Legislation

Statutes (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No 2) Act 2005 (A42/2005)

The Statutes (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No 2) Act 2005 (the ‘Act’) and the Rules of Court (Amendment No 3) Rules have been gazetted. The provisions of the Act pertaining to the modes of commencement of proceedings will be in force from 1 January 2006. The changes to the Rules of Court largely come into force on 1 January 2006.

The Act makes legislative amendments to implement the recommendations which were made by the Rules of Court Working Party and which have been accepted by the Rules Committee constituted under s 80(3) of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act.

These amendments reduce the four existing modes of commencement of proceedings to only two: the originating summons and writ of summons. In addition, all interlocutory applications are to be made by way of summons only.

For this purpose, the Act amends the Interpretation Act, the Subordinate Courts Act, and the Supreme Court of Judicature Act to achieve the following:

1   to abolish the petition, motion and originating motion as processes for commencing civil actions or making civil applications to court under any written law and to replace them, where appropriate, with the writ of summons and originating summons (for commencing actions) and the summons (for interlocutory applications);

2   to rename the prerogative orders and writs issuable by the High Court; and

3   to modernise certain expressions used in connection with court proceedings.

Simplification of the modes of commencement of proceedings takes effect in two phases. The first phase, from 1 January 2006, includes all applications under the Rules of Court and the Legal Profession Act. The second phase, expected to take effect in the second quarter of 2006, includes bankruptcy proceedings, applications for the winding up of companies and limited liability partnerships, judicial management proceedings and matrimonial proceedings.

Consequential changes have been made to numerous Acts to change the processes for making applications to court under those Acts in accordance with the recommendations of the Rules of Court Working Party. Not all of these consequential changes are in force.

Biological Agents and Toxins Act 2005

The Biological Agents and Toxins Act 2005 (the ‘Act’) was gazetted on 5 December 2005 and will be operative with effect from 3 January 2006.

The Act was passed in Parliament on 18 October 2005, following its introduction in Parliament on 19 September 2005. Basically, the Act seeks to prohibit or otherwise regulate the possession, use, import, transhipment, transfer and transportation of biological agents, inactivated biological agents and toxins, to provide for the practice of biological safety in the handling of such biological agents and toxins. The Act will also be making a related amendment to the Infectious Diseases Act.

Payment Systems (Oversight) Bill 2005 Introduced: New Regulatory Framework for Payment Systems and Stored Value Facilities

The Payment Systems (Oversight) Bill 2005 (the ‘Bill’) was introduced in Parliament on 21 November 2005. The Bill is a new piece of legislation that provides for the new regulatory framework for payment systems and stored value facilities (‘SVF’) in Singapore.

The Bill will provide the Monetary Authority of Singapore (‘MAS’) with a consistent basis to oversee payment systems in Singapore. At the same time, it will allow the MAS to adopt a risk-based approach by providing the MAS with powers to designate payment systems that are important in terms of financial stability or public confidence. A payment system is a funds transfer system or other system that facilitates the circulation of money and includes any instrument and procedure that relates to the system.

The Payment Systems (Oversight) Bill 2005 will also provide for the liberalisation of the SVF market in Singapore. SVF are prepaid payment instruments used for the purchase of goods and services via stored values, and are most commonly used for low-value retail payments.

Competition (Amendment) Bill 2005 (B32/2005)

On 21 November 2005, the Competition (Amendment) Bill 2005 (the ‘Bill’) was passed in Parliament. The Bill was introduced in Parliament on 17 October 2005.

One of the key changes under the Bill relates to the law on privilege under certain circumstances when disclosing information in an investigation by the Competition Commission of Singapore (the ‘CCS’) under the Competition Act. The Bill provides that a person is not excused from disclosing information on the ground of self-incrimination. The information is admissible in evidence in all civil proceedings, but in criminal proceedings, it is only admissible in evidence against the informant for ancillary offences under Part V of the Competition Act.

The Bill also provides for legal professional privilege for professional legal advisers.

This new provision on the law relating to privilege against self-incrimination and legal professional privilege is based on s 153 of the Securities and Futures Act and is in line with the common law and other legislation such as the Media Development Authority of Singapore Act and the Gas Act.

Another key change under the Bill relates to the empowering of CCS officers to use evidence discovered without a warrant. The investigating CCS officer may, without warrant, secure the premises to prevent interference with any document that might be relevant to the investigation.

Elizabeth Wong

Allen & Gledhill