Revised Edition of the Laws (Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 7/1994

Read the first time on 16th March 1994.

An Act to amend the Revised Edition of the Laws Act (Chapter 275 of the 1985 Revised Edition), and to repeal Part V of the Interpretation Act (Chapter 1 of the 1985 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 Revised Edition of the Laws (Amendment) Act 1994 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 of the Revised Edition of the Laws Act (referred to in this Act as the principal Act) is amended by deleting subsection (1) and substituting the following subsections:

“(1) The President may appoint a Law Revision Commission comprising, as Law Revision Commissioners —

(a)	the Attorney-General;
(b)	the Solicitor-General;
(c)	the Parliamentary Counsel; and
(d)	such other persons as may be appointed by the President,

to prepare and publish a revised edition of Acts and a revised edition of subsidiary legislation and to make an annual revision thereof in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

(1A) Every Commissioner appointed under subsection (1)(d) shall hold office for such period not exceeding 3 years as the President may determine and shall be eligible for re-appointment.

(1B) The President may at any time revoke the appointment of any Commissioner appointed under subsection (1)(d).”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 10

3. Section 10 of the principal Act is repealed and the following section substituted therefor:

“Annual revision of revised edition of Acts

10.—(1) As soon as practicable after 1st January of the year in which the revised edition of Acts comes into force and thereafter after 1st January of each succeeding year, the Commissioners shall, subject to this section and with the intent that the revised edition of Acts shall be annually revised, cause to be published —

(a)	a revised edition of any Act which has been amended during the period of 12 months ending on the preceding 31st December (referred to in this section as the relevant period);
(b)	any new Act enacted during the relevant period, other than Acts the sole or substantial effect of which was to amend other Acts;
(c)	either separately or together with any other such enactment or instrument, a new revised edition of any treaty or convention and other instruments already included in the revised edition of Acts which has been amended during the relevant period;
(d)	such treaties, conventions and other instruments enacted, made or agreed to during the relevant period as they consider may usefully be published; and
(e)	a new table of contents and index to the revised edition of Acts, a chronological table of Acts and a list of the latest edition of each booklet containing an Act included in the revised edition of Acts and, in the case of Acts which have been published or revised in loose-leaf form, a lists of such Acts and the pages thereof which have been revised.

(2) The Commissioners may from time to time cause to be published a new revised edition of any Act, treaty, convention or other instrument which has not been amended during the relevant period.

(3) Where the Commissioners consider that the amendments that have been made to any Act, treaty, convention or other instrument during the relevant period are not sufficiently extensive to justify the preparation and publication of a new revised edition thereof, they may defer the preparation and publication of such revised edition until such time as they consider that it is necessary or expedient to do so.

(4) The Commissioners may from time to time cause to be prepared and published a new revised edition of any Act, treaty, convention or other instrument if they consider that any amendments which have been made thereto are sufficiently extensive to justify the immediate preparation and publication of such revised edition or that it is necessary or expedient to do so.

(5) The Commissioners may cause any new Act, treaty, convention or other instrument which has been enacted, made or agreed to, as the case may be, during the relevant period or the revised edition of any Act, treaty, convention or other instrument, to be published in the form of a booklet or in loose-leaf form.

(6) Where the Commissioners have caused any new or revised edition of any Act, treaty, convention or other instrument to be published in loose-leaf form, they shall not thereafter be bound to prepare and publish any subsequent annual revision of such Act, treaty, convention or other instrument upon any amendment being made thereto but may instead prepare and publish only such page or pages of such Act, treaty, convention or other instrument as may require replacement by virtue of the amendment.

(7) The Commissioners may include in any booklet or loose-leaf edition of any Act, treaty, convention or other instrument or in any loose pages published under this section such notes, indexes, instructions or other information as they consider useful.”.

Amendment of section 11

4. Section 11 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)	by inserting, immediately after the word “booklet” wherever it appears in subsections (2), (3) and (4), the words “or loose-leaf edition of any Act, treaty, convention or other instrument”; and
(b)	by deleting the words “section 10(1) or (3)” in subsection (3) and substituting the words “section 10”.

Amendment of section 17

5. Section 17 of the principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after subsection (5), the following subsection:

“(5A) Section 10(3), (4), (5), (6) and (7) shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to the revised edition of subsidiary legislation and to any new or revised edition of any piece of subsidiary legislation.”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 23

6. Section 23 of the principal Act is repealed and the following section substituted therefor:

“Rectification of errors

23.—(1) The Commissioners may, by order published in the Gazette, rectify any clerical or printing error appearing in —

(a)	the revised edition of Acts or in any new or revised edition of any Act, treaty, convention or other instrument published pursuant to section 10; or
(b)	the revised edition of subsidiary legislation issued under section 15 or in any new or revised edition of any piece of subsidiary legislation published pursuant to section 17,

or rectify in a manner not inconsistent with the powers of revision conferred by this Act any other error so appearing.

(2) Every order made under subsection (1)(a) shall be presented to Parliament as soon as possible after publication.”.

Repeal and transitional provisions

7.—(1) Part V of the Interpretation Act [Cap. 1] is repealed.

(2) Where any person, other than the Attorney-General, is a Commissioner immediately before the date of commencement of the Revised Edition of the Laws (Amendment) Act 1994, the appointment of such person as a Commissioner shall be deemed to be revoked on that date, without prejudice to his eligibility to be re-appointed by the President as a Commissioner under section 3 of the principal Act as amended by this Act.

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