Singapore legislation
Section 57
Section 57
Restrictions on issuing and promoting credit card and charge card
(1)
A person must not, in the course of carrying on (whether in Singapore or elsewhere) a business of issuing credit cards or charge cards, accept or receive in Singapore any application for a credit card or charge card unless the person is a licensee.
(2)
A person must not accept or receive in Singapore any application for a credit card or charge card on behalf of any person other than a licensee or a person specified in subsection (9).
(3)
A person must not, whether in Singapore or elsewhere, offer or invite or issue any advertisement containing any offer or invitation to the public or any section of the public in Singapore to apply for a credit card or charge card except where the credit card or charge card is to be issued by a licensee or a person specified in subsection (9).
(4)
Subject to subsection (5), any advertisement containing information which is intended or might reasonably be presumed to be intended to lead, directly or indirectly, to an application for a credit card or charge card is treated as an advertisement mentioned in subsection (3).
(5)
Any advertisement issued outside Singapore is not treated as an advertisement mentioned in subsection (3) if it is made available —
in a newspaper, magazine, journal or other periodical published and circulating principally outside Singapore;
in a sound or television broadcast transmitted principally for reception outside Singapore; or
by any other means of broadcasting or communication principally for circulation or reception outside Singapore.
(6)
For the purposes of subsection (3), in determining whether an offer, invitation or advertisement is made or issued to the public or any section of the public in Singapore, regard must be had to such considerations as may be prescribed.
(7)
Any person who contravenes subsection (1), (2) or (3) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction —
in the case of an individual, to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $5,000 for every day or part of a day during which the offence continues after conviction; or
in any other case, to a fine not exceeding $100,000 and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $10,000 for every day or part of a day during which the offence continues after conviction.
(8)
A person whose business it is to publish or to arrange for the publication of advertisements shall not be guilty of an offence under subsection (7) if the person proves that —
the person received the advertisement for publication in the ordinary course of the person’s business;
the matters contained in the advertisement were not, wholly or in part, devised or selected by the person or by any other person under the person’s direction or control; and
the person did not know and had no reason for believing that the publication of the advertisement would constitute an offence.
(9)
Subsection (1) does not apply to —
any bank in Singapore; and
such other person or class of persons as may be prescribed, subject to such conditions as may be prescribed.