Legislation

New Bills

Estate Duty (Amendment) Bill 2002 (B30/2002)

The Estate Duty Act (Cap 96) will be amended to achieve the following objectives:

• to amend s 11 to provide that estate duty shall not be payable in respect of any movable property passing on the death of a person dying on or after 1 January 2002 who is not domiciled in Singapore at the time of his death;
• to insert a new s 12A to provide that estate duty shall not be payable in respect of any gift of any property passing on the death of a person to the government or any institution of a public character within the meaning of s 37(9) of the Income Tax Act (Cap 134) if the gift —
  

(a) is made on or after 1 January 2002 but before the issue of a notice of assessment by the Commissioner of Estate Duty under s 37;

(b) is not a property which is deemed as property passing under s 7(1)(c); and

(c) has been accepted by the government or the institution of a public character, as the case may be,

• to repeal and re-enact s 13 to provide that no estate duty shall be payable in respect of any gift of money or any other gift approved by the Minister or a person appointed by him, made on or after 1 April 1987 to any museum approved by the Minister or a person appointed by him; and
• to amend s 14(7)(a) to reflect that the Technopreneur Home Office Scheme is currently administered by the Economic Development Board instead of the National Science and Technology Board (now named the Agency for Science, Technology and Research).
  

Property Tax (Amendment) Bill 2002 (B31/2002)

The Property Tax Act (Cap 254) will be amended for the following main purposes:

• to change the payment of property tax from twice a year to once a year in January;
• to abolish the public inspection of and objection to the Valuation List for the following year in the month of August;
• to allow taxpayers to lodge objections to the annual values of their properties at any time during the current year;
• to allow the Comptroller to impose a penalty not exceeding 5% of the unpaid tax immediately upon the expiration of the time period stipulated for payment and to dispense with the need to issue a notice of demand before the penalty can be imposed; and
• to establish a Street and Building Names Board to determine or alter the name of any building, estate or street.
  

Arms and Explosives (Amendment) Bill 2002 (B32/2002)

This Bill seeks to amend the Arms and Explosives Act (Cap 13) to give effect to the Convention on the Marking of Plastic Explosives for the Purpose of Detection concluded in Montreal on 1 March 1991 and for other miscellaneous purposes. Essentially, a person will be prohibited from manufacturing any unmarked plastic explosive unless such unmarked plastic explosive is manufactured in a quantity no greater than that necessary for the purposes specified in the Act.

Central Provident Fund (Amendment) Bill 2002 (B34/2002)

The Central Provident Fund (Amendment) Bill 2002 amends the Central Provident Fund Act (Cap 36) for various purposes including the following:

• to amend s 13B (relating to voluntary CPF contributions) —
  

(a) to disallow voluntary CPF contributions by any person who is not a citizen or permanent resident of Singapore;

(b) to limit voluntary contributions, including voluntary contributions paid by employers, to $28,800 per year; and

(c) to empower the Minister to prescribe another amount in place of $28,800.

Read with the Central Provident Fund (Exemption — Foreign Employees) Order 2002 (S523/2002) (‘the Order’), the effect of the proposed amendment to s 13B is to preclude foreign employees altogether from the CPF scheme. The Order provides that, with effect from 1 October 2002, s 7 of the Central Provident Fund Act (Cap 36) shall not apply to an employer of a foreign employee who is neither a citizen nor permanent resident of Singapore. Section 7 provides for the obligation of employers to contribute to the Central Provident Fund.

• to amend s 15(3) to shorten the three-year interval for withdrawal of CPF contributions after the age of 55 to one year or such other interval as the Minister may direct;
• to amend s 15(12) to clarify that a bank is prohibited from setting-off any debt owed to the bank by a member against the CPF minimum sum deposited by the member in any account with that bank; and
• to insert a new s 21B to create an automatic charge on an HDB flat in favour of the Board when a member withdraws CPF funds to:
  

(a) finance or re-finance the purchase of the HDB flat;

(b) pay any improvement contribution for upgrading works carried out on the HDB flat under Part IVA of the Housing and Development Act (Cap 129); or

(c) pay any other costs incurred in connection with those purposes.

