Maintenance of Religious Harmony (Donation Reporting and Foreign Influence Disclosure) Regulations 2022

No. S 862

Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act 1990

Maintenance of Religious Harmony
(Donation Reporting and Foreign
Influence Disclosure)
Regulations 2022

In exercise of the powers conferred by section 19 of the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act 1990, the Minister for Home Affairs makes the following Regulations:

PART 1

PRELIMINARY

Citation and commencement

1. These Regulations are the Maintenance of Religious Harmony (Donation Reporting and Foreign Influence Disclosure) Regulations 2022 and come into operation on 1 November 2022.

Definitions

2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires —

“appeal” means an appeal to the Minister under section 16D(5) or 16E(5) of the Act;

“appeal proceedings” means proceedings under Part 4 in connection with an appeal against an appealable decision;

“appealable decision” means —

(a)	a direction of the competent authority under section 16D(3) of the Act; or
(b)	a direction of the competent authority under section 16E(3) of the Act;

“Appeals Secretary” means the Appeals Secretary appointed under regulation 11;

“appellant” means any of the following who is aggrieved by the appealable decision in question:

(a)

if the appealable decision is a direction of the competent authority under section 16D(3) of the Act —

(i)	the religious group to which the direction is given; or
(ii)	the individual required to be removed in the direction;

(b)

if the appealable decision is a direction of the competent authority under section 16E(3) of the Act —

(i)	the religious group to which the direction is given; or
(ii)	the individual required to be removed in the direction;

“appropriate form”, in relation to any purpose for which a specific form is required by these Regulations to be used, means the relevant form that is provided by the competent authority and is set out on the website at http://www.mha.gov.sg/mha‑e‑services;

“contact address”, for an appellant, means any of the following nominated by the appellant for the receiving of documents, notices or orders under the Act:

(a)	a residential address in Singapore;
(b)	a place of business or work in Singapore;
(c)	an email address or a social media account;

“identity particulars” means —

(a)

for an individual — his or her full name, and the number of his or her passport or other identity document; or

(b)

for an entity —

(i)	the full name of the entity;
(ii)	the country in which the entity was incorporated or otherwise formed; and
(iii)	the Unique Entity Number (UEN) of the entity, where available;

“parties”, in relation to any appeal against an appealable decision, means the appellant against the appealable decision and the competent authority, and “party” in Part 4 means either one of them;

“reportable arrangement or agreement” means an arrangement or agreement described in section 16B(1) of the Act;

“reporting period”, for a donation report and a foreign affiliation report of a religious group, has the meaning given by sections 16A(6) and 16B(6), respectively, of the Act;

“section 16D trigger date” means the date declared by the Minister under section 16D(1) of the Act;

“section 16E trigger date” means the date declared by the Minister under section 16E(1) of the Act;

“section 16E(2) requirement” means the requirement in section 16E(2) of the Act that more than half of the total number of seats in the governing body of a religious group must be occupied or held by individuals who are citizens of Singapore;

“working day” means any day except a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday.

(2) Where the time specified by these Regulations for doing any act expires on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the act is in time if done on the next following working day.

(3) Where strict compliance with an appropriate form is not possible, the competent authority may allow for the necessary modifications to be made to that form, or for the requirements of that form to be complied with in any other manner that the competent authority thinks fit.

Made on 28 October 2022.

PANG KIN KEONG

Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Home Affairs,
Singapore.

[MHA/112/2/0094; AG/LEGIS/SL/167A/2020/2 Vol. 1]

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