Legislation

New Acts

Infectious Diseases (Amendment No 2) Act 2003 (A7/2003)

The Infectious Diseases Act (Cap 137) has been amended with effect from 27 April 2003 in light of the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (‘SARS’) in Singapore.

Changes effected include an increase in the default penalty under the Act. A first offence is now punishable with a fine not exceeding S$10,000 (previously S$5,000), or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months (previously no imprisonment term), or both. In the case of a second or subsequent contravention, the offence is punishable with a fine not exceeding S$20,000 (previously S$10,000), or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months (previously 6 months), or both.

A new offence has also been provided for in new s 21A whereby a person who knows or has reason to suspect that he is a case, or carrier, or contact of SARS must not expose other persons to the risk of infection by his presence or conduct in any public place, or any other place used in common by persons other than members of his own family or household. Similarly, a person having the care of another person whom he knows or has reason to suspect is a case, or carrier, or contact of SARS must not cause or permit that person to expose other persons to the risk of infection by that person’s presence or conduct in any such place. A contravention of new s 21A is punishable with the default penalty.

Companies (Amendment) Act 2003 (A8/2003)

The Companies (Amendment) Act 2003 has come into operation from 15 May 2003. The Companies (Amendment) Act 2003 is significant as it implements 20 of the 77 recommendations made by the Company Legislation and Regulatory Framework Committee.

Areas covered by the amendments include:

• resolutions and meetings;
• audit and accounts;
• foreign companies;
• investment companies;
• management;
• directors’ obligations;
• issue of shares;
• shareholders’ disclosure;
• share buy-backs; and
• compulsory acquisition in take-overs.
  

Income Tax (Exemption of Income from Syndicated Offshore Facilities) Regulations 2003 (S183/2003)

Pursuant to the Income Tax (Exemption of Income from Syndicated Offshore Facilities) Regulations 2003 (the ‘Regulations’), and subject to the provisions therein, there shall be exempt from tax the income of a specified financial institution from any syndicated offshore facility.

A specified financial institution refers to the following:

• a licensed bank;
• an approved merchant bank; or
• a company approved under s 43A(1)(c) of the Income Tax Act (Cap 134).
  

The scheme under the Regulations apply to any syndicated offshore facility which is an offshore credit facility or an offshore guarantee facility where:

• the agreement for the facility is made during the period from 27 February 1998 to 31 December 2003 (both dates inclusive);
• the facility is a syndicated facility, as determined in accordance with the Regulations;
• the syndication work in respect of the facility is carried out substantially in Singapore, as determined in accordance with the Regulations; and
• in the case of a facility where the agreement for the facility is made during the period from 27 February 1998 to 13 August 1998 (both dates inclusive), the facility is in currencies other than Singapore dollars.
  

Telecommunications (Dealers) Regulations 2003 (S185/2003)

Effective from 2 April 2003, the Telecommunications (Dealers) Regulations 2003 provide for the licensing and conduct of dealers who manufacture, import for sale, let for hire, sell, or offer or possess for sale, any equipment which is capable of being used for the purpose of telecommunication.

The Regulations also provide for the import, manufacture and sale of telecommunication equipment, that is to say, any appliance, apparatus, or accessory used or intended to be used for telecommunications.

Stamp Duties Act (Amendment of First and Third Schedules) Notification 2003 (S192/2003)

The First Schedule to the Stamp Duties Act (Cap 312) has been amended to implement the following changes:

• The seller’s stamp duty on the sale of residential properties within three years of purchase has been abolished in respect of instruments executed on or after 1 March 2003.
• Leases or agreements for lease of immovable property executed on or after 1 April 2003 where the average rent and other consideration calculated for a whole year does not exceed S$1,000 have been exempted from stamp duty.
  

The changes were first announced in the 2003 Budget Speech.

A consequential amendment has been made to the Third Schedule.

Income Tax (Concessionary Rate of Tax for Approved Global Trading Companies Regulations 2003 (S204/2003)

Section 43P of the Income Tax Act (Cap 134) empowers the Minister for Finance to make regulations providing for the availability of a concessionary tax rate of 10% (or such other rate) on specified income of an approved global trading company derived by it from prescribed qualifying transactions. A ‘global trading company’ means a company carrying on the business of international trading of commodities or commodities futures, including petroleum and petroleum products.

The Income Tax (Concessionary Rate of Tax for Approved Global Trading Companies Regulations 2003 (the ‘Regulations’) have been enacted pursuant to s 43P. Pursuant to the Regulations, which are effective from 1 June 2001, the Minister of Finance may approve any global trading company for such period not exceeding five years from such date and for such commodities as he may specify in writing. The qualifying period may be extended for further periods not exceeding five years at any one time.

