Regulation of Importsand Exports Act 1995

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“aircraft” means aircraft of any description which may be used for the conveyance of persons or goods by air;

“authentication code” means any identification or identifying code, password or any other authentication method or procedure which has been assigned to a registered user of the computer service mentioned in section 8 for the purpose of identifying and authenticating the access to and use of the computer service by the registered user;

“authorised officer” means

“Board” means the Enterprise Singapore Board established by section 3 of the Enterprise Singapore Board Act 2018;

“conveyance” includes any vessel, train, vehicle or aircraft in which persons or goods can be carried;

“database report” means any automatic log, journal or other report which is automatically generated by the computer service mentioned in section 8 for the purposes of recording the details of a transaction relating to an electronic notice including the authentication code, date and time of receipt, storage location and any alteration or deletion relating to the notice;

“Director-General” means the Director-General of Customs appointed under section 4(1) of the Customs Act 1960;

“electronic notice” has the meaning given by section 8(1);

“examination station” means any place which has been prescribed under section 143(1)(d) of the Customs Act 1960 as a customs office or customs station for the examination of goods or any place or premises as may be determined by a senior authorised officer for the examination of goods;

“export” means to take or cause to be taken out of Singapore by land, water or air and includes the placing of any goods in a conveyance for the purpose of the goods being taken out of Singapore but does not include the taking out from Singapore of any goods on the same conveyance on which they were brought into Singapore unless such goods after being brought into Singapore have been landed or transhipped within Singapore;

“goods” means any movable or personal property whatsoever but does not include choses in action and money (except for a collector’s piece, an investment article or item of numismatic interest and currency notes imported or exported in substantial quantities);

“import” means to bring or cause to be brought into Singapore by land, water or air from any place which is outside Singapore but does not include the bringing into Singapore of goods which are to be taken out of Singapore on the same conveyance on which they were brought into Singapore without any landing or transhipment within Singapore;

“master” includes every person, having or taking command or charge of a vessel, except a pilot of a vessel holding a licence under the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore Act 1996 when acting in the course of his or her duties;

“officer of customs” has the meaning given by the Customs Act 1960;

“pilot of an aircraft” means every person having or taking command or charge of an aircraft;

“police officer” means any member of the Singapore Police Force;

“registered user” means a person who has been registered with and authorised by the Director-General to gain access to and use the computer service mentioned in section 8;

“relevant decision of the United Nations Security Council” means any decision of the United Nations Security Council in resolutions made under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations signed at San Francisco on 26 June 1945;

“senior authorised officer” means

“senior officer of customs” has the meaning given by the Customs Act 1960;

“shipped as ships’ stores” means loaded for use as stores on a voyage or flight to or from a destination outside Singapore or as merchandise for sale by retail to persons carried on such voyage or flight in a ship or an aircraft;

“tranship” means to remove goods from one conveyance to another for the purpose of taking them out of Singapore;

“transit” means to bring goods into Singapore from a place outside Singapore for the purpose of taking them out of Singapore on the same conveyance on which they were brought into Singapore;

“vehicle” includes any vehicle in which persons or goods can be carried by land however drawn or propelled or set or kept in motion;

“vessel” includes any ship or boat or other description of vessel used in navigation.

In this Act, any reference to a document or record includes, in addition to a document or record on paper, a reference to any, or part of any

In this Act, any reference to a document or record in writing or the making of a document or record in writing, unless the context otherwise requires, includes any electronic notice, or the making, serving or submitting of such a notice under the provisions of this Act or any regulations made under this Act.

The Director-General is responsible for the administration of this Act and any regulations made under this Act, subject to the general or special directions of the Minister.

The Director-General may delegate the exercise of all or any of the powers conferred or duties imposed upon him or her by this Act or any regulations made under this Act to any senior authorised officer or any authorised officer.

The Minister may make regulations for the registration, regulation and control of all or any class of goods imported into, exported from, transhipped in or in transit through Singapore.

Without limiting subsection (1), the Minister may make regulations

The Minister may, in making any regulations under subsection (2), provide that any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any provision thereof shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction

All such regulations must be presented to Parliament as soon as possible after publication in the Gazette.

