Architects Bill

“Board” means the Board of Architects established under section 3;

“building authority” means the Assistant Director (Building Control) of the Public Works Department and any other person required under the provisions of any written law to approve building plans;

“registered architect” means a person registered as an architect under this Act;

“Registrar” means the Registrar of the Board.

Any person who not being registered under this Act —

No person, other than a registered architect, shall be entitled to recover in any court any charge, fee or remuneration for any professional service rendered as an architect in Singapore.

No person shall employ as an architect any person who has not been registered under this Act.

Any person who contravenes the provisions of subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars and for a second or subsequent offence to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars.

There shall be a Board to be called the “Board of Architects” which shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal and may sue and be sued.

The Board shall consist of the following members: —

The President and members of the Board under paragraphs (c), (e) and (f) of subsection (2) shall be appointed for a term not exceeding three years but may from time to time be re-appointed, and may at any time be removed from office by the Minister.

If any appointed member of the Board dies, resigns, or is removed from office, the vacancy so created shall as soon as practicable be filled in the manner in which the appointment to the vacant office was made; and every person so appointed shall hold office for the residue of the term for which his predecessor was appointed.

The powers of the Board shall not be affected by any vacancy in the membership thereof.

At any meeting of the Board five members thereof shall form a quorum and no business shall be transacted at any meeting unless a quorum is present.

At any meeting of the Board the President of the Board shall preside and in his absence the members present shall elect one of their number to preside over the meeting.

If on any question to be determined by the Board there is an equality of votes, the President of the Board or the member presiding over that meeting shall have a casting vote.

Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Board may determine its own procedure.

The Board shall cause proper records of its proceedings to be kept.

The common seal of the Board shall bear such device as the Board may approve and such seal may from time to time be broken, changed, altered or made anew by the Board as it may think fit.

The common seal shall be kept in the custody of the President of the Board and shall be authenticated by the President of the Board or other member acting in the absence of the President of the Board and any document purporting to be sealed by the said seal and authenticated as aforesaid shall, until the contrary is proved, be deemed to be validly executed.

The Minister may appoint a Registrar of the Board.

The Registrar shall be under the general direction of the Board and shall sign all certificates of registration and record all entries of registration, cancellation and reinstatement in the register.

The Registrar shall attend all meetings of the Board and record the proceedings thereof, and shall conduct the correspondence and deal with such matters as may be assigned to him by the President of the Board or by the Board.

The Registrar shall —

In any proceedings a list published under subsection (4) shall be sufficient evidence that the persons whose names appear therein are registered architects.

Subject to the provisions of this section the following persons shall, on payment of the prescribed fee, be entitled to registration under this Act: —

No person shall be entitled to registration under paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of subsection (1) unless he can satisfy the Board that —

The Board may refuse to register any applicant who is in the opinion of the Board —

Any person whose application for registration has been refused by the Board may appeal to the High Court whose decision thereon shall be final.

The Board may register any Government architect or any architect in the service of the Housing and Development Board or the Urban Redevelopment Authority without payment of the prescribed fee.

Every registered architect shall, on payment of the prescribed fee, be entitled to receive a certificate of registration under the hand of the Registrar.

Every such certificate of registration shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, expire on the 31st day of December of the year in which it is issued and shall thereafter be renewable annually upon payment of the prescribed fee.

This section shall not apply to a Government architect or an architect in the service of the Housing and Development Board or the Urban Redevelopment Authority registered under this Act.

Subject to the provisions of this section, the Board may by order cancel the registration of any registered architect or suspend him from practice for a period not exceeding one year under any of the following circumstances: —

The Board shall not make any order under subsection (1) unless —

Any person whose name has been removed from the register under paragraph (b) of section 14 shall be reinstated as soon as may be after he has notified the Registrar of his desire to be reinstated and upon payment of the prescribed fee.

Any person whose name has been removed from the register under paragraph (c) of section 14 shall, if his appeal to the High Court is allowed, be forthwith reinstated without payment of any fee.

The Board may in its discretion, after the expiration of not less than two years from the cancellation of registration of any person, consider any application for registration by such person in accordance with the provisions of Part III.

All fees payable under this Act shall be paid to the Board to be applied in the first place to defraying expenses of registration and other expenses of the administration of this Act, including any expenses of the Board that may be allowed under any rules made under this Act and thereafter to providing scholarships and the promotion of learning and education in connection with architecture.

The Registrar shall take and receive all moneys payable to the Board under this Act.

All fees and other moneys payable to the Board under this Act shall be paid forthwith into a bank account approved by the Minister.

The Board may from time to time invest any moneys not immediately required by the Board in such trustees’ securities as the Board may determine.

The Board shall keep full and proper accounts of all moneys received and expended by it and the accounts shall be audited by an auditor approved by the Minister.

The Board shall as soon as practicable after the end of each accounting year but not later than three months from the end of that year, unless the Minister otherwise authorises in writing, submit to the Minister a report of its functions, proceedings and activities during the preceding year.

The Minister may exempt subject to such conditions as he thinks fit any person or class of persons from the provisions of sections 17 and 18.

Nothing in this Act shall apply to anything done or omitted to be done by or under the authority of the Government.

Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit or prevent any person not registered under this Act from carrying out work in respect of the construction of or repairs to any building in any case in which plans are not required by any written law to be submitted to a building authority.

The Architects Act (Cap. 213) is hereby repealed.

Every person whose name was on the register kept under the repealed Architects Act immediately before the date of the commencement of this Act shall be deemed to be registered under this Act and any certificate of registration issued to such person shall be deemed to be issued under this Act.