SINGAPORE LEGISLATION
| Citation | (1999) 11 SAcLJ 230 |
| Date | 01 December 1999 |
| Published date | 01 December 1999 |
| Author | CHIU HSE YU |
DIGEST OF ACTS PASSED BETWEEN NOVEMBER 1998 AND FEBRUARY 1999
(correct as at 7 April 1999)
Long Title: An Act to amend the Accountants Act (Chapter 2A of the 1988 Revised Edition).
Passed by Parliament on: 26th November 1998.
Assented to by President on: llth December 1998.
Publication date: 18th December 1998.
Commencement date: 1st January 1999 vide S 625/98.
Summary: A summary of the key provisions are as follows:
Section 5 is amended to expressly empower the Public Accountants Board to prescribe the standards, methods and procedures to be followed by public accountants when doing any work in the course of their profession. Currently, the Board’s power to do so is implied by section 5(d). A consequential amendment to section 57 is made which arises from the amendment to section 5.
Section 13 is amended to require a public accountant who applies for registration under the Act to submit a declaration verifying any information contained in or relating to the application.
Section 15 is repealed and re-enacted—
(a) to change the duration of the registration of a public accountant from 3 years to one year; and
(b) to provide that the Board shall not renew the certificate of registration of a public accountant unless it is satisfied that the public accountant has complied with the prescribed requirements relating to continuing professional and education, to the appraisal of his professional conduct and practice and to such other matters as the Board thinks relevant. This is to ensure that the accountant meets what is expected in his professional conduct and practice.
Section 20 is amended—
(a) to empower the Board to require any person making any application or complaint against a public accountant under that section to deposit with the Board a reasonable sum not exceeding $1,000 to cover any costs and expenses as may necessarily be incurred by the Board in dealing with the application or complaint;
(b) to empower the Board or the Registrar to require the person making the application or complaint and the public accountant against whom the application or complaint is made to furnish such information or to produce such documents as the Board or the Registrar may require in order that the Board may properly determine whether to refer the application or complaint to an Inquiry Committee;
(c) to empower the Board to dismiss an application or complaint in the event that the person making the application or complaint refuses or fails, without lawful excuse, to furnish any information or to produce any document as may be required by the Board or the Registrar, and to make it an offence punishable with a maximum fine of $2,000 for a public accountant to refuse or fail, without lawful excuse, to furnish any information or to produce any document as may be required by the Board or the Registrar; and
(d) to provide that where any application, complaint or facts laid before an Inquiry Committee arise from the conviction of a public accountant for a criminal offence, the Inquiry Committee and the High Court on any appeal under section 22 shall accept his conviction as final and conclusive.
Section 21 is amended—
(a) to add to the grounds on which the Board may suspend a public accountant from practice or cancel the registration of a public accountant;
(b) to provide for the taxation by the High Court of any costs and expenses which a public accountant is ordered by the Chairman to pay to the Board under subsection (2); and
(c) to provide that a decision of the Board under subsection (1) to suspend a public accountant from practice or to cancel the registration of a public accountant or to impose any penalty on a public accountant shall not take effect until the expiration of one month from the date on which the decision has been communicated to the public accountant or, where an appeal against the decision is made to the High Court under section 22, until the appeal has been determined or withdrawn.
Consequential amendments to section 19 and section 22 are made arising from the amendments to section 21.
Section 23 is amended—
(a) to add to the grounds on which the name and other particulars of a public accountant may be summarily removed from the Register of Public Accountants; and
(b) to prevent a public accountant from applying for his name and other particulars to be removed from the Register of Public Accountants if disciplinary action is pending against him or if his conduct is the subject of an inquiry or investigation by an Inquiry Committee.
Section 48 is amended to remove the requirement that only public accountants can practise as tax consultants.
Comments: This Act amends the Accountants Act to improve the standard of the professional accounting practice in Singapore, as well as to streamline disciplinary proceedings for better regulation of the profession.
