Legislations

Human Cloning and Other Prohibited Practices Act (A35/2004)

The Human Cloning and Other Prohibited Practices Act (A35/2004) has been gazetted on 27 September 2004 and will be operative with effect from 1 October 2004.

The Act was introduced in Parliament on 20 July 2004 and passed on 2 September 2004, following a public consultation exercise sometime in May 2004.

Essentially, the Act prohibits the placing of a human embryo clone in the body of a human or an animal and certain other practices associated with reproductive technology.

The Act stipulates that it shall be an offence for any person who contravenes the prohibition sections. Such person would be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding S$100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or 
to both.

Competition Bill 2004 (B44/2004)

The Competition Bill was introduced on 21 September 2004. It seeks:

•    to make provision about competition and the abuse of a dominant position in the market; and

•    to establish and incorporate a new public corporation to be called the Competition Commission of Singapore (‘Commission’) and for the transfer of the functions, property, liabilities and employees of the Market Analysis Division of the Ministry of Trade and Industry to the Commission.

Trustees (Amendment) Bill 2004 (B43/2004)

The Trustees (Amendment) Bill 2004 was introduced on 21 September 2004. It seeks to amend the Trustees Act (Cap 337) to update the law relating to trusts and thereby facilitate and promote wealth management in Singapore. In doing so, the Bill gives effect to various recommendations of the Law Reform Committee of the Singapore Academy of Law and feedback received by the Ministry of Law following a public consultation.

The Bill also makes related and consequential amendments to the Civil Law Act (Cap 43), the Interpretation Act (Cap 1) and certain other written laws.

Most notably, a new Part IA (consisting of a new s 3A) is introduced. The new s 3A spells out the statutory duty of care that trustees must exercise when exercising any power, carrying out any duty or doing any act referred to in the new First Schedule. This new duty of care will apply to all trustees, irrespective of whether the trust was created before, on or after the date of commencement of the Bill, unless it appears from the trust instrument that a different duty of care is to apply.

Sections 4, 5 and 6 will be re-enacted with amendments.

•      The new s 4 spells out the general power of investment that a trustee may exercise.

•      The new s 5 sets out the standard investment criteria that a trustee must have regard to when exercising any power of investment.

•      The new s 6 requires a trustee to obtain and consider proper advice before exercising his power of investment.

Further, two new Parts will be introduced, namely, Part IVA, which relates to the appointment by a trustee of agents, nominees and custodians, and Part IVB, which relates to the remuneration of a trustee.

Registered Designs (Amendment) Bill 2004 (B42/2004)

The Registered Designs (Amendment) Bill 2004 was read the first time on 21 September 2004 and seeks to amend the Registered Designs Act (Cap 266) for the following purposes:

•      to enable Singapore to give effect to the Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs signed at Geneva on 2 July 1999 (Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement), which Singapore is required to accede to under Art 2.2 of Annex XII of the European Free Trade Association States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (‘ESFTA’) concluded in 2002;

•      to modify certain administrative procedures and practices; and

•      to restate the law on certain matters.

Employment (Amendment) Bill 2004 (B40/2004)

The Employment (Amendment) Bill 2004 (B40/2004) was passed on 21 September 2004. The Act has not been gazetted yet. When in force, it will be operative from 1 October 2004.

This Bill, amends the Employment Act (Cap 91) to make the following changes:

Maternity leave

•      to extend the maternity leave period from eight weeks to 12 weeks;

•      to give a female employee greater flexibility in determining when to take the last four weeks of her maternity leave by allowing her to take up to 24 days of maternity leave within the period of six months commencing on the day of her confinement;

•      to provide that a female employee will be entitled to receive payment from her employer at her gross rate of pay for the first eight weeks of her maternity leave;

•      to extend the entitlement to receive payment during the first eight weeks of maternity leave to a female employee undergoing her second confinement regardless of whether she has given birth to two or more children during her first confinement; and

•      to provide that where the employment of a female employee is terminated before she has exercised, wholly or partly, an entitlement to flexible maternity leave, that entitlement (or the balance of it) will be forfeited upon the termination of her employment.

Childcare leave

•      to entitle an employee who has any child below the age of seven years to paid childcare leave of two days in that relevant period; and

•      to make it an offence for an employer to fail to pay an employee his salary during such leave.

