Merchant Shipping (Returns of Births and Deaths) Regulations

Merchant Shipping Act

(Chapter 179, Section 91)

Rg 26

G.N. No. S 52/1996

REVISED EDITION 1997

(15th June 1997)

[2nd February 1996]

Citation

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Returns of Births and Deaths) Regulations.

Definition

2. In these Regulations, “Registrar-General” means the Registrar-General of Births and Deaths appointed under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act (Cap. 267) and includes any registrar appointed thereunder.

Where person is born on board Singapore ship outside Singapore

3. Where a child is born on board a Singapore ship which is outside Singapore, the master of the ship shall make a return of the birth in accordance with regulations 6 and 7.

Where person dies on board Singapore ship outside Singapore

4. Where —

(a)	any person dies on board a Singapore ship which is outside Singapore; or
(b)	any person employed in any Singapore ship dies outside Singapore,

the master of the ship shall —

(i)	make a return of the death in accordance with regulations 6 and 7; and
(ii)	as soon as practicable but not more than 3 days after the death, notify the death to such person (if any) as the deceased may have named to him as his next-of-kin.

Where citizen of Singapore is born or dies on board ship not registered in Singapore

5. Where —

(a)	a citizen of Singapore is born or dies on board a ship not registered in Singapore; and
(b)	the ship thereafter calls at Singapore in the course of or at the end of the voyage during which the birth or death occurs,

the master of the ship shall make a return of the birth or of the death in accordance with regulations 6 and 7.

Person by whom, and time within which, return of birth or death to be made

6. Any return of a birth or of a death required to be made under regulation 3, 4 or 5 shall be made by the master of the ship to the Director as soon as practicable but within 30 days after the birth or death to which it relates.

Form and contents of return of birth or death

7. A return of a birth or of a death required to be made under regulation 3, 4 or 5 —

(a)

shall be in writing;

(b)

shall be signed by the master of the ship as informant; and

(c)

shall contain —

(i)	in the case of a birth, the particulars specified in the First Schedule; and
(ii)	in the case of a death, the particulars specified in the Second Schedule, or so many of these particulars as the master may reasonably be able to obtain, having regard to the circumstances of the death.

Director to send copy of return to Registrar-General

8. When a return made in accordance with regulations 6 and 7 has been transmitted to him, the Director shall send a copy certified by him to be a true copy of that return to the Registrar-General.

Inquiry into cause of death

9.—(1) Where a death has occurred on board a ship, the master of the ship shall inquire into the nature and cause of the death and shall forward a report of the inquiry to the Director without delay.

(2) The report shall contain the particulars specified in the Third Schedule, or so many of these particulars as the master may reasonably be able to obtain having regard to the circumstances of the death.

Where master of ship unable to perform duty under regulation 9

10. Where it appears to the Director that the master of a ship cannot perform the duty imposed on him by regulation 9 in respect of a death on board the ship because the master has himself died or is incapacitated or missing, the Director shall record such of the information specified in the Second and Third Schedules as he may be able to obtain in the circumstances of the death.

Offence

11. The master of a ship who fails to comply with the provisions of regulation 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 9 shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000.

[G.N. No. S 52/96]

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