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Prohibition on Advertisements relating to Smoking Bill

Bill No. 46/1970

Read the first time on 4th November 1970.

An Act to prohibit advertisements relating to smoking.

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 Prohibition on Advertisements relating to Smoking Act, 1970, and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

Interpretation

2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“advertisement” includes any notice, circular, pamphlet, brochure, programme, price-list, label, wrapper or other document, and any announcement, notification or intimation to the public or any section thereof or to any person or persons, made —

(a)	orally or in writing;
(b)	by means of any poster, placard, notice or other document affixed, posted up or displayed on any wall, billboard or hoarding or on any other object or thing;
(c)	by any means of producing or transmitting sound or light and whether for aural or visual reception or both; or
(d)	in any other manner whatsoever;

“newspaper” includes any magazine, journal or periodical, or any other publication containing news, intelligence, information or reports of occurrences, or any remarks, observations or comments in relation either to such news, intelligence, information or occurrences or to any other matter of interest to the public or any section thereof, issued in any language at regular or irregular intervals;

“publish”, with its grammatical variations, in relation to an advertisement, includes issuing, showing, displaying, exhibiting or making known an advertisement in any manner whatsoever;

“smoking”, with its grammatical variations, means inhaling and expelling the smoke of cigarettes, cigars or tobacco in any form whatsoever;

“vehicle” means any vehicle, whether mechanically propelled or otherwise;

“writing” includes printing, lithography, typewriting, photography and other modes of representing or reproducing words or figures in visible form.

Prohibition on advertisements relating to smoking

3. Except as provided in section 7 of this Act, any person who publishes or causes to be published or takes part in the publication of any advertisement —

(a)	containing any express or implied inducement, suggestion or request to purchase or to smoke cigarettes, cigars or any other form of tobacco; or
(b)	relating to smoking in terms which are calculated, expressly or impliedly, to lead to, or to induce, urge, promote or encourage the use of cigarettes, cigars or any other form of tobacco for the purpose of smoking,

shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment, and in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding four thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both such fine and imprisonment.

Offences by bodies corporate or unincorporate

4. Where an offence under section 3 of this Act or any regulation made under section 9 of this Act has been committed by any company or association or body of persons, corporate or unincorporate, any person who at the time of the commission of the offence was a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer thereof or was purporting to act in that capacity shall be guilty of that offence unless he satisfies the court that the offence was committed without his knowledge or consent.

Defence

5. In any proceedings for a contravention of section 3 of this Act, it shall be a defence for the person charged to prove that the advertisement to which the proceedings relate was published in such circumstances that he did not know and had no reason to believe that he was taking part in the publication thereof.

Immunity from suit

6. No action, suit or other proceeding shall be brought or instituted in any court against any party to a contract for failing, neglecting or refusing to publish any advertisement relating to smoking, the subject matter of such contract, where such failure, neglect or refusal is solely attributable to, or occasioned by, the coming into operation of this Act, but nothing in this section shall affect the operation of the Law Reform (Frustrated Contracts) Ordinance, 1959 (Ord. 6 of 1959).

Exemptions

7.—(1) The Minister may, in his discretion, either generally or in any particular case, and either permanently or for such period or periods as he may deem fit, exempt any person or class of person, or any place or type of place, or any event or occasion or class of event or occasion, or any object or thing or type of object or thing, from all or any of the provisions of this Act or any regulations made thereunder; and in granting such exemption the Minister may impose such conditions as he may think fit.

(2) The provisions of this Act shall not apply to —

(a)

any advertisement relating to smoking contained in any newspaper which is printed or published outside Singapore and is brought into Singapore for sale, free distribution or personal use;

(b)

any advertisement relating to smoking appearing on, upon or within any diary, calendar, ash-tray, cigarette-lighter, pencil or other object or thing distributed or given free of charge as a souvenir, memento or gift by any person who is associated, concerned or connected with the distribution or sale, whether wholesale or retail, of cigarettes, cigars or any other form of tobacco;

(c)

any advertisement relating to smoking appearing on, upon, within or attached to any part of a vehicle which is used by any person who is associated, concerned or connected with the distribution or sale, whether wholesale or retail, of cigarettes, cigars or any other form of tobacco for the purpose of such person’s business or for the transport of his employees or such others as he may permit;

(d)

any notice in, or in the vicinity of, any premises or place where cigarettes, cigars or other forms of tobacco are sold, which states, for the information of the public, only the name or names of the brand or brands thereof that are sold therein or thereat:

Provided that no such notice shall contain any word, picture, drawing or representation inducing, urging, promoting or encouraging the use of cigarettes, cigars or any other form of tobacco for the purpose of smoking.

(3) For the purposes of paragraph (d) of subsection (2) of this section, the notice therein referred to shall be deemed to comply with the requirements of the said paragraph if it states “................................................... Sold Here”;

Name(s) of brand (s) of cigarettes, etc.

but, subject to compliance with such requirements, nothing in this section shall be construed as precluding the use in any such notice of other words or of any other format or mode of expression.

Types of advertisements, etc., not exempted

8. Nothing in this Act shall be construed —

(a)	as exempting from the provisions of this Act any advertisement relating to smoking contained in any notice, circular, pamphlet, brochure or other printed matter or document which is not a newspaper within the meaning of this Act and which is printed or published outside Singapore and brought into Singapore for distribution solely or mainly for the purpose of announcing or commending the qualities of any brand of cigarettes, cigars or other forms of tobacco;
(b)	as permitting the display of any advertisement relating to smoking on, upon, within or by attachment to any part of a vehicle which is not used in the manner described in paragraph (c) of subsection (2) of section 7 of this Act; or
(c)	as permitting the distribution or giving of free samples of cigarettes, cigars or any other form of tobacco.

Regulations

9.—(1) The Minister may make such regulations as seem to him necessary or expedient for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act.

(2) All such regulations shall be published in the Gazette and shall be presented to Parliament as soon as may be after publication.