SINGAPORE LEGISLATION
| Date | 01 December 1995 |
| Published date | 01 December 1995 |
| Author | CHARLES LIM AENG CHENG |
| Citation | (1995) 7 SAcLJ 455 |
DIGEST OF ACTS PASSED BETWEEN MAY 1995 AND SEPTEMBER 1995
IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
(correct as at 18th November 1995)
Long Title: An Act to amend the Building Control Act (Chapter 29 of the 1990 Revised Edition).
Passed by Parliament on: 25th May 1995.
Assented to by President on: 30th June 1995.
Publication date: 7th July 1995.
Commencement date: 1st September 1995 vide S370/95.
Summary: This Act amends the Building Control Act to make certain technical changes for the better control of buildings and building works by the Building Authority. The following are some of the more significant provisions of the Act.
Section 5 amends section 6 to enable the Building Authority to disapprove building plans that are not properly prepared and to require the structural designs of any building works to be checked by an accredited checker so that the Building Authority can approve the structural plans of building works on the basis of the certificate and evaluation report of the accredited checker. The Building Authority may also carry out random checks of the structural plans and design calculations of the building works. The section also empowers the Building Authority to revoke the approval of building plans granted in respect of any building works if he is satisfied that any information given in or any document submitted to the Building Authority in respect of the application for approval is false in a material particular.
Section 12 inserts a new section 16A to require every person for whom building works are to be carried out to appoint an accredited checker in respect of the detailed structural plans and design calculations of the building works and to prescribe the duties of the accredited checker and the penalties for failing to perform such duties. Section 13 amends section 17 to allow any professional engineer who was previously involved in minor alterations to a building to be appointed as an accredited checker in any subsequent alterations to the same building and to empower the Minister to exempt certain statutory boards from the independence requirements so that professional engineers in their employment can act as accredited checkers for their in-house projects.
Section 14 amends section 20 to make it an offence for the owner or the developer of a building to occupy or permit to be occupied the building before a temporary occupation permit or a certificate of statutory
completion in respect of the building has been issued by the Building Authority. Section 18 amends section 28 to enable the Building Authority to issue a notice for the periodical inspection of a building from the date of the last notice instead of from the date of the last inspection of the building. The section also empowers the Building Authority to require flat owners of a building which is not subdivided to jointly appoint one structural engineer to inspect the building. The owners of a building would be required to carry out the remedial works recommended by the structural engineer so appointed. Section 21 amends section 33 to protect the Government, the Building Authority and any public officer from suit in relation to information provided to the public by the Building Authority by electronic or other means. Section 24 amends section 46 to provide for the admissibility in evidence in the courts of a hard-copy transcript of any information provided by electronic means by the Building Authority.
Comments: The amendment to section 21 should be viewed in the light of the decision of the Court of Appeal in Swee Hong Investment Pte Ltd v Swee Hong Exim Pte Ltd & Anor[1994] 3 SLR 320 where it held that the tort by a public official in giving replies to legal requisitions from the purchaser of real property was not done in the exercise of public duties and accordingly not excepted from liability under sections 5 and 7 of the Government Proceedings Act (Cap 121). It should also be viewed in the light of the proposed Integrated Legal Requisition System being developed by LawNet.
Long Title: An Act to amend the Central Provident Fund Act (Chapter 36 of the 1994 Revised Edition).
Passed by Parliament on: 7th August 1995.
Assented to by President on: 29th August 1995.
Publication date: 8th September 1995.
Commencement date: Not in force.
Summary: This Act amends the Central Provident Fund Act for the following purposes:
(a) to allow cash grants made by the Government under section 14 to be credited into the ordinary account or any other account of CPF members as the Minister may direct and to be withdrawn under the Act or any regulations made thereunder for certain purposes (section 2);
(b) to allow a CPF member to transfer his ordinary account savings to his retirement account for the purpose of topping-up his minimum sum (section 3); and
(c) to extend the nomination provision under section 26 to cover the distribution and disposal of certain shares in corporations
approved by the Minister and to empower the CPF Board upon the death of a CPF member to distribute such shares among his nominees and to sell such shares of any nominee who for any reason is unable to receive them and to pay him the proceeds of sale (sections 4 and 5).
