Singapore legislation

Clause 5

of Cross-Border Railways (Border Control Co-location) Bill

Clause 5

Meanings of “ordinary checking”, “special checking” and associated terms for railway security

(1)

Ordinary checking for the purposes of railway security checks relating to a cross‑border railway is carrying out all or any of the following:

(a)

patrolling, watching, guarding or controlling access to any part of a Malaysia designated area or a Singapore designated area (as the case may be) of the cross‑border railway to deter and detect unauthorised access by people, vehicles or other things into any part of the train or track and to otherwise maintain the integrity of access control systems to the Malaysia designated area or Singapore designated area;

(b)

patrolling and keeping under surveillance any part within a Malaysia designated area or a Singapore designated area of the cross‑border railway —

(i)

to inquire into, secure, and cause the removal of unattended or suspicious things;

(ii)

to assess, identify and respond to unknown substances; or

(iii)

to deter unauthorised possession of any dangerous thing or forbidden thing on board a cross‑border train on a cross‑border railway or in the train station;

(c)

screening of any individual —

(i)

in preparation for him or her boarding a cross‑border train on a cross‑border railway; or

(ii)

in order for the individual to enter or remain in any part of a Malaysia designated area or a Singapore designated area of the cross‑border railway;

(d)

conducting a strip search or body search of an individual mentioned in paragraph (c) with the consent of the individual;

(e)

questioning or interviewing an individual subject to railway security checks;

(f)

detaining an individual and only for so long as is reasonably necessary to conduct a screening, strip search or body search of the individual;

(g)

requiring an individual to present to a Malaysian preclearance officer in Singapore or a Singapore preclearance officer in peninsular Malaysia (as the case may be) the individual’s ticket if he or she is a passenger of a cross‑border train.

(2)

Special checking for the purposes of railway security checks relating to a cross‑border railway is carrying out all or any activity that is specified in the relevant Schedule relating to that cross‑border railway as special checking.

(3)

Subject to subsection (4), if —

(a)

an individual is at a screening point; and

(b)

the individual must receive clearance in order —

(i)

to board a cross‑border train; or

(ii)

to enter or remain in any part of —

(A)

an authorised point of entry or authorised point of departure along or on a cross‑border railway; or

(B)

a Malaysia designated area or Singapore designated area of a cross‑border railway,the individual is taken, for all purposes, to consent to each search procedure that may be conducted at the screening point.

(4)

Subsection (3) does not apply to a search procedure if —

(a)

the procedure is a strip search or body search; or

(b)

the individual refuses to undergo the procedure.

(5)

In this Act —

Definition

“body search”, of an individual, means a search of the individual’s body, including an examination of any orifice or cavity of the individual’s body;

Definition

“clothing” includes any gloves, footwear (such as socks or stockings), hat, belt, jewellery, or other accessories;

Definition

“detain”, by a Malaysian border protection service officer or a Singapore border protection service officer, where the expression is used in the context other than quarantine, means to keep in the company (not necessarily immediate) of, and to be restricted in movement by, the Malaysian border protection service officer or the Singapore border protection service officer (as the case may be), and includes to keep or cause to be kept, in such detention;

Definition

“frisk search” means a search of a clothed individual in which the individual conducting the search may run or pat his or her hand over the body of the individual being searched, whether outside or inside the clothing (other than any underclothing) of that individual being searched;

Definition

“scanning search” means a search of an individual, or of any personal property of the individual that is intended for carrying on board a cross‑border train, by electronic or other means —

(a)

without touching the individual or the individual’s personal property (as the case may be) other than a swab; and

(b)

without requiring the individual to remove his or her clothing;

Definition

“screening”, of an individual or an individual’s personal property, means all or any of the following, but not a strip search or body search:

(a)

conducting a scanning search of the individual, or of any personal property of the individual that is intended for carrying on board a cross‑border train;

(b)

requiring the individual to turn out his or her pockets for any contents and inspecting any of those contents;

(c)

where the results of the search procedure in paragraph (a) or (b) indicate that additional search procedures are necessary in order to screen the individual properly, all or any of the following:

(i)

conducting a frisk search of the individual;

(ii)

requiring the individual to remove one or more clothing worn by the individual that may be conveniently removed and inspecting the clothing;

(d)

inspecting any personal property of the individual that is intended for carrying on board a cross‑border train, including —

(i)

requiring the individual to move, and if it is considered necessary, empty or remove, the contents of any bag, basket or other receptacle worn or carried by the individual or apparently in the possession or immediate control of the individual; and

(ii)

inspecting any of those contents or the bag, basket or other receptacle or both;

Definition

“screening point” means a place in an authorised point of entry or authorised point of departure on or along a cross‑border railway where any screening occurs;

Definition

“strip search” means a search in which the individual searched is required to remove most or all of his or her clothes.

(6)

To be clear, this Act does not affect Part 9 of the Cross‑Border Railways Act 2018.

Clause 5 — Cross-Border Railways (Border Control Co-location) Bill