Long Title: An Act to amend the Companies Act (Chapter 50 of the 1994 Revised Edition)
Passed by Parliament on: 12th October 1998.
Assented to by President on: 9th November 1998.
Publication date: 13th November 1998.
Commencement date: 18th November 1998 Vide S 560/98.
Summary: The movement of liberalisation in the financial services sector has led to the amendment of the Companies Act. Some key provisions are summarised as follows:
Section 7(4) is amended to increase the threshold upon which a person is deemed to have an interest in a body corporate from 15% to 20% of the voting power and to restrict its application to not more than one level.
New Sections 76B to 76G were provided to allow for the purchase or acquisition by both listed and unlisted companies of their own ordinary shares on or off the stock market but only out of distributable profits.
Section 77 is amended to extend the maximum life-span of employee share options from the current 5 years to 10 years.
New section 113A is inserted to extend the validity period of statements lodged with the Registrar in relation to designated interests from the current 6 months to 12 months.
Sections 160A to 160D are repealed to remove the restrictions relating to substantial property transactions.
Section 172 is amended to make it clear that a company may purchase insurance for any officer of the company against liability for negligence or breach of duty to the company not occasioned by any wilful act or default on his part.
Section 366 is amended to exempt a foreign company from being registered in Singapore if it merely carries out the following transactions:
(i) establishes a share transfer or share registration office in Singapore in order to become a listed corporation;
(ii) effects any transaction through its related corporation licensed or approved under any written law by the Monetary Authority of Singapore under an arrangement approved by the Authority.
Long Title: An Act to amend the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (1992 Revised Edition) and to make consequential amendments to the Post Office Savings Bank of Singapore Act (Chapter 237 of the 1985 Revised Edition).
Passed by Parliament on: 12th October 1998.
Assented to by President on: 9th November 1998.
Publication date: 13th November 1998.
Summary: The Fifth Schedule to the Constitution is amended by deleting the reference to the Post Office Savings Bank of Singapore.
Consequential amendments are made in the Post Office Savings Bank Act relating to the President’s concurrence under Article 22A of the Constitution.
Comments: The Constitution of the Republic of Singapore is amended to delete the reference to the Post Office Savings Bank of Singapore from Part I of the Fifth Schedule consequent on the transfer of the undertakings of the Post Office Savings Bank of Singapore to The Development Bank of Singapore. The Act also makes consequential amendments to the Post Office Savings Bank of Singapore Act (Cap. 237).
Related Legislation: The Post Office Savings Bank of Singapore (Transfer of Undertakings and Dissolution) Act 1998
Long Title: An Act to amend the Civil Law Act (Chapter 43 of the 1994 Revised Edition) and to make consequential amendments to certain other Acts.
Passed by Parliament on: 26th November 1998.
Assented to by President on: 11th December 1998.
Publication date: 24th December 1998.
Commencement date: 1st January 1999 vide S 613/98.
Summary: The Civil Law Act was amended for various matters. The amendments include provisions to clarify the position regarding the laws against gaming and the impact of the euro upon contracts. A summary of the key amendments are as follows:
Section 6 is amended to make it clear that the law against gaming contained in section 6(1) does not affect the validity or enforceability of contracts or agreements entered into by way of business and the making or performance of which constitutes an investment activity.
New section 6C abolishes the rule of law known as the rule in Bain v Fothergill. This rule of law is that “if, a person enters into a contract for the sale of real estate knowing that he has no title to it, nor any means of acquiring it, the purchaser cannot recover damages beyond the expenses he has incurred by an action for breach of the contract; he can only obtain other damages by an action for deceit”.
New section 6D states that the continuity of contracts will not be affected by the substitution or replacement of currencies by the euro arising from the European Economic and Monetary Union.
Section 11 is repealed and new sections 11 to 11D are introduced. The new section 11 amends, and extends to a wider field, the provisions for contribution which are now contained in section 11. Under section...
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