Singapore legislation
Section 7
Section 7
Registration of charities
(1)
The Commissioner must continue to keep a register of charities in which must be entered the particulars that he or she may determine of any charity registered therein.
(2)
There must be entered in the register every charity not excepted by subsection (6); and a charity so excepted —
may be entered in the register at the request of the charity; but(b)whether or not it was excepted at the time of registration, may at any time, and must at the request of the charity, be removed from the register.
(3)
Any institution which no longer appears to the Commissioner to be a charity must be removed from the register with effect, where the removal is due to any change in its purposes or governing instruments, from the date of that change; and there must also be removed from the register any charity which ceases to exist or does not operate.
(4)
The Commissioner must refuse to register an institution as a charity —
if it appears to the Commissioner that the registration of the institution will be contrary to the public interest; or
on any other ground that the Minister may prescribe.
(5)
The Commissioner must remove an institution from the register of charities —
if it appears to the Commissioner that the continued registration of the institution as a charity is contrary to the public interest; or
on any other ground that the Minister may prescribe.
(6)
The following charities are not required to be registered:
any charity specified in the Schedule; and
any charity which is excepted by regulations made under this Act.
(7)
Any application to the Commissioner for a charity to be registered must be accompanied with copies of its governing instruments (or, if any provisions of the governing instruments are not set out in any document, particulars of them) and any other documents or information that the Commissioner may require for the purpose of the application.
(8)
It is the duty of —
the governing board members of any charity which is not registered nor excepted from registration to apply for it to be registered, and to supply the documents and information required by subsection (7), within 3 months after its establishment or such longer period as the Commissioner may allow; and
the governing board members (or last governing board members) of any institution which is for the time being registered to notify the Commissioner if it ceases to exist, or if there is any change in its governing instruments, or in its particulars entered in the register, and to furnish the Commissioner with particulars of any such change and copies of any new governing instruments or alterations of the governing instruments, within 7 days after such cessation or change or such longer period as the Commissioner may allow,and any person who makes default in carrying out any of the duties imposed by this subsection shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $100 for every day or part of a day during which the offence continues after conviction, and the Commissioner may by order require that person to make good that default.
(9)
Where the governing instrument of a registered charity requires the prior approval of the Commissioner for any amendment to the governing instrument and the Commissioner has delegated his or her power to grant such approval to a Sector Administrator under section 42(1)(e), that requirement is deemed to apply as if it required the prior approval of the Sector Administrator (instead of the Commissioner) for the amendment of the governing instrument.
(10)
The register (including entries cancelled when institutions are removed from the register) must be open to public inspection at all reasonable times, except insofar as regulations otherwise provide.
(11)
The register of charities may be prepared and kept in such manner as the Commissioner thinks fit, including in electronic form in a computer.
(12)
Where any information contained in the register is not in documentary form, subsection (10) is to be construed as requiring the information to be available for public inspection in legible form at all reasonable times.[5