ordinance is hereby amended by deleting the word “Malayan” appearing in the second line of paragraph (c) thereof and substituting therefor the word “Singapore”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 24

9. Section 24 of the Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —

“Import of trade samples

24.—(1) Where dutiable goods are declared at the time of their importation to be bona fide trade samples the Comptroller may allow such goods to be imported without payment of customs duty subject to such conditions as he deems fit to impose.

(2) For the purpose of this section “trade samples” means articles which —

(a)	are imported solely for the purpose of being shown or demonstrated in Singapore for the soliciting of orders for goods to be supplied from abroad; and
(b)	are not sold or put to normal use except for purposes of demonstration or used in any way for hire or reward while in Singapore.”.

Amendment of section 25

10. Subsection (2) of section 25 of the Ordinance is hereby amended by deleting the words “from the States of Malaya” appearing in the second and third lines thereof.

Amendment of section 28

11. Section 28 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —

(a)

by deleting the words “such goods have been entered on the vessel’s manifest and a full and correct statement” appearing in the fourth and fifth lines of the first proviso thereto and substituting therefor the words “a full and correct inward manifest”; and

(b)

by deleting the second proviso thereto and substituting therefor the following: —

“Provided further that no permit shall be required for the removal of —

(a)	dutiable goods (other than intoxicating liquors or tobacco) the duty of which does not exceed one hundred dollars in the possession or in the baggage of any person arriving in Singapore;
(b)	an amount not exceeding two gallons of intoxicating liquors and five pounds of tobacco in the possession or in the baggage of any person arriving in Singapore;
(c)	petroleum carried in the supply tank or in a spare container of not more than two gallons capacity of a motor vehicle or in the supply tanks of aircraft for use in the propulsion thereof; and
(d)	dutiable goods imported by post.”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 29

12. Section 29 of the Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —

“Permit not used to be returned in twenty-four hours

29. Any person who has obtained a permit to remove any goods from customs control and has not availed himself thereof shall, within twenty-four hours of the expiry of the permit, or as soon thereafter as the office of the proper officer of customs is open for business, return such permit to the office of the proper officer of customs.”.

Amendment of section 31

13. Section 31 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —

(a)	by inserting immediately after the word “importer” appearing in the first line thereof the words “or exporter”; and
(b)	by inserting immediately after the word “imported” appearing in the last line thereof the words “or exported”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 33

14. Section 33 of the Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —

“Particulars of goods inwards to be furnished

33. The master or agent of every vessel and the pilot or agent of every aircraft arriving in Singapore or the station-master at the railway station on the arrival of every train shall, within twenty-four hours after arrival of the vessel, aircraft or train, or within such further period as the Comptroller may in his discretion allow, furnish to the proper officer of customs at the customs office designated by the Comptroller a full and correct inward manifest, certified by such master, pilot, agent or station-master, containing all particulars as to quantity, marks and description of goods destined for Singapore and shall in the case of every vessel or aircraft, in like manner, furnish a full and correct transhipment manifest and a list of sea or air stores on board the vessel or aircraft.”.

Amendment of section 34

15. Subsection (1) of section 34 of the Ordinance is hereby deleted and the following substituted therefor: —

“(1) Within one month of the arrival of a vessel, aircraft or train, the master or agent of the vessel or the pilot or agent of the aircraft or the station-master shall present to the proper officer of customs a certified amendment to the manifest required by section 33 of this Ordinance due to short-shipment, short-landing, overlanding or any other cause.”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 35

16. Section 35 of the Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —

“Particulars of goods exported to be furnished

35. Within forty-eight hours of the departure of every ship, aircraft or train or within such further period as the Comptroller may in his discretion allow, the owner or agent of such 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 such ship or aircraft as sea or air stores, and shall in like manner furnish a full and correct statement of all goods transhipped.”.

Amendment of section 70

17. Subsection (3) of section 70 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —

(a)	by inserting, immediately after the word “may” appearing in the sixth line thereof, the words “in the discretion of the Comptroller”;
(b)	by deleting the word “ten” appearing in the second line of paragraph (b) thereof and substituting therefor the words “one hundred”; and
(c)	by deleting the word “twelve” appearing in the first line of paragraph (c) thereof and substituting therefor the word “six”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 72

18. Section 72 of the Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —

“Drawback on goods used in manufacture

72. Where any goods are prescribed to be goods in respect of which drawback may be allowed on exportation as part or ingredient of any goods manufactured in Singapore and such prescribed goods are so exported by the manufacturer as part or ingredient of any goods manufactured in Singapore, then if customs duty has been paid on such prescribed goods and not drawn back the Comptroller may, on such exportation, allow to the manufacturer a drawback of the duty so paid at such rates as may be prescribed, if —

(a)	the goods exported have been manufactured on premises approved by the Comptroller;
(b)	provision to the satisfaction of the Comptroller has been made for the control and supervision on such premises of the deposit and issue for use of the prescribed goods;
(c)	such books of account are kept as the Comptroller may require for the purpose of ascertaining the quantity of the prescribed goods used in such manufacture;
(d)	such prescribed goods are exported within twelve months from the date upon which customs duty was paid; and
(e)	a declaration has been made by the person entitled to drawback that the conditions on which drawback is payable have been fulfilled.”.

Amendment of section 78

19. Section 78 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —

(a)	by inserting immediately after the word “shops” appearing at the end of subsection (1) thereof the expression “, and for export”; and
(b)	by inserting, immediately after the word “sale” appearing in the second line of subsection (4) thereof, the words “or for export”.

Amendment of section 97

20. Section 97 of the Ordinance is hereby amended by inserting, immediately after subsection (8) thereof, the following subsections: —

“(9) A senior officer of customs may in his discretion release any goods seized under the provisions of this section to the importer or owner thereof subject to such conditions and on such security as that officer may determine.

(10) The security required under subsection (9) of this section may be by cash deposit or bank guarantee or both.”.

Amendment of section 112

21. Subsection (1) of section 112 of the Ordinance is hereby amended by deleting the words “six hundred” appearing in the last line thereof and substituting therefor the words “one thousand”.

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