Chemical Weapons (Prohibition) Act 2000

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“authorised officer” means —

“chemical weapon” means the following, together or separately:

“Chemicals Annex” means the Annex on Chemicals to the Convention;

“Convention” means the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction concluded at Paris on 13 January 1993, and includes the Annexes to the Convention and any amendments to, or substitutions of, the Convention or the Annexes that are binding on Singapore;

“conveyance” includes any vessel, train, vehicle, aircraft or other mode of transport;

“Director‑General” means the Director‑General of Customs appointed under section 4(1) of the Customs Act 1960;

“export” means to take or cause to be taken out of Singapore by land, water or air and includes the placing of any thing in a conveyance for the purposes of being taken out of Singapore but does not include the taking out of Singapore of that thing on the same conveyance on which it was brought into Singapore unless that thing after being brought into Singapore has been landed in Singapore;

“import” means to bring or cause to be brought into Singapore by land, water or air from any place that is outside Singapore but does not include the bringing into Singapore of any thing that is to be taken out of Singapore on the same conveyance on which it was brought into Singapore without any landing in Singapore;

“international inspector” means an individual designated by the Technical Secretariat according to the procedures set forth in the Verification Annex to the Convention to carry out an inspection or visit in accordance with the Convention, and includes any inspection assistant as defined in the Convention;

“licence” means a licence granted under section 9;

“national inspector” means any person who is a national inspector by virtue of, or appointed under, section 16;

“officer of customs” means —

“permitted purpose” means —

“premises” includes any land, building, structure and conveyance;

“produce”, in relation to a scheduled chemical, means forming the chemical through a chemical, biochemical or biologically mediated reaction; and includes forming the chemical by any such reaction as an intermediate, a by-product or a waste product during the manufacture of any product, where the intermediate, by‑product or waste product —

“Schedule 1 chemical” means a chemical listed in Schedule 1 of the Schedules of Chemicals in the Chemicals Annex, and is set out in Part 1 of the Schedule to this Act;

“Schedule 2 chemical” means a chemical listed in Schedule 2 of the Schedules of Chemicals in the Chemicals Annex, and is set out in Part 2 of the Schedule to this Act;

“Schedule 3 chemical” means a chemical listed in Schedule 3 of the Schedules of Chemicals in the Chemicals Annex, and is set out in Part 3 of the Schedule to this Act;

“scheduled chemical” means a Schedule 1, 2 or 3 chemical;

“transfer” includes import and export;

“Verification Annex” means the Annex on Implementation and Verification to the Convention.

Any word or expression used and not defined in this Act but defined in the Convention, unless the context otherwise requires, has the same meaning as in the Convention.

The purpose of this Act is to implement Singapore’s obligations under the Convention.

Every person exercising a power or discretion conferred under this Act must have regard to Singapore’s obligations under the Convention.

Sections 8 and 26 extend to acts done or omitted to be done outside Singapore by —

Where an offence under section 8 or 26 is committed outside Singapore by a citizen of Singapore, he or she may be dealt with in respect of that offence as if that offence had been committed within Singapore.

Despite anything in any other written law, proceedings in respect of any offence under section 8 or 26 committed anywhere outside Singapore must not, by virtue only of the provisions of this Act, be instituted in any court except with the consent of the Public Prosecutor.

Despite subsection (3), a person may be arrested, or a warrant for a person’s arrest may be issued and executed, and the person may be remanded in custody or on bail, but no further or other proceedings are to be taken until the consent of the Public Prosecutor has been obtained.

The Director‑General is responsible for the administration of this Act, subject to the general or special directions of the Minister.

The Director‑General may, with the approval of the Minister, in writing appoint any person as an authorised officer for the purposes of this Act.

The Director‑General may delegate the exercise of all or any of the powers conferred or duties imposed upon him or her by this Act to any authorised officer, except the power of delegation under this subsection.

Any person who —

Nothing in subsection (1) applies in respect of any act done by an authorised officer, a national inspector or an international inspector under the authority of this Act or any other written law.

In proceedings for an offence under subsection (1)(a), (c), (d), (e) or (g) relating to an object, it is a defence for the accused to prove that —

Nothing in subsection (3) affects any defence that is open to a person charged with an offence under this section to raise apart from that subsection.

A person must not use, develop, produce, acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer a Schedule 1 chemical for a permitted purpose except under and in accordance with the conditions of a licence granted by the Director‑General.

A person must not —

A person must not produce —

A person must not import or export a Schedule 2 chemical or Schedule 3 chemical except under and in accordance with the conditions of a licence granted by the Director‑General.

Subsection (1) does not apply to the use, development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention or transfer for a permitted purpose of a mixture containing not more than the prescribed concentration of a prescribed Schedule 1 chemical.

Subsection (2) does not apply to —

In determining the amount of unscheduled discrete organic chemicals or unscheduled discrete organic chemical containing phosphorous, sulfur or fluorine produced by a person in a year for the purposes of subsection (3), the production of a mixture containing not more than the prescribed concentration of a —

Subsection (4) does not apply to —

The Minister may by regulations prescribe the concentration of a chemical in a mixture for the purposes of subsection (5), (6), (7) or (8).

The regulations under subsection (9) may —

An application for a licence to do any of the acts referred to in subsections (1) to (4) must be made to the Director‑General in such manner or form as the Director‑General may determine and must be accompanied by the prescribed fee.

Any person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or to both.

