National Council of Social Service Act
(Chapter 195A, Section 37)
National Council of Social Service (Meetings) Regulations
Rg 1
G.N. No. S 382/2000

REVISED EDITION 2002
(31st January 2002)
[29th September 2000]
Citation
1.  These Regulations may be cited as the National Council of Social Service (Meetings) Regulations
PART I
MEETINGS OF COUNCIL
Annual general meeting of Council
2.—(1)  The Council shall hold an annual general meeting once in every calendar year but in any case not more than 15 months after the holding of the last preceding annual general meeting
(2)  An annual general meeting shall be held for the following purposes:
(a)to elect Board members under section 5 of the Act, if necessary;
(b)to receive and adopt the audited financial statements of the Council and the report of the auditor thereon prepared for the purposes of section 34 of the Act;
(c)to receive and adopt the annual report prepared for the purposes of section 35 of the Act; and
(d)to decide on any resolution that may be submitted to the meeting in the manner provided in paragraph (3).
(3)  Any Council member who intends to propose any resolution for consideration at an annual general meeting shall give written notice of the resolution to the Honorary General Secretary not later than 3 days before the meeting.
Extraordinary meeting of Council for special purpose
3.  The Council may, at any time and for any special purpose, hold an extraordinary general meeting.
Extraordinary meeting of Council on requisition of full Council members
4.—(1)  The Council shall hold an extraordinary general meeting on the receipt of a requisition in writing signed by not less than one-half of the total number of full Council members and specifying the purpose for which the meeting is required and the resolution proposed.
(2)  On receipt of a requisition referred to in paragraph (1), the Council shall, within 30 days from the date of the requisition, proceed to hold an extraordinary general meeting.
Notice of meetings of Council
5.—(1)  The Honorary General Secretary shall, not less than 7 days before the day appointed for a meeting of the Council, give to every Board member and Council member notice in writing of the meeting of the Council and such notice shall specify the matters to be considered at the meeting.
(2)  The notice under paragraph (1) may be given to a Board member or Council member (as the case may be) —
(a)by delivering it to the member personally;
(b)by leaving it at the member’s last known residential address with an adult apparently resident there, or at the member’s last known business address with an adult apparently employed there;
(c)by sending it by post to the member’s last known residential address or last known business address; or
(d)by sending it by email to the member’s last known email address.
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(3)  Service of the notice under paragraph (1) to a Board member or Council member (as the case may be) takes effect —
(a)if the notice is sent by post, at the time the notice would be delivered to the member in the ordinary course of post; or
(b)if the notice is sent by email, at the time the email becomes capable of being retrieved by the member.
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Procedure at meetings of Council
6.—(1)  The President or, in his absence, one of the Vice-Presidents as determined by the Board shall preside at all meetings of the Council.
(2)  Where the President and both the Vice-Presidents are absent at a meeting, the Council members present shall elect one of the Board members to preside at the meeting.
(3)  The quorum for —
(a)an annual general meeting under regulation 2; or
(b)an extraordinary general meeting under regulation 3,
shall be one-third of the total number of full Council members.
(4)  Despite paragraph (3), where the quorum referred to in that paragraph is not present within half an hour from the time appointed for the meeting, all full Council members present may form the quorum instead.
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(5)  [Deleted by S 635/2015 wef 05/11/2015]
(6)  The quorum for an extraordinary general meeting under regulation 4 shall be one-half of the total number of full Council members.
(7)  Where the quorum referred to in paragraph (6) is not present at the time appointed for the extraordinary general meeting, the requisition for that meeting shall be annulled and the same, or substantially the same, resolution shall not be proposed at any other meeting during the same financial year of the Council.
(8)  Except for the election of Board members under section 5 of the Act, every question arising at any meeting of the Council shall be decided by a simple majority of the Board members and full Council members present and voting.
(9)  Subject to section 7 of the Act, each Board member and each full Council member present at a meeting of the Council shall have one vote, and in the case of an equality of votes, the person presiding at the meeting shall have a second or casting vote.
