Singapore legislation
Section 12C
Section 12C
Alternate address
(1)
Despite section 12B, the Registrar must not disclose or make available for public inspection the particulars of a public accountant’s residential address that is lodged with the Registrar under this Act or transmitted to the Registrar by the Commissioner of National Registration under section 11 of the National Registration Act 1965 if the requirements of subsection (2) are satisfied.
(2)
The requirements referred to in subsection (1) are that the public accountant mentioned in that subsection maintains with the Registrar an alternate address that complies with the following conditions:
it is an address at which the public accountant can be located;
it is not a post office box number;
it is not the residential address of the public accountant;
it is located in the same jurisdiction as the public accountant’s residential address.
(3)
For the purposes of subsection (2) —
a public accountant who wishes to maintain an alternate address must lodge an application with the Registrar;
a public accountant may not maintain more than one alternate address at any one time;
a public accountant who wishes to cease to maintain an alternate address must lodge a notice of withdrawal with the Registrar; and (d)a public accountant who wishes to change his or her alternate address must lodge a notice of change with the Registrar.
(4)
An application to maintain an alternate address, and the lodgment of a notice of withdrawal or change of an alternate address, are subject to the payment of such fees as may be prescribed.
(5)
Subsection (1) applies from the time at which the Registrar accepts an application to maintain an alternate address mentioned in subsection (3)(a).
(6)
A public accountant who maintains an alternate address under subsection (2) must ensure that he or she can be located at that alternate address.
(7)
A public accountant who fails to comply with subsection (6) 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 2 years or to both.
(8)
Despite subsection (1), the Registrar may disclose and make available for public inspection the particulars of a public accountant’s residential address despite the maintenance of an alternate address under subsection (2) if —
communications sent by the Registrar under this Act, or by any officer of the Authority under any ACRA‑administered Act, to the public accountant at the public accountant’s alternate address and requiring a response within a specified period remain unanswered; or
there is evidence to show that service of any document under this Act or under any ACRA‑administered Act at the alternate address is not effective to bring it to the notice of the public accountant.
(9)
Before proceeding under subsection (8), the Registrar must give notice to the public accountant —
stating the grounds on which the Registrar proposes to disclose and make available for public inspection the public accountant’s residential address; and
specifying a period within which representations may be made before that is done.
(10)
The Registrar is to consider the representations received within the specified period.
(11)
Where the Registrar discloses and makes available for public inspection the particulars of a public accountant’s residential address, the Registrar must give notice of that fact to the public accountant.
(12)
A notice to a public accountant under subsection (9) or (11) is to be sent to the public accountant at his or her residential address unless it appears to the Registrar that service at that address may be ineffective to bring it to the public accountant’s notice, in which case it may be sent to any other last known address of that public accountant.
(13)
Where —
the Registrar discloses and makes available for public inspection the particulars of a public accountant’s residential address under subsection (8); or
a Registrar appointed under any other ACRA‑administered Act discloses and makes available for public inspection under that Act the particulars of a public accountant’s residential address under a provision of that Act equivalent to subsection (8),that public accountant is not, for a period of 3 years after the date on which the residential address is disclosed and made available for public inspection, allowed to maintain an alternate address under subsection (2).
(14)
Nothing in this section applies to any information lodged or deemed to be lodged with the Registrar before 3 January 2016 or prevents such information from being disclosed or from being made available for public inspection or access.
(15)
Nothing in this section prevents the residential address that is lodged with the Registrar under this Act, or is transmitted to the Registrar by the Commissioner of National Registration under section 11 of the National Registration Act 1965 from —
being used by the Registrar for the purposes of any communication with the public accountant;
being disclosed for the purposes of issuing any summons or other legal process against the public accountant for the purposes of this Act or any other written law;
being disclosed in compliance with the requirement of any court or the provisions of any written law;
being disclosed for the purpose of assisting any public officer or officer of any statutory board in the investigation or prosecution of any offence under any written law; or
being disclosed in any other circumstances that may be prescribed.
(16)
Any person aggrieved by the Registrar’s decision under subsection (8) may, within 30 days after the date of receiving the notice under subsection (11), appeal to the General Division of the High Court which may confirm the decision or give such directions in the matter as seem proper or otherwise determine the matter.
(17)
For the purposes of this section —
“ACRA‑administered Act” means the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority Act 2004 and any of the written laws specified in the Second Schedule to that Act; and
a public accountant can be located at an address if he or she may be physically found at the address after reasonable attempts have been made to find the public accountant at the address.