Long Title: An Act to amend the Companies Act (Chapter 50 of the 1994 Revised Edition).
Passed by Parliament on: 7th July 1995.
Assented to by President on: 24th July 1995.
Publication date: 28th July 1995.
Commencement date: 4th August 1995 vide S338/95.
Summary: This Act amends the Companies Act to allow a listed public company to provide its shareholders with a summary financial statement instead of a copy of its annual report under certain circumstances.
Comments: This would be applicable to the recent efforts by the Government to persuade a majority of Singaporeans to increase their assets by giving cash grants to buy shares in large Government linked companies such as Singapore Telecoms with a very large number of shareholders.
Long Title: An Act to provide for the registration of contact lens practitioners and for purposes connected therewith.
Passed by Parliament on: 7th July 1995.
Assented to by President on: 24th July 1995.
Publication date: 4th August 1995.
Commencement date: Not in force.
Summary: This Act provides for the registration of contact lens practitioners and to regulate their practice and qualifications. The Act provides for the appointment of a Registrar of Contact Lens Practitioners who shall be responsible for the maintenance of the register of contact lens practitioners and lays down the qualifications for registration as a contact lens practitioner.
Long Title: An Act to amend the Currency Act (Chapter 69 of the 1992 Revised Edition).
Passed by Parliament on: 27th September 1995.
Assented to by President on: 25th October 1995.
Publication date: 3rd November 1995.
Commencement date: Not in force.
Summary: This Act amends the Currency Act to provide for the control of the importation, manufacture, sale, possession and use of full colour copying machines that can reproduce currency notes or any design resembling currency notes. The use of any such machine must be in accordance with regulations to be prescribed by the Board.
Comments: Although this Act regulates full colour copying machines, it is not clear whether it regulates full colour computer printers as well. The reason for this is presumably to prevent these machines from being used to counterfeit currency notes.
Long Title: An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (Chapter 134 of the 1994 Revised Edition).
Passed by Parliament on: 27th September 1995.
Assented to by President on: 2nd October 1995.
Publication date: 13th October 1995.
Commencement date: 13th October 1995; ss 7(c), 8 & 25 — 1st March 1995; and year of assessments 1995 and 1996.
Summary: The Act implements the income tax changes announced in the Government’s 1995 Budget Statement and to make certain other amendments to the Income Tax Act. The following are some of the more significant provisions of the Act.
Section 2 amends section 2 (1) of the Act to redefine the term “employee” to include the chairman and members of a statutory board. Section 3 amends section 10 (4) of the Act to provide that any amount of balancing charge arising from the sale of a Singapore ship or a foreign ship by a company shall not be deemed to be income chargeable to tax only up to a certain amount. The section also inserts new subsections (11A), (11B), (11C), (11D) and (13) to section 10 of the Act —
(a) to provide that any distribution by any designated unit trust to any of its unit holder out of any income which does not form part of the statutory income of the unit trust shall be deemed to be income of the unit holder if that unit holder is not a foreign investor; and for any distribution made out of the gains or profits from the disposal of securities to a unit holder who is a resident individual, only 10% of the distribution shall be deemed to be the income of such unit holder; and
(b) to declare for the avoidance of doubt certain circumstances under which income derived from outside Singapore constitute income received in Singapore for the purposes of the section.
Section 5 amends section 10C of the Act to provide that any voluntary CPF medisave contributions in lieu of hospitalisation benefits made by any
employer for an employee up to a limit of 1% of his total ordinary wages for any month or $60, whichever is the less, shall not be deemed to be the income of that employee. This is because section 9 inserts a new paragraph (ea) to...
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