The new s 21B will apply in respect of any such withdrawal whether made before, on or after 1 January 2003. The charge on the HDB flat is constituted immediately upon such withdrawal. The charge confers on the Board the power of sale and all other powers relating or incidental thereto notwithstanding that it is not registered under the Land Titles Act (Cap 157).

Housing and Development (Amendment) Bill (B35/2002)

This Bill seeks to amend the Housing and Development Act (Cap 129) for various purposes including:

• amending s 51 to allow an approved mortgagee or statutory chargee to attach an HDB flat in exercise of its powers under the mortgage or charge, as the case may be. Section 51 will be amended to provide two exceptions to the general prohibition against attaching HDB flats by court order. The two exceptions are where the application to the court for attachment of an HDB flat is made by an approved mortgagee or a statutory chargee; and
• s 48A will be amended to provide that both the HDB and lessees will be discharged from the restrictive covenant in leases that prohibit the use of HDB flats for any trade, business, manufacture or commercial purpose, regardless of the building the flat is situated in. This is to further facilitate implementation of the Technopreneur Home Office Scheme. Section 48A will also be amended to provide that a lessee must obtain the HDB’s prior written approval before using his HDB flat for a purpose other than that permitted by the lease. This is to enable the HDB to control the use of HDB flats for purposes consistent with the Technopreneur Home Office Scheme.
  

Smoking (Control of Advertisements and Sale of Tobacco) (Amendment) Bill 2002 (B36/2002)

This Bill proposes amending the Smoking (Control of Advertisements and Sale of Tobacco) Act (Cap 309) for purposes including the following:

• to insert the definition of ‘cigarette’. The term is defined to mean ‘any product which consists in whole or in part of cut, shredded or manufactured tobacco, or any tobacco derivative or substitute, rolled up in paper, tobacco leaf or other material and which is in such form as to be capable of immediate use for smoking’;
• to amend s 11 to increase the penalty for an offence under sub-s (1) (relating to control of smoking etc, by young persons) from $50 for a first offence and $100 for a second or subsequent offence to $300 for any offence;
• to insert new s 11A to prohibit any person from selling or offering to sell cigarettes by retail, or from permitting the sale or offer for sale of cigarettes by retail, except in a package containing not less than the prescribed number of cigarettes. The offence is punishable, in the case of a first offence, with a fine not exceeding $10,000 or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or with both and, in the case of a second or subsequent offence, with a fine not exceeding $20,000 or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or with both;
• to amend s 14 with the insertion of new sub-s (2A) to prohibit any person from importing, selling or offering for sale any tobacco product that contains, or which emissions contain, any substance in excess of such amount as the Minister may by order prescribe for that substance; and
• to amend s 17 to provide that the Minister may require any person who imports, distributes, sells or offers for sale, permits to be sold or offered for sale, or possesses for sale any tobacco product to be licensed by the Chief Executive of the Health Sciences Authority.
  

Media Development Authority of Singapore Bill 2002 (B37/2002)

This Bill seeks to, inter alia, establish and incorporate a new public corporation to be called the Media Development Authority of Singapore, and to effect the transfer to the Media Development Authority the functions, property, liabilities and employees of the Films and Publications Department in the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, the Singapore Broadcasting Authority and the Singapore Film Commission.

New Subsidiary Legislation

Banking (Inducement to Use Credit Card or Charge Card for Purchase of Residential Property) Regulations 2002 (S541/2002)

The Banking (Inducement to Use Credit Card or Charge Card for Purchase of Residential Property) Regulations 2002 are operative from 11 October 2002.

These regulations provide that no bank or financial institution which issues any credit card or charge card shall make any representation or act in a manner which is intended to or is likely to induce, urge or encourage any person to use such credit card or charge card to pay any part of the required cash amount in relation to the purchase of a residential property.

Contravention is an offence punishable with a fine not exceeding $25,000 and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $2,500 for every day that the offence continues after conviction.

Elizabeth Wong
Allen and Gledhill