Any regulations made under section 3 are, unless the contrary is expressly stated, deemed to be additional to, and not in substitution for, the provisions of any other written law for the time being in force.

To avoid doubt, it is declared that the taking into or out of Singapore of any ship, aircraft or vehicle may be prohibited or regulated by any regulations made under section 3 as an importation or exportation of goods, even though the ship, aircraft or vehicle is conveying goods or passengers, and whether or not it is moving under its own power.

Where provision is made by any regulations made under section 3 for the issue of any certificate, licence or permit by the Director‑General, the Director‑General may, if he or she thinks fit and subject to any express provision to the contrary contained in the regulations, make provisions

Without prejudice to subsection (1)(a), any authorised officer may at any time cancel the certificate, licence or permit if

Cancellation, suspension or variation of the condition of any certificate, licence or permit, issued by virtue of any regulations made under section 3, may be effected by endorsement thereof on the certificate, licence or permit, or by service of a written notice of the cancellation, suspension or variation on the holder of the certificate, licence or permit.

If any such certificate, licence or permit is cancelled or suspended, the holder thereof must, unless it has otherwise been lawfully disposed of, surrender it forthwith to the authorised officer who cancelled or suspended it.

Subsection (2) does not apply to a certificate, licence or permit issued by an electronic notice transmitted in accordance with section 8.

Any person who fails to comply with subsection (2) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $3,000.

The Director‑General may establish or operate a computer service and make provision for any bid, certificate, declaration, direction, list, manifest, notice, permit, receipt, return or other document required or authorised by this Act or any regulations made under this Act to be made, served or submitted by electronic transmission (called in this Act an electronic notice).

A registered user may, in accordance with the regulations made under subsection (11), make and serve an electronic notice to the computer account of the Director‑General.

The Director‑General or any person authorised by him or her may, in accordance with the regulations made under subsection (11), make and serve an electronic notice to the computer account of a registered user.

Where an electronic notice is transmitted to the computer account of the Director‑General using the authentication code assigned to a registered user

For the purposes of this Act, an electronic notice or a copy thereof is not inadmissible in evidence merely on the basis that it was transmitted without the making or delivery of any equivalent document or counterpart in paper form.

Despite any other written law, in any proceedings under this Act or any regulations made under this Act, an electronic notice or a copy thereof (including a print‑out of that notice or copy) or any database report (including a print‑out of that report) relating to that notice

For the purposes of this section, a certificate

Where an electronic notice or a copy thereof is admissible under subsection (6), it is presumed, until the contrary is proved, that the contents of the electronic notice or the copy thereof have been accurately transmitted.

The Director-General may, for the purpose of facilitating any electronic transmission under this section, approve the use in any such electronic transmission of symbols, codes, abbreviations or other notations to represent any particulars or information required under this Act or any regulations made under this Act.

Despite section 31, any authorised officer or any person being employed or engaged in the administration of this Act or any regulations made under this Act is not to be treated as having contravened section 31 merely because he or she communicates to the independent record keeper or the independent record keeper’s employee or permits the independent record keeper or the independent record keeper’s employee to have access to any electronic notice or any information contained therein; and section 31 applies to the independent record keeper and the independent record keeper’s employee as if they were persons employed in the administration of this Act.

The Minister may make regulations

Every notice, requisition or document required by this Act or any regulations made under this Act to be served on any person may be served

Any notice, requisition or document sent by registered post to any person in accordance with subsection (1) is deemed to be duly served on the person to whom the letter is addressed at the time when the letter would in the ordinary course of post be delivered and in proving service of such notice, requisition or document it is sufficient to prove that the envelope containing the notice, requisition or document was properly addressed, stamped and posted by registered post.

The holder of any current licence or permit issued under any regulations made under section 3 must, unless the holder has lawfully parted with possession of it, produce the licence or permit on demand to any authorised officer.

Any person who fails to comply with this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $3,000.

A senior authorised officer may seize any goods in respect of which he or she has reasonable grounds for believing that an offence under this Act or any regulations made under this Act has been or is being committed.