Procedure for election of Board members
7.—(1)  The election of Board members shall be conducted in accordance with the following procedure:
(a)not less than one month before the day appointed for the annual general meeting in which there is to be an election of Board members under section 5(1)(b)(i), (g) or (h) of the Act, the Honorary General Secretary shall request for nominations from the persons entitled to make such nominations as specified in paragraph (2), (3) or (4), as the case may be;
(b)for each position specified in paragraph (2), (3) or (4) —
(i)only one nomination per Council member may be made;
(ii)every nomination must be in the form required by the Council; and
(iii)the nomination form must be signed by a proposer who is the first key officer of the Council member, or the second key officer of the Council member if the first key officer is the nominee;
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(c)each nomination shall be delivered to the Honorary General Secretary not less than 14 days before the day appointed for the annual general meeting;
(d)the notice of nominations shall be sent by post not less than 7 days before the day appointed for the annual general meeting —
(i)to the full Council members, in the case of nominations for Vice-President under section 5(1)(b)(i) of the Act and nominations for Board members under section 5(1)(g) of the Act; and
(ii)to the associate Council members, in the case of nominations for Board members under section 5(1)(h) of the Act; and
(e)the notice of nominations shall be affixed on the notice board in a conspicuous place at the registered office of the Council not less than 7 days before the day appointed for the annual general meeting.
(1A)  If the Honorary General Secretary —
(a)detects an error or omission in a nominee’s nomination form; and
(b)considers that the error or omission can be corrected by the correction deadline,
the Honorary General Secretary may, before making a decision under paragraph (5A), give the nominee a reasonable opportunity to correct the error or omission by the correction deadline.
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(2)  A nomination for the position of Vice-President to be elected under section 5 (1)(b)(i) of the Act shall be made by a full Council member and seconded by any other full Council member, and the election shall be by ballot and determined on the basis of the nominee with the highest number of votes obtained from the full Council members present and voting.
(3)  A nomination for the position of Board member to be elected under section 5(1)(g) of the Act shall be made by a full Council member and seconded by any other full Council member, and the election shall be by ballot and determined on the basis of the 8 nominees with the highest number of votes obtained from the full Council members present and voting.
(4)  A nomination for the position of Board member to be elected under section 5(1)(h) of the Act shall be made by an associate Council member and seconded by any other associate Council member, and the election shall be by ballot and determined on the basis of the 2 nominees with the highest number of votes obtained from the associate Council members present and voting.
(5)  A person who has served on the Board for 3 consecutive terms as Vice-President under section 5(1)(b)(i) of the Act or as a Board member under section 5(1)(g) or (h) of the Act shall not immediately upon the expiration of his third term be eligible to be nominated for election to the Board, whether as Vice-President or Board member.
(5A)  The Honorary General Secretary may refuse any nomination not made in compliance with paragraph (1)(b) or (c), (2), (3), (4) or (5).
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(6)  For the purposes of this regulation —
(a)each full Council member shall have one vote under paragraph (2);
(b)each full Council member shall have 8 votes under paragraph (3), each vote for a different nominee; and
(c)each associate Council member shall have 2 votes under paragraph (4), each vote for a different nominee.
(7)  In the event of an equality of votes in respect of the election of any person to the Board under this regulation, the person presiding at the annual general meeting shall have a second or casting vote.
(8)  The President shall, as far as practicable, ensure that the nominations for the posts of Vice-President under section 5(1)(b)(i) of the Act and the 8 Board members under section 5(1)(g) of the Act represent the various interests groups of the Council specified in the Schedule.
(9)  If the Honorary General Secretary is, by illness, leave of absence or other cause, prevented or unable to perform his or her duty under this regulation, the President may appoint one Board member from among the Board members referred to in section 5(1)(b)(ii), (d), (f), (i) and (j) of the Act to carry out the Honorary General Secretary’s duty under this regulation.
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(10)  In this regulation —
“correction deadline” means the 10th day before the day appointed for the annual general meeting in which there is to be an election of Board members;
“error” means any misnomer, misspelling, misprint, mistake, inaccuracy or any error of any other description that is inadvertent;
“first key officer”, in relation to a Council member, means a chairperson or president of the governing body or board of the Council member, or any other individual holding a position analogous to that of a chairperson or president;
“second key officer”, in relation to a Council member, means —
(a)an individual who is an immediate subordinate to the first key officer, such as but not limited to a vice‑chairperson or vice‑president; or
(b)where there is no such immediate subordinate, an individual who is responsible for the management of the Council member but is not an employee of the Council member.
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Minutes of meetings of Council
8.  The Honorary General Secretary shall cause proper minutes to be kept of the proceedings at all meetings of the Council, and such minutes shall be confirmed at the next meeting of the Council.