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Secondhand Goods Dealers Act

(Chapter 288A, Section 22)

Secondhand Goods Dealers Rules

R 1

G.N. No. S 551/2007

REVISED EDITION 2008

(30th September 2008)

[1st December 2007]

Citation

1. These Rules may be cited as the Secondhand Goods Dealers Rules.

Appropriate form

2. In these Rules, “appropriate form”, in relation to any purpose for which a specific form is required to be used, means the relevant form that —

(a)	is provided by the Licensing Officer and obtainable from his office at the Licensing Division, Police Cantonment Complex, 391 New Bridge Road, #02-701, Singapore 088762 during such hours as that office is open for business; or
(b)	is provided in the electronic licensing system of the Singapore Police Force at http://www.spf.gov.sg/licence.

Application for licence, etc.

3.—(1) Every application for the issue or renewal of a licence shall be made to the Licensing Officer in the appropriate form.

(2) Every applicant for the issue or renewal of a licence shall, if so required in writing by the Licensing Officer —

(a)	attend personally before the Licensing Officer; and
(b)	provide clarification to the Licensing Officer as to such additional particulars, information and document as may be required.

(3) Where an applicant for the issue or renewal of a licence fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with any requirement of the Licensing Officer under paragraph (2), the Licensing Officer may reject the application.

Types of licences

4.—(1) An applicant for a licence may elect to be issued with an ordinary licence or a temporary licence.

(2) An ordinary licence shall, unless revoked or surrendered, remain valid for the period specified in the licence which may be one year or 2 years from the date specified therein.

[S 520/2023 wef 31/07/2023]

(3) A temporary licence shall, unless revoked or surrendered, remain valid for such period, not exceeding 30 days from the date stated therein, as the Licensing Officer may determine.

(4) Upon receipt of an application for a licence, the Licensing Officer shall consider —

(a)	the character of the applicant and his fitness to be allowed to deal in secondhand goods; or
(b)	where the applicant is a body corporate, the character of the members of the board of directors, management committee, board of trustees or other governing body of the body corporate and their fitness to be allowed to deal in secondhand goods as if they were applicants themselves.

(5) If, after having considered the matters referred to in paragraph (4), the Licensing Officer is not satisfied that the applicant for an ordinary licence is a fit and proper person to be issued with such a licence, he may issue a temporary licence to the applicant instead.

(6) Nothing in this rule shall prevent the holder of a temporary licence from applying for an ordinary licence upon the expiry of his temporary licence.

Change of particulars

5.—(1) A secondhand goods dealer shall not, without the prior written approval of the Licensing Officer, change —

(a)	the name or style under which he carries on business or the address of the place at which he so carries on business as a secondhand goods dealer;
(b)	any Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or email address that is used for the purpose of his business as a secondhand goods dealer;
(c)	the place of storage of the secondhand goods which are to be sold or which have been purchased by him in the course of his business; or
(d)	the types of secondhand goods which he deals in.

(2) A secondhand goods dealer that is a body corporate shall obtain the prior written approval of the Licensing Officer for any new appointment to its board of directors, management committee, board of trustees or other governing body.

(3) If any particulars (not being those referred to in paragraph (1)) included in the licence application by a secondhand goods dealer to the Licensing Officer change, the secondhand goods dealer shall, within 7 days of the change taking place, notify the Licensing Officer of the change in the appropriate form.

(4) A secondhand goods dealer who, without reasonable excuse, contravenes paragraph (1), (2) or (3) shall be guilty of an offence.

Duty to notify Licensing Officer of cessation of business

6.—(1) Where a secondhand goods dealer ceases to carry on business as a secondhand goods dealer, he shall, within 7 days after the date of the cessation —

(a)	notify the Licensing Officer of his ceasing such business in the appropriate form; and
(b)	surrender his licence (if any) to the Licensing Officer.

(2) A secondhand goods dealer who contravenes paragraph (1) shall be guilty of an offence.

Transaction records

7.—(1) For the purposes of section 10(1) of the Act, every secondhand goods dealer shall keep in his shop in the appropriate form records of the following particulars:

(a)

with respect to each of the secondhand goods purchased or sold by him —

(i)	the date of the purchase or sale;
(ii)	the description of the goods (including the brand, make and model, if any);
(iii)	the serial number of the goods (if any) and, in the case of mobile phones, the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number;
(iv)	the price at which he purchased or sold the goods;
(v)	the estimated market or retail value of the goods; and
(vi)	the source of the goods;

(b)

with respect to every person from whom he purchased or to whom he sold the secondhand goods —

(i)	the person’s name;
(ii)	the person’s identification number (such as NRIC number, foreign identification number, passport number or business registration number);
(iii)	the person’s residential or business address;
(iv)	the person’s nationality;
(v)	the person’s gender; and
(vi)	in the case of the holder of a foreign passport, the person’s date of birth;

(c)

with respect to any item purchased by him falling within the description of item 9, 10 or 11 of the Schedule to the Act — the weight of the item;

[S 75/2021 wef 02/02/2021]

(d)

with respect to any pawn ticket purchased or sold by him —

(i)	the number of the pawn ticket; and
(ii)	the items described in the pawn ticket.