All such goods must be delivered as soon as possible into the custody of the Director‑General and must be detained in custody pending an order of the court in regard to the disposal thereof made under this Act.

Despite subsection (2), if any goods seized is, in the opinion of the Director‑General, of a perishable nature or consists of an animal or other living creature, the Director‑General may at any time direct the sale thereof on such terms and in such manner and at such price as the Director‑General may think fit and the proceeds of the sale are thereupon treated for the purposes of this Act as though they were the goods seized.

The court before which any person is tried for an offence may, whether a conviction is had or not, order the forfeiture of any goods produced before it or seized under this Act in connection with the offence for which the person is tried in respect of which it is satisfied that an offence has been committed.

When goods have been seized under the provisions of this Act, the Director‑General must, within one month from the date of the seizure, (unless a prosecution has before the expiry of that period been commenced and is pending against any person for an offence in respect of the goods so seized) report the fact of the seizure to a District Court and the Court may, if satisfied that an offence has been committed in respect of those goods, order them to be forfeited.

No order may be made under this section to the prejudice of any person claiming to be the owner of, or to have an interest in, those goods, unless that person has had an opportunity of being heard, either personally or by an advocate and solicitor, by the District Court, to show cause why such an order should not be made.

A senior authorised officer or an authorised officer acting in accordance with the general or special directions of a senior authorised officer may board any conveyance in Singapore and may rummage and search all parts of the conveyance for goods which may be liable to forfeiture under this Act.

For the more effective exercise of the powers conferred by this section, a senior authorised officer may

An authorised officer may exercise, in respect of any vehicle, or of any vessel not exceeding 75 tons net tonnage, the powers which are conferred upon a senior authorised officer by subsection (2) other than the powers conferred by paragraph (d) of that subsection.

It is presumed in any proceedings arising out of any thing done under this section, unless the contrary is proved, that any authorised officer, not being a senior authorised officer, by whom the thing was done was acting in accordance with the general or special direction of a senior authorised officer.

If any vessel or aircraft fails to comply with any lawful requisition or direction given or made under this section, a senior authorised officer may take all such steps as appear to him or her necessary to secure such compliance.

Where any goods are found concealed, or in respect of which any document which ought to be produced is not produced, in any vessel or aircraft or which are not shown on any manifest or list required to be produced, being goods

Any person who contravenes this section or who fails to comply with any lawful requisition or direction given or made thereunder shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $6,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

An authorised officer may exercise the powers conferred by this section in respect of a vessel underway if

Where any package, box, chest or other article is in Singapore and

Any package, box, chest or other article mentioned in subsection (1)

Any person (not being an authorised officer) who removes, opens, breaks or tampers with any lock, seal or other means of securing any package, box, chest or other article shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $6,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

If any goods are found in Singapore and

Any

For the more convenient exercise of the powers conferred by sections 17 and 18, an authorised officer may remove any package, box, chest or other article or any goods to a police station or examination station or may require it to be so removed by the owner thereof or the owner’s agent or any person having the custody, charge or control thereof.

Any person who fails to comply with any such requisition shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $6,000.

Upon the failure by a person to comply with such a requisition, an authorised officer may remove the goods in the manner provided by subsection (1) and all the expenses of the removal (as certified by the Director‑General) are recoverable as a fine from that person or from the owner of the goods.

Where a senior authorised officer has reason to suspect that any particulars, information or document furnished pursuant to any regulations made under section 3 is inaccurate, any package to which the particulars, information or document refers may be opened and examined by the senior authorised officer or by any person specially authorised in writing by the Director‑General.

For the purpose of examination under subsection (1), the senior authorised officer or any person specifically authorised in writing by the Director‑General may require the importer or exporter to bring the package to any examination station.

The cost of bringing any package to or removing any package from an examination station pursuant to subsection (2) must be borne by the importer or exporter if the particulars, information or documents furnished (or any of them) are found to be substantially inaccurate.

Any person landing or being about to land or having recently landed from any vessel or aircraft, or leaving any vessel or aircraft in Singapore whether for the purpose of landing or otherwise, or entering or having recently entered Singapore by land, sea or air, or being about to leave Singapore by land, sea or air, must

Whenever it is necessary to cause a woman to be searched, the search must be made by another woman and with strict regard to decency.

