REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE
GOVERNMENT GAZETTE
ACTS SUPPLEMENT
Published by Authority

NO. 25]Friday, July 28 [1995

The following Act was passed by Parliament on 7th July 1995 and assented to by the President on 24th July 1995:—
Regulation of Imports and Exports Act 1995

(No. 24 of 1995)


I assent.

ONG TENG CHEONG
President.
24th July 1995.
Date of Commencement: 1st December 1995
An Act to provide for the regulation, registration and control of imports and exports and to make provisions for matters connected therewith and to repeal the Control of Imports and Exports Act (Chapter 56 of the 1985 Revised Edition) and the Registration of Imports and Exports Act (Chapter 270 of the 1985 Revised Edition), and to make consequential amendments to certain other Acts.
Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows:
PART I
PRELIMINARY
Short title and commencement
1.—(1)  This Act may be cited as the Regulation of Imports and Exports Act 1995 and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.
(2)  The Minister may appoint different dates for the coming into operation of the different provisions of this Act.
Interpretation
2.—(1)  In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —
“aircraft” means aircraft of any description which may be used for the conveyance of persons or goods by air;
“authentication code” means any identification or identifying code, password or any other authentication method or procedure which has been assigned to a registered user of the computer service referred to in section 8 for the purpose of identifying and authenticating the access to and use of the computer service by the registered user;
“authorised officer” means —
(a)any senior authorised officer;
(b)any officer of the Board appointed in writing by the chief executive officer of the Board;
(c)any officer of customs;
(d)any officer or class or description of officers appointed by the Minister by notification in the Gazette to exercise the powers and perform the duties conferred and imposed on an authorised officer by this Act;
“Board” means the Trade Development Board established under section 3 of the Trade Development Board Act (Cap. 330);
“conveyance” includes any vessel, train, vehicle or aircraft in which persons or goods can be carried;
“database report” means any automatic log, journal or other report which is automatically generated by the computer service referred to in section 8 for the purposes of recording the details of a transaction relating to an electronic notice including the authentication code, date and time of receipt, storage location and any alteration or deletion relating to the notice;
“electronic notice” has the meaning assigned to it in section 8(1);
“examination station” means any place which has been prescribed under section 143(1)(d) of the Customs Act (Cap. 70) as a customs office or customs station for the examination of goods or any place or premises as may be determined by a senior authorised officer for the examination of goods;
“export”, with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means to take or cause to be taken out of Singapore by land, water or air and includes the placing of any goods in a conveyance for the purpose of the goods being taken out of Singapore but does not include the taking out from Singapore of any goods on the same conveyance on which they were brought into Singapore unless such goods after being brought into Singapore have been landed or transhipped within Singapore;
“goods” means any movable or personal property whatsoever but does not include choses in action and money (except for a collector’s piece, an investment article or item of numismatic interest and currency notes imported or exported in substantial quantities);
“goods in transit” includes goods imported from a place outside Singapore for the sole purpose of conveyance through Singapore to any place outside Singapore;
“import”, with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means to bring or cause to be brought into Singapore by land, water or air from any place which is outside Singapore but does not include the bringing into Singapore of goods which are to be taken out of Singapore on the same conveyance on which they were brought into Singapore without any landing or transhipment within Singapore;
“master” includes every person, having or taking command or charge of a vessel, except a pilot of a vessel holding a licence under the Port of Singapore Authority Act (Cap. 236) when acting in the course of his duties;
“officer of customs” has the same meaning as in the Customs Act;
“pilot of an aircraft” means every person having or taking command or charge of an aircraft;
“police officer” means any member of the Singapore Police Force;
“registered user” means a person who has been registered with and authorised by the Board to gain access to and use the computer service referred to in section 8;
“senior authorised officer” means —
(a)any trade officer of the Board appointed in writing by the chief executive officer of the Board;
(b)any senior officer of customs;
(c)any police officer; or
(d)any officer or class or description of officers appointed by the Minister by notification in the Gazette to exercise the powers and perform the duties conferred and imposed on a senior authorised officer by this Act;
“senior officer of customs” has the same meaning as in the Customs Act (Cap. 70);
“shipped as ships’ stores”, with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means loaded for use as stores on a voyage or flight to or from a destination outside Singapore or as merchandise for sale by retail to persons carried on such voyage or flight in a ship or aircraft;
“tranship” means to remove goods from one conveyance to another for the purpose of export;
“vehicle” includes any vehicle in which persons or goods can be carried by land however drawn or propelled or set or kept in motion;
“vessel” includes any ship or boat or other description of vessel used in navigation.
(2)  In this Act, a reference to a document or record shall include, in addition to a document or record on paper, a reference to any, or part of any —
(a)document or record kept on any magnetic, optical, chemical or other medium;
(b)photograph;
(c)map, plan, graph, picture or drawing;
(d)film (including a microfilm and a microfiche), negative, disc, tape, sound-track or any other device in which one or more visual images, sounds or other data are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other equipment) of being reproduced therefrom.
(3)  In this Act, any reference to a document or record in writing or the making of a document or record in writing shall, unless the context otherwise requires, include any electronic notice, or the making, serving or submitting of such a notice under the provisions of this Act or any regulations made thereunder.