Legislation

Singapore Workforce Development Agency Act 2003 (A14/2003)

The Singapore Workforce Development Agency Act 2003 is operative from 1 September 2003.

The Singapore Workforce Development Agency Act 2003 establishes and incorporates a new public corporation called the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (the ‘Agency’) and transfers to the Agency the functions, property, liabilities and employees of the departments within the Human Capital Development Division and the Labour Market Development Division of the Ministry of Manpower, and the Skills Development Fund Secretariat, the Critical Enabling Skills Training (CREST) Secretariat and the National Skills Recognition System (NSRS) Centre of the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board.

Evidence (Amendment) Bill 2003 (B16/2003)

This Bill seeks to amend the Evidence Act (Cap 97) to safeguard official communications made to members, officers and employees of certain specified organisations.

Presently, s 126 of the Evidence Act provides that no public officer shall be compelled to disclose communications made to him in official confidence when he considers that the public interest would suffer by the disclosure.

It is proposed that s 126 be amended with the addition of new ss (2) which will extend the privilege against disclosure of official communications to members, officers and employees of, and persons seconded to, organisations which are specified in the Schedule to the Official Secrets Act (Cap 213).

Building Control (Amendment) Bill 2003 (B17/2003)

The Building Control (Amendment) Bill 2003 seeks to amend the Building Control Act (Cap 29), and to make related amendments to the Architects Act (Cap 12) and the Professional Engineers Act (Cap 253) to facilitate ‘Design and Build’ procurement arrangements under which multi-disciplinary firms may provide architectural, engineering and construction services.

This Bill also seeks:

• to amend the Building Control Act to better define the role of qualified persons who are appointed in respect of building works, to provide for objectives, standards and requirements for the design and construction of buildings to be established by regulations, and to fine-tune and update the Act; and
• to amend the Architects Act and the Professional Engineers Act to provide that the issue of practicing certificates under the respective Acts may be conditioned on applicants meeting prescribed requirements relating to continuing professional education, and to fine-tune and update the Acts.

Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill 2003 (B19/2003)

The following amendments are proposed to the Goods and Services Tax Act (Cap 117A):

• to amend s 21(3)(r) to clarify that the trustee services which may be prescribed for purposes of zero-rating include services provided to a trust by a person other than the actual trustee;
• to repeal and re-enact s 27 to empower the Minister for Finance to make regulations to permit certain imported goods to be delivered or removed, and supplied by the importer to certain persons without payment of tax on the importation or the supply. This power is in addition to the existing power of the Minister to make regulations relating to the delivery or removal of certain imported goods without payment of tax on the importation;
• to amend s 28(1) to provide that the Goods and Services Tax Act is to apply to taxable supplies made by the Government in the course or furtherance of a business, other than such supplies as the Minister may, by order in the Gazette, prescribe; and
• to amend s 43(2) to remove the requirement of approval of the Comptroller of Goods and Services Tax for the issue of computer-generated invoices, before such invoices may be treated as tax invoices for the purposes of the Act.

Elizabeth Wong
Allen and Gledhill