Singapore legislation
Section 21A
Section 21A
General time limit for President to exercise discretionary powers
(1)
In any particular case where this Constitution authorises the President to act in his discretion in assenting to, concurring with, approving, disapproving or confirming any matter, the President must signify his decision within the specified period —
after his assent, concurrence, approval or confirmation is sought; or
after he is informed of a proposed transaction under Article 22B(6), 22D(5) or 148G(1),as the case may be.
(2)
Subject to any reduction or extension under clause (3), the specified period for the purposes of clause (1) is —
30 days for the following matters:
whether to concur with the introduction of a Bill to which Article 5A or 5B applies;
whether to assent to a Supply Bill, Supplementary Supply Bill, Final Supply Bill or a Bill to which Article 5C or 22H applies;
whether to concur under Article 22G with the making of an inquiry or the carrying out of an investigation by the Director of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau;
whether to confirm under Article 22I a restraining order made under the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act 1990;
whether to concur under Article 151(4) with the detention or further detention of a person; and
6 weeks in all other cases.
(3)
In any particular case, the specified period in clause (2) may —
if the Prime Minister certifies to the President at the time the President’s decision is sought or at any time thereafter that the case is so urgent that it is not in the public interest to delay a decision, be reduced to the period certified by the Prime Minister (which must not end less than 15 days after the date of the certificate); or
be extended according to any agreement between the President, acting in his discretion, and the Cabinet.
(4)
For the purposes of Articles 5C(1) and 22H(1), if a reference is made under Article 5C(2) or 22H(2), respectively, the time from the making of the reference to the tribunal’s pronouncement of its opinion is not counted towards the specified period.
(5)
If in any particular case the President fails to signify his decision within the specified period, the President is deemed to have, at the end of that period —
subject to paragraph (c), given the assent, concurrence, approval or confirmation sought in that case;
in a case under Article 22B(7), 22D(6) or 148G(2), declined to disapprove the proposed transaction that the President was informed of; or
in a case under Article 22G, refused to concur with the making of an inquiry or the carrying out of an investigation by the Director of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau,as the case may be.
(6)
This Article does not apply to the President’s discretion under this Constitution to withhold consent to a request for a dissolution of Parliament.