Tax shall be payable at the rate of 10% on any income of an approved global trading company from:

• profits from qualifying transactions in the commodities specified by the Minister of Finance; and
• commission and fees from acting as a broker in physical trading in the specified commodities between any of the following persons:
  
  1. a person who is neither a resident of nor a permanent establishment in Singapore;
  2. a branch office outside Singapore of a company resident in Singapore;
  3. an approved oil trading company;
  4. an approved international commodity trading company;
  5. another approved global trading company; or
  6. a person who carries on the business of refining petroleum in Singapore.
     

The qualifying transactions refer to any of the following transactions carried out by an approved global trading company in a currency other than Singapore dollar:

• physical trading;
• commodity futures trading;
• over the counter hedging transaction.
  

The Regulations also exclude certain income from being taxed at the concessionary tax rate of 10%.

Companies (Accounts of Public Listed Holding Companies) (Substitution of Period) Order 2003 (S213/2003)

Section 201(3A)(a) of the Companies Act (Cap 50) requires the directors of a holding company to lay before the company at its annual general meeting, inter alia, consolidated accounts dealing with the profit or loss and the state of affairs of the company and its subsidiaries for the period beginning from the date the preceding accounts were made up to and ending on a date, in the case where the holding company is a public company listed or quoted on a securities exchange in Singapore, not more than five months before the date of the meeting.

Pursuant to the Companies (Accounts of Public Listed Holding Companies) (Substitution of Period) Order 2003 (the ‘Order’), the aforesaid period of five months has been substituted with a period of four months, that is to say, the consolidated accounts are to be made up to a date not more than four months before the date of the meeting.

The Order is operative from 28 April 2003, and applies in relation to the annual general meetings of holding companies that are public companies listed or quoted on a securities exchange in Singapore:

• held on or after 1 January 2004; and
• at which the consolidated accounts referred to in s 201(3A)(a) for a period beginning on or after 1 January 2003 are laid.
  

Business Registration (Amendment) Regulations 2003 (S215/2003)

Regulation 11 of the Business Registration Regulations (S22/2003) has been deleted and substituted with a new reg 11 with effect from 29 April 2003.

Essentially, reg 11(1) has been deleted. Regulation 11(1) previously provided that a person who is registered under the Business Registration Act (Cap 32) shall display the registered business name in a conspicuous position on the outside of every place where he carries on business.

Legal Profession (International Services) (Amendment) Rules 2003 (S226/2003)

The Legal Profession (International Services) Rules have been amended with effect from 3 May 2003. The main amendments are as follows:

• Application for registration as foreign law firm — Rule 14 provides that every foreign law firm which intends to provide legal services in Singapore shall apply to the Attorney General to be registered as a foreign law firm. The Attorney General may approve the application subject to such conditions as he may impose. Rule 14 has been amended to provide that the Attorney General may at any time add to or vary any condition so imposed. It is now also expressly provided that the Attorney General may cancel the registration of a foreign law firm if it fails to comply with any condition of its registration.
• Application for registration as foreign lawyer — Rule 16 provides for the registration of foreign lawyers employed or practising foreign law in a Joint Law Venture (‘JLV’), foreign law firm or Singapore law firm. Rule 16 has been amended to provide that the Attorney General may approve the application subject to such conditions as he may impose, or reject the application on such grounds as he thinks fit.
• Submission of information relating to Singapore lawyer employed in JLV or foreign law firm — A new r 16A has been introduced whereby every JLV or foreign law firm which has a Singapore office in which a Singapore lawyer is employed shall submit to the Attorney General in the prescribed form (Form 11) such information relating to that Singapore lawyer as is specified in the form (including a curriculum vitae). Upon receipt of Form 11, the Attorney General may issue a certificate in Form 12 certifying that the Singapore lawyer named therein is employed by the Joint Law Venture or foreign law firm named therein. Such a certificate shall be valid for a period of 12, 24 or 36 months, as the Attorney General may allow.
• Registers — The Attorney General will maintain a register of Singapore lawyers employed in a JLV or foreign law firm.
• Power to require information, etc — The power of the Attorney General to require information under r 19 has been widened. Under the new r 19, the Attorney General may require any Singapore lawyer, foreign lawyer, foreign law firm, Singapore law firm, JLV or Formal Law Alliance to provide him with such documents, particulars or information as he considers necessary for the purposes of ascertaining whether:
  
  1. any of the provisions of Part IXA of the Act (pertaining to JLVs, foreign law alliances and foreign law firms) or any of the conditions imposed thereunder has been complied with;
  2. the registration of a foreign lawyer, foreign law firm, JLV or Formal Law Alliance should otherwise be cancelled; or
  3. a certificate issued to a Singapore lawyer under r 16A should be cancelled.

Elizabeth Wong
Allen and Gledhill