The goods and baggage of any person who requests to be present when they are searched must not be searched except in his or her presence, unless he or she fails to be present after being given reasonable facility for being present.

Any person who refuses to comply with any lawful demand made under this section may be arrested without warrant by the officer making the demand.

Whenever it appears to a Magistrate or a Justice of the Peace upon information and after any inquiry that he or she may consider necessary that there is probable cause to believe that in any dwelling house, shop or other building or place there are concealed or deposited any goods or property liable to forfeiture under this Act, the Magistrate or the Justice of the Peace may, by warrant directed to any senior authorised officer, empower that officer by day or night to enter that dwelling house, shop or other building or place and there to search for and take possession of any goods or property reasonably suspected to be so liable to forfeiture and any books, documents or articles which may reasonably be believed to have a bearing on the case.

The senior authorised officer mentioned in subsection (1) may if it is necessary to do so

For the purpose of exercising the powers conferred by sections 17 to 22, an authorised officer or a senior authorised officer (as the case may be) may, without warrant, enter upon any islet, landing place, wharf, dock, railway or quay or the premises of a provider of port services or facilities licensed or exempted under the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore Act 1996 or the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore.

In this section, “railway” has the meaning given by the Railways Act 1905.

Any person who, being required by or by virtue of this Act or any regulations made under this Act to make any declaration, statement or representation or to produce any certificate, undertaking or document, or who, for the purpose of obtaining any certificate, licence, permit, sanction, authority or concession under this Act or any of its regulations or of establishing any proposition of fact relevant to the administration of this Act or any of its regulations

A declaration, statement, representation, certificate, undertaking or document mentioned in subsection (1) purporting to be furnished on behalf of any person is, for the purposes of this Act or any regulations made under this Act, presumed, until the contrary is proved, to have been furnished by that person or by that person’s authority (as the case may be) and any person signing such declaration, statement, representation, certificate, undertaking or document is deemed to be cognizant of all matters therein.

Any person who imports, exports or tranships any goods and

For the purpose of subsection (1), a person is treated as applying a trade description to goods if the person

For the purpose of subsection (1), where the goods are for export or transhipment and the ultimate destination of the goods is a foreign country which has entered into a prescribed agreement with Singapore, a trade description applied to such goods is treated as being incorrect if it is not in accordance with any rules of origin specified in that agreement.

For the purpose of subsection (1), a person mentioned in that subsection is treated as being in possession of goods if the person is in any way entitled to the custody or control of those goods.

Without affecting the provisions of this Act, for the purpose of determining whether an offence under subsection (1) is being or has been committed, an authorised officer may

In this section —

“foreign country” means any country or territory outside Singapore;

“prescribed agreement” means an agreement between Singapore and a foreign country which is prescribed as an agreement for the purpose of subsection (3);

“trade description” means any description, statement or indication which, directly or indirectly and by whatever means given, relates to the place of origin, manufacture or production of the goods.

Any person who, without the authority of the Director‑General

For the purposes of subsection (1), “data” includes any computer program or part of a computer program being a program, whether or not approved by the Director‑General, for use in relation to the computer service established under section 8.

The Director‑General may require the following persons to produce any document and furnish any information the Director‑General considers necessary for the effective exercise of the Director‑General’s powers and performance of the Director‑General’s duties under this Act or any regulations made under this Act:

Any such requisition under subsection (1) may be made verbally or in writing or by an electronic notice served on the person to whom it is addressed.

Every person required to produce any document or furnish any information must produce the document or furnish the information in such form and manner and within such time as may be specified in the requisition or if no time is so stated within a reasonable time.

Any person who, without lawful excuse, fails to comply with any requisition under this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $6,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

Any information given in compliance with this section may be admissible in evidence as proof against the person giving the information or the person’s principal in any prosecution, even though it may tend to incriminate one or the other.

