New Bills

Central Provident Fund (Amendment) Bill 2001 (B32/2001)
The Central Provident Fund (Amendment) Bill 2001 seeks to amend the Central Provident Fund Act for the following purposes:

1. to allow the Central Provident Fund Board to release information in its possession on the members of the Central Provident Fund, including balances in their medisave accounts, to an insurer administering or operating an approved insurance scheme for purposes of administering or operating the insurance scheme; and
2. to enable members of the Central Provident Fund to withdraw sums from their Medisave Accounts to pay for premiums under any insurance scheme approved by the Minister for Health.

New Acts

Land Titles (Amendment) Act 2001 (A25/2001)
Singapore Land Authority Practice Circular No 5 of 2001 (the 'Practice Circular')
The changes effected by the Land Titles (Amendment) Act 2001 (A25/2001) came into force on 20 August 2001. For an overview of the changes, please refer to the September 2001 issue of The Singapore Law Gazette, in the Legislation Update, on pages 37 to 39, under the subheading 'Land Titles (Amendment) Bill 2001 (B23/2001)'.

New Subsidiary Legislation

Legal Profession (Qualified Persons) Rules 2001 (S357/2001)
The effect of the Legal Profession (Qualified Persons) Rules 2001 is to increase the avenues by which persons may become qualified persons under the Legal Profession Act.

This is done in two ways:

1. by increasing the number of UK universities the law degree from which are recognised under the Rules. The additional universities are the University of Liverpool, the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, the University of Sheffield and the University of Warwick; and
2. by expanding the list of certain Australian and New Zealand universities. These are as follows:

In the case of the Australian and New Zealand graduates, they must have commenced reading the course on or after 1 January 1994 and be ranked among the top 30% in their batch in terms of academic performance.

It is, however, provided that a person satisfying the educational requirements above will not be a qualified person if:

1. the course of study that led to that degree was an accelerated course. An 'accelerated course' means a course of study that commenced and completed within a period of less than 3 years; or
2. the course of study that led to that degree was a dual degree course and the degree of Bachelor of Laws is a component of the dual degrees conferred on that person. A 'dual degree course' means a course of study that leads to the conferment of dual degrees, such as a course of study that leads to the conferment of both the degree of Bachelor of Laws and the degree of Bachelor of Accountancy.

The prohibition in relation to accelerated courses and dual degree courses will not apply if the student is admitted by the university before 1 August 2001 or if he commences reading the course before 1 May 2002.

It is further provided that any person who is conferred a combined degree that consists of a degree in law, by any of the institutions of higher learning specified in the First Schedule, shall be a qualified person if the combined degree course leading to that degree is approved by the Board of Legal Education and the person concerned satisfies such other requirements as the Board may specify. A 'combined degree' means any single degree that relates to any two or more different disciplines of study, such as a Bachelor's Degree in Law and Information Technology or a Bachelor's Degree in Law and Accountancy.

Legal Profession (International Services) (Amendment) Rules 2001 (S358/2001)
The Legal Profession (International Services) Rules 2001 have been amended with effect from 27 July 2001 to provide for applications by foreign law firms to set up representative offices in Singapore.

Every application by a foreign law firm to set up a representative office in Singapore shall be in the prescribed form. The Attorney General may, in his discretion, approve the application subject to such conditions as he may impose. On approval of the application, the Attorney General or the Solicitor General will, on payment of the appropriate fee, issue a certificate of registration to the applicant. A certificate of registration will be valid in the first instance for a period of 12 months from the date of its issue and may be renewed for a further period of 12 months upon application.

Planning (Use Classes) Rules 2001 (S371/2001)
Pursuant to the Planning (Use Classes) Rules 2001, where a building or land has an existing use falling within any class specified in the Schedule below, the change in use of the building or land for any other purposes of the same class shall not be deemed, for the purpose of Part III (pertaining to development and subdivision of land) of the Planning Act, to involve development of the building or land.

The Planning (Use Classes) Rules 2001, which are effective from 1 August 2001, have revoked the Planning (Use Classes) Rules (R 2).

The Schedule

Property Tax (Non-Residential Buildings) (Remission) Order 2001 (S398/2001)
Pursuant to the Property Tax (Non-Residential Buildings) (Remission) Order 2001, there shall be remitted 25% of the tax payable in respect of any building or part thereof which is permitted to be used under the Planning Act for any purpose other than for human habitation.

This Order implements the Off-Budget measure announced on 25 July 2001. As the property tax rate has been reduced from 12% to 10% on 1 July 2001, the effective rate during this period will be 7.5% as compared to 9% before this.