Facilitating flexible work schemes

Aside from changes in relation to maternity leave and childcare leave, s 41A of the Employment Act will also be amended to empower the Commissioner of Labour to exempt employers from having to pay their employees for extra work under the following provisions:

•      section 37(2): employee requesting to work on a rest day;

•      section 37(3): employee working on a rest day at the request of his employer;

•      section 38(4): employee working more than eight hours in one day, or more than 44 hours in one week, at request of employer;

•      section 40(4): a shift employee who, at the request of his employer, works more than an average of 44 hours per week over a continuous period of three weeks; and

•      section 42(4): employee working on a holiday at request of employer.

The Commissioner may only exercise this power after considering the operational needs of an employer and the interests of an employee or a class of employees.

Raising the minimum working age

The Employment Act will also be amended to raise the minimum age of employment from 12 years to 13 years. This aligns the position of Singapore with the Minimum Age Convention of 1973 (No 138) of the International Labour Organisation.

Children Development Co-Savings (Amendment) Bill 2004 (B41/2004)

The Children Development Co-Savings (Amendment) Bill 2004 was passed in Parliament on 21 September 2004. The Act has not been gazetted yet. When in force, it will be operative from 1 October 2004.

This Bill, which will come into operation on 1 October 2004, amends the Children Development Co-Savings Act (Cap 38A) to:

•      provide for 12 weeks maternity leave (‘benefit period’) for the first four children and the female employee is entitled to receive payment from her employer at her gross rate of pay during the benefit period; and

•    to provide for reimbursement by the Government to the employer for the female employee’s pay during the benefit period as follows:

(a) for the first and second child, the employee’s salary for her absence from work after the first eight weeks of her maternity leave. The amount reimbursed is capped at S$10,000 (inclusive of the employer’s CPF contributions); and

(b)  for the third and fourth child, the employee’s salary for the whole 12 weeks of her absence from work. The amount reimbursed is capped at S$30,000 (inclusive of the employer’s CPF contributions).

The maternity leave benefit under the CDCA is only available if, inter alia, the child delivered is a citizen of Singapore at the time of the child’s birth.

Supreme Court of Judicature (Amendment) Bill 2004 (B35/2004)

Section 28A(2) of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (‘SCJA’) (Cap 322) will be amended to empower the Chief Justice, when making any order for the allocation of proceedings to the District Court under the section, to also make such provision governing appeals relating to such proceedings as he thinks fit, including provisions restricting the right of appeal.

The Bill also amends s 34 of the SCJA:

•      to bar the bringing of appeals to the Court of Appeal from any order made by the High Court in the exercise of its appellate jurisdiction, with respect to any proceedings under the Adoption of Children Act and Parts VII, VIII and IX of the Women’s Charter (Cap 353), unless the Court of Appeal or a Judge grants leave for the bringing of any such appeal; and

•      to provide that the minimum monetary limit of $250,000 as stipulated in subsection (2)(a) does not apply to any appeal from any order made by the High Court in the exercise of its original jurisdiction under s 17A of the Act or under s 59 and Part X of the Women’s Charter.

Hire-Purchase (Amendment) Bill 2004 (B37/2004)

The Hire-Purchase Act (Cap 125)will be amended to enhance disclosure and transparency requirements so that consumers have access to all material and relevant information to make an informed choice when deciding whether to enter into a hire-purchase agreement. The Act will also be updated in a manner which balances the needs and concerns of consumers and hire-purchase financiers and facilitates market developments.

Public Utilities (Amendment) Bill 2004 (B38/2004)

The Public Utilities Act (Cap 261) will be amended to empower the Public Utilities Board:

•      to raise loans from the Government;

•      to raise loans from any source within or outside Singapore, including through the creation and issue of bonds; and

•      to make financial agreements for credit facilities for procurement.

Universities (Amendment) Bill 2004 (B39/2004)

This Bill amends the Nanyang Technological University Act  (Cap 192) and the National University of Singapore Act (Cap 204) for the following purposes:

•      to enable the Nanyang Technological University and the National University of Singapore to borrow from the Government and, with the approval of the Minister, to borrow from external institutions, and to invest its moneys in such manner as it thinks fit; and

•      to enable the National University of Singapore to establish institutions to provide education above primary levels.

Miscellaneous Developments

The following Acts have come into force:

•      Legal Profession (Amendment) Act 2004 (A23/2004), wef 14 September 2004; and

•      Government Securities (Amendment) Act 2004 (A29/2004), wef 14 September 2004.

The following Acts have been gazetted, but not in force yet:

•      Business Trusts Act 2004 (A30/2004); and

•      Securities and Futures (Amendment) Act 2004 (A31/2004).

Elizabeth Wong

Allen & Gledhill