(2) A secondhand goods dealer shall record the particulars referred to in paragraph (1) in respect of each of the secondhand goods purchased or sold by him as soon as practicable after, but within the same day of, the purchase or sale of the secondhand goods.

(3) The records kept by the secondhand goods dealer in the appropriate form under paragraph (1) shall be the records which the secondhand goods dealer must —

(a)	submit to the Licensing Officer for the purposes of section 10(2) of the Act;
(b)	retain for the purposes of section 10(3) of the Act; and
(c)	produce to a Magistrate, a Justice of the Peace, the Licensing Officer or a police officer for the purposes of section 10(4) of the Act. [S 520/2023 wef 31/12/2021]

(4) A secondhand goods dealer who contravenes paragraph (1) or (2) shall be guilty of an offence.

Duties of secondhand goods dealer before purchasing or selling secondhand goods

8.—(1) Every secondhand goods dealer shall, before purchasing any secondhand goods from or selling any secondhand goods to any person —

(a)

require that person to present his original identification document to the secondhand goods dealer; and

(b)

check the person’s original identification document to ensure that —

(i)	it is valid; and
(ii)	there are visual similarities between that person and the person depicted in the photograph attached to the original identification document.

(2) A secondhand goods dealer who contravenes paragraph (1) shall be guilty of an offence.

(3) In paragraph (1), “original identification document”, in relation to a person, means —

(a)

if the person is a citizen of Singapore or a Singapore permanent resident, his identity card issued under the National Registration Act (Cap. 201); or

(b)

if the person is not a citizen of Singapore or a Singapore permanent resident, his passport and either —

(i)	a work pass issued to him under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (Cap. 91A); or
(ii)	a pass issued to him under the Immigration Act (Cap. 133).

9. [Deleted by S 75/2021 wef 02/02/2021]

Duty of secondhand goods dealer to screen secondhand goods

10.—(1) Every secondhand goods dealer must, before purchasing or selling any secondhand goods specified in paragraph (2), screen the secondhand goods by submitting such particulars of the secondhand goods as the Licensing Officer may require through —

(a)	the Internet website of the Secondhand Goods Transaction Records System (SHOTS) at http://www.spf.gov.sg/SHOTS/; or
(b)	such other means as the Licensing Officer may determine.

[S 520/2023 wef 31/07/2023]

(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1), the specified secondhand goods are —

(a)	from 1st November 2013, any secondhand goods falling within the description of item 3 of the Schedule to the Act; [S 520/2023 wef 31/07/2023]
(b)	from 1st January 2014, any secondhand goods falling within the description of items 1, 2 and 4 of the Schedule to the Act; and [S 520/2023 wef 31/07/2023]
(c)	from 31 July 2023, any secondhand goods falling within the description of item 8 of the Schedule to the Act. [S 520/2023 wef 31/07/2023]

(3) A secondhand goods dealer must obtain the particulars specified in rule 7(1)(b) of a person offering to sell any secondhand goods to the secondhand goods dealer before performing the screening under paragraph (1) in respect of the secondhand goods.

[S 520/2023 wef 31/07/2023]

(4) A secondhand goods dealer must, upon discovering, whether as a result of screening under paragraph (1) or otherwise, that any of the secondhand goods the secondhand goods dealer intends to purchase or sell is stolen, lost or reported to be stolen or lost —

(a)	make a report to the police without undue delay;
(b)	provide any particulars obtained under paragraph (3) to the police; and
(c)	take reasonable steps to detain any secondhand goods if it is in the secondhand goods dealer’s possession and deliver the secondhand goods to the police.

[S 520/2023 wef 31/07/2023]

(5) A secondhand goods dealer who contravenes paragraph (1), (3) or (4) shall be guilty of an offence.

(6) In any proceedings for an offence under paragraph (5) for contravening paragraph (1), it shall be a defence for the person charged to prove, on a balance of probabilities, that —

(a)	he made an attempt to screen the secondhand goods in accordance with paragraph (1); and
(b)	the Internet website or other means referred to in paragraph (1) was inaccessible to the public during the attempt.

[S 570/2013 wef 01/11/2013]

Fees

11.—(1) The fees specified in the second column of the Schedule shall be payable to the Licensing Officer in respect of the matters set out in the first column thereof.

(2) Except where the Licensing Officer considers appropriate, no refund shall be made in respect of any fee paid under these Rules.