This Order shall not apply to -

1. any building or part thereof owned and occupied by any statutory board for which payment in lieu of tax is made under s 6(7) of the Act;
2. any building or part thereof owned and let by any statutory board, other than the Housing and Development Board, Urban Redevelopment Authority, Jurong Town Corporation, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and Public Utilities Board, for which payment in lieu of tax is made under s 6(7) of the Act;
3. any building or part thereof situated or being erected on any land where the annual value of that property has been assessed as if it were vacant land under s 2(3)(b) of the Act; or
4. any building or part thereof situated or being erected on that part of any land which has been demarcated as excess land under s 2(5) of the Act and where the annual value has been separately assessed by deeming that part of the land as vacant land.

This Order shall be deemed to have come into operation on 1 July 2001 and shall remain in operation until 30 June 2002 (both dates inclusive).

Income Tax (Exemption of Foreign Income) Order 2001 (S403/2001)
Pursuant to the Income Tax (Exemption of Foreign Income) Order 2001, there shall be exempt from tax the income received in Singapore by a company which is approved as an international shipping enterprise under s 13F of the Act from approved companies outside Singapore, subject to the terms and conditions specified in the letter of approval addressed to the company. This Order is deemed to have come into operation on 21 August 2001.

Income Tax (Exemption of Interest and Other Payments for Economic and Technological Development Loans) (No 3) Notification 2001 (S404/2001)
Pursuant to the Income Tax (Exemption of Interest and Other Payments for Economic and Technological Development Loans) (No 3) Notification 2001, there shall be exempt from tax the interest payable on any loan or other arrangement similar in nature to a loan by a company which is approved as an international shipping enterprise under s 13F of the Act in currencies other than Singapore dollars to any bank outside Singapore, subject to the terms and conditions specified in the letter of approval addressed to the company.

This Notification is deemed to be effective from 21 August 2001.

Legal Profession (Professional Conduct) (Amendment) Rules 2001 (S410/2001)
The Legal Profession (Professional Conduct) Rules are amended with effect from 1 September 2001 to effect changes including the following.

Touting and referrals
A new r 11A is inserted to provide for a rules against touting and on referral of work by third parties. In addition, a new r 11B provides for agreement for referrals. Essentially, when an advocate and solicitor, a law firm or a law corporation enters into agreements for referrals of conveyancing services, the advocate and solicitor, law firm or law corporation, as the case may be, shall ensure that the agreement is made in writing and contains the following terms:

• the referror undertakes in such an agreement to comply with these Rules and the Legal Profession (Publicity) Rules (R 13);
• the advocate and solicitor, law firm or law corporation shall be entitled to terminate the agreement forthwith if there is reason to believe that the referror is in breach of any of the terms of the agreement;
• any publicity of the referror (whether written or otherwise), which makes reference to any service that may be provided by the advocate and solicitor, law firm or law corporation, must not suggest any of the following:

1. that the conveyancing service is free;
2. that different charges for the conveyancing services would be made according to whether or not the client instructs the particular advocate and solicitor, law firm or law corporation; or
3. that the availability or price of other services offered by the referror or any party related to the referror are conditional on the client instructing the advocate and solicitor, law firm or law corporation; and

• the referror must not do anything to impair the right of the client not to appoint the advocate and solicitor, law firm or law corporation or in any way influence the right of the client to appoint the advocate and solicitor, law firm or law corporation of his choice.

Conflict of interest
Rule 31 has been amended. The revised rule prevents a lawyer from acting against a former client only if there is a risk of disclosure of confidential information.

Responsibility for fees
The Council has come to the view that the rule that lawyers should be responsible for the fees of all professional agents that they instruct should be removed as there is no general reciprocal rule amongst the other professions. Accordingly, r 52 has been amended to provide that a lawyer should be responsible for the fees of another lawyer or a foreign lawyer in other jurisdictions instructed by him only if there is a reciprocal rule in that country.

Judgments in default
Rule 70 has been re-drafted to make it clear that 2 working days' notice needs to be only given to another lawyer in cases of a judgment to be entered in default of defence. It does not operate to extend the time stipulated by any Order of Court for any action or step to be taken. The rule also clarifies how the 2 working days' notice is be calculated. In particular the rule provides any notice given after 4pm on a working day shall be deemed to be given on the next working day. The definition of 'working day' in the rule continues to exclude Saturday, Sunday or public holiday.

Legal Profession (Publicity) (Amendment) Rules 2001 (S411/2001)
Rule 9 of the Legal Profession (Publicity) Rules has been amended with effect from 1 September 2001 to effect the following changes:

• To amend r 9 so that a lawyer or law firm or law corporation may publicise his/its practice in conjunction with the publicity of any client or third party.
• To insert the rule that nothing in these Rules 'shall be interpreted as permitting the doing of anything by an advocate and solicitor, a law corporation or a director or an employee of a law corporation which may reasonably be regarded as touting'.

Rule 9 previously prohibited a lawyer/law firm from advertising in client or third party publicity.

Elizabeth Wong
Allen & Gledhill