Any person who contravenes subsection (2), (3) or (4) 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.

The Minister may make regulations —

In subsection (3), “unscheduled discrete organic chemical” means a discrete organic chemical not listed in the Schedule.

A court may order that anything shown to the court’s satisfaction to be the subject matter of an offence under this Part or to have been used in the commission of the offence must be forfeited to the Government, and either destroyed or otherwise dealt with in any manner that the court may order.

In particular, the court may order the thing to be dealt with as the Director‑General may see fit; and in such a case the Director‑General may direct that it be destroyed or otherwise dealt with.

Where —

The court may make an order under this section even though no person has been charged with or convicted of an offence under this Part in relation to the thing to be forfeited.

The purpose of this Part is to ensure that —

Any power under this Part may be exercised only for that purpose.

Any person who uses, develops, produces, acquires, stockpiles, retains or transfers toxic chemicals or their precursors to which any provision of Parts VI to IX of the Verification Annex applies must —

Any person who, without reasonable cause, refuses or fails to comply with subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $6,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

The regulations relating to the keeping of records referred to in subsection (1)(b) may include, but are not limited to, regulations relating to —

The regulations relating to the preparation and giving of periodic or special reports referred to in subsection (1)(c) may include, but are not limited to, regulations relating to —

This section applies if the Director‑General considers that any person is capable of giving information that is relevant to a declaration required to be given by Singapore to the Organisation under the Convention.

The Director‑General may, by written notice given to the person, require the person to give such information to the Director‑General —

The Director‑General may, by written notice given to a person, require the person to give to the Director‑General particular documents, or documents of a particular kind, specified in the notice, within such reasonable period as is specified in the notice.

Any person who, without reasonable cause, intentionally or recklessly refuses or fails to comply with a notice under this section to the extent that the person is capable of complying with it shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $6,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

The power of the Director‑General under this section to require a person to give information or documents to the Director‑General is in addition to any obligation to give information or documents that the person may have under section 12.

The purpose of this Part is to facilitate inspections —

A reference in this section and in sections 16 and 21 to a compliance purpose is a reference to the purpose of —

A reference in sections 16, 18 and 21 to an inspection power is a reference to a power to —

A power referred to in subsection (3)(a), (b), (c), (d), (h) or (i) may only be exercised in a manner that the person authorised to exercise it believes, on reasonable grounds, to be in accordance with safety procedures applicable at the premises.

All authorised officers are national inspectors for the purposes of this Act.

The Director‑General may appoint in writing other persons to be national inspectors.

A national inspector may —

In order to facilitate an inspection, an international inspector may be accompanied by one or more of the following persons:

A national inspector may exercise any inspection power for the purposes of facilitating an inspection referred to in section 17.

In subsection (1)(a), “observer” means an observer referred to in paragraph 12 of Article IX of the Convention, and includes any person authorised by the Director‑General to observe the inspection.

The Director‑General may, by written notice, issue directions to any person for the purpose of facilitating any inspection under this Part.

Any person who wilfully fails to comply with any direction given by the Director‑General under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $6,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

A national inspector may apply for a warrant where the consent of the person in control of any premises to enter the premises to exercise any inspection powers for a compliance purpose cannot be obtained or where the person refuses to give the consent.

Subject to subsection (3), a Magistrate who is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that —

The national inspector applying for a warrant must —

The Director‑General may apply for a warrant on behalf of an international inspector or national inspector where the consent of the person who is in control of any premises to enter the premises for the purposes referred to in section 17(e) and (f) cannot be obtained or where the person refuses to give the consent.

Subject to subsection (3), a Magistrate who is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that —

The Director‑General must —

Every national inspector must —

Every national inspector must —

Any person who wilfully obstructs, hinders, resists, or deceives any national inspector or international inspector who is exercising any function contemplated, or any power provided for, in this Part or the Convention or any applicable facility agreement shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $15,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

Nothing in this section applies to a refusal to give consent to entry by a national inspector who is not acting pursuant to a warrant referred to in section 21 or 22.

Nothing in this section applies to a refusal to give consent to entry by an international inspector who is not acting pursuant to a warrant referred to in section 22.

Every person must keep confidential any information that is given pursuant to this Act or the Convention concerning the affairs of another person.

Such information may be disclosed only with the consent of the person to whose affairs it relates or for the purpose of —

Any person who fails to comply with this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $6,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

If a Magistrate is satisfied, on information on oath, that there is reasonable ground for suspecting that an offence under this Act is being, has been or is about to be committed on any premises or that evidence of the commission of such an offence is to be found there, the Magistrate may issue a warrant in writing to an authorised officer to enter the premises, if necessary by force, at any time within one month from the time of the issue of the warrant and to search the premises.

An authorised officer who enters the premises under the authority of the warrant may —

A woman or girl must not be searched except by a woman.

Any person who wilfully obstructs, hinders, resists or deceives any authorised officer in entering the premises concerned or in exercising any of the powers referred to in subsection (2) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $15,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

The Director‑General may compound any offence under this Act that is prescribed as a compoundable offence by collecting from a person reasonably suspected of having committed the offence a sum not exceeding —

The Minister may make regulations to prescribe the offences which may be compounded.

The Minister may make regulations for any matter that is necessary or desirable for the purposes of implementing this Act or the Convention, or any agreement that is concluded between Singapore and the Organisation pursuant to the Convention.

Without limiting subsection (1), regulations may be made —