Singapore legislation
Section 20B
Section 20B
Regulatory action against registered film content assessor
(1)
Subject to subsection (3), the Authority may, by written order, and without any compensation, cancel the registration of an individual as a film content assessor, or take all or any regulatory action specified in subsection (2) against the individual, where the Authority is satisfied that —
the individual obtained his or her registration, or the renewal of his or her registration, by fraud or misrepresentation;
the individual no longer satisfies any of the requirements in section 19(2)(b) or (c) by virtue of which he or she was registered under that section;
the individual is convicted, on or after 29 April 2019 and during the period the individual’s registration is in force, of any of the following which is committed on or after that date:
an offence under this Act or its subsidiary legislation;
an offence under other written law involving fraud or dishonesty;
the individual is, for any medical or other reason, no longer in a position to effectively carry out the duties of a film content assessor under this Act and its subsidiary legislation;
the individual has contravened section 20(2);
the individual has, without reasonable excuse, not completed any further training in the making of assessments that the Authority has directed the individual to attend;
the individual, without reasonable excuse, fails to pay any financial penalty ordered under subsection (2)(a); or
the individual has engaged in conduct rendering the individual unfit to be a film content assessor.
(2)
The regulatory action that the Authority may take in lieu of cancelling registration as a film content assessor is all or any of the following:
to require the payment of a financial penalty not exceeding $5,000 for conduct that does not constitute an offence under this Act;
to suspend (for a period not exceeding 6 months) the registration of an individual as a film content assessor.
(3)
The Authority must not exercise any of its powers under subsection (1) or (2) unless an opportunity of being heard has been given to the film content assessor against whom the Authority intends to exercise any of those powers, being a period of at least 14 days and not more than 28 days.
(4)
Where the Authority has made an order under subsection (1) or (2), the Authority must serve on the film content assessor concerned a notice of the order.
(5)
Subject to subsection (6), an order by the Authority under subsection (1) or (2) does not take effect until the day after the Authority has served on the film content assessor concerned the notice mentioned in subsection (4).
(6)
An appeal under section 28 against any order under subsection (1) or (2) does not prevent that order taking effect in accordance with subsection (5).
(7)
However, the Authority may, without complying with subsections (3) to (6), by order in writing cancel with immediate effect the registration of a film content assessor who has died.
(8)
Where an order under subsection (1) or (2) cancelling or suspending the registration of an individual as a film content assessor becomes effective, the Authority must remove the name and particulars of that individual from the register of film content assessors.
(9)
If the registration of an individual as a film content assessor is suspended under this section for any period, then the Authority must, immediately after the period of suspension ends, reinstate the individual’s name and particulars on the register of film content assessors.
(10)
In any proceedings under this section in relation to the conviction of a film content assessor for a criminal offence, the Authority may accept the conviction as final and conclusive.
(11)
Any financial penalty imposed under this section may be recovered by the Authority as a debt due to it.
(12)
For the purpose of subsection (1)(h), a film content assessor may be treated as having engaged in conduct that renders him or her unfit to be a film content assessor if the film content assessor —
had assigned a classification rating for 2 or more films that are re‑classified by the Authority under section 15; or
had assigned a classification rating for a film that is re‑classified by the Authority under section 15(2) and —
the original classification is 2 or more levels lower than the re‑classification of the film by the Authority; or
the assessment of the content of the film that the film content assessor prepared and submitted to the Authority for the original classification is misleading or incorrect or contains grossly inadequate information.