No particulars, information or document furnished for the purposes of this Act or any regulations made under this Act may unless with the prior consent in writing of the person having the control, management or superintendence of the goods in relation to which the same was given or furnished

No particulars, information or document mentioned in subsection (1) may be published, disclosed or communicated pursuant to paragraph (i) and (j) of that subsection except with the approval of the Minister.

The approval of the Minister mentioned in subsection (2) may be given in respect of

For the purposes of subsection (1)(j), the particulars or information in question may be provided to the public agency through another public agency.

Nothing in subsection (1) prevents the Minister, and any public officer assisting the Minister and duly authorised by the Minister for the purposes of this subsection, from having access to any particulars, information or document mentioned in subsection (1) that may be necessary for the performance of his or her official duties in connection with this Act or the advancement or development of trade.

Any authorised officer or any person employed or engaged in the administration of this Act or any regulations made under this Act who makes use of, publishes or permits any other person to see or communicates or discloses to any other person the contents of any particulars, information or document to any other person, otherwise than with such consent or for such purpose as is mentioned in subsection (1), shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $6,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

Any person, having possession of any information which to the person’s knowledge has been communicated, disclosed or published in contravention of this section, who publishes or communicates that information to any other person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $6,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

The conditions mentioned in subsection (1)(l) are as follows:

The conditions mentioned in subsection (1)(m) are as follows:

In this section —

“foreign country” means any country or territory outside Singapore;

“prescribed agreement” means an agreement between Singapore and a foreign country which is prescribed as an agreement for the purpose of subsection (1)(m);

“public agency” means a public officer, an organ of state or a ministry or department of the Government, or a public authority established by or under any public Act for a public purpose or a member, an officer or an employee, or any department, thereof.

Where

Whenever any agent or employee in the course of his or her employment does or omits to do an act, the doing of which or omission to do which by his or her principal or employer would be an offence, the agent or employee shall be guilty of that offence.

In any proceedings jointly against the body corporate and a director or officer thereof for an offence under this Act, any evidence that the body corporate was guilty of such an offence is deemed to be evidence that the director or officer was guilty of that offence.

Any person who would have been guilty of an offence if anything had been done or omitted to be done by the person personally shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to the same penalty if that thing had been done or omitted to be done by the person’s partner, agent or employee in the course of the partnership business or in the scope of the person’s employment (as the case may be) unless the person proves to the court’s satisfaction that the offence was committed without the person’s knowledge and that the person took all reasonable precautions to prevent that act or omission.

Subject to this section, no evidence as to any information given by an informer in respect of any offence alleged to have been committed may be admitted in evidence in any civil or criminal proceedings, and no witness may be obliged or permitted to disclose the name or address of any informer or state any matter which might lead to the discovery of the identity of any informer.

If any book, document, paper or other information which is in evidence or liable to inspection in any civil or criminal proceedings, contains any entry in which any informer is named or described or which might lead to the discovery of the informer’s identity, the court is to cause all those entries to be concealed from view, erased or obliterated to the extent necessary to prevent the discovery of the identity of the informer but no further.

If, in any civil or criminal proceedings, the court, after full inquiry into the case, is of the opinion that the informer wilfully made in any information furnished by the informer a material statement which the informer knew or believed to be false or did not believe to be true or the court is of the opinion that justice cannot be fully done without the discovery of the identity of the informer, it is lawful for the court to require the production of the original information in any form that the court may accept, and to permit inquiry and require full disclosure concerning the informer.

For the purposes of this section, “informer” includes every person who is not called as a witness for the prosecution in a criminal case and who has made any complaint or report or furnished any information in respect of any offence alleged to have been committed by any person.

Any senior authorised officer may compound any offence under this Act or any regulations made under this Act which is prescribed as a compoundable offence by collecting from a person reasonably suspected of having committed the offence a sum not exceeding

The Minister may make regulations to prescribe the offences which may be compounded.

All sums collected under this section must be paid into the Consolidated Fund.

Without affecting any other remedy, any levy, fees or other charges payable under this Act or any regulations made under this Act, may be recovered as a debt due to the Government.

The Minister may direct the remission or refund of the whole or any part of any levy, fees or other charges payable under this Act or any regulations made under this Act.