Customs (Amendment) Bill

This Act may be cited as the Customs (Amendment) Act, 1968.

Section 3 of the Customs Ordinance, 1960 (hereinafter in this Act referred to as “the Ordinance”) is hereby amended by deleting the definition of “customs duty” appearing therein and substituting therefor the following definition: —“ “customs duty” means any import or excise duty imposed by or under this Ordinance;”.

Section 11 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —

The Ordinance is hereby amended by inserting immediately after section 14 thereof the following section: —“Relief from duty on Singaporemade goods reimported14A. Goods manufactured, assembled or produced in Singapore which are not subject to excise duties and which have been exported may be imported or brought back into Singapore without payment of import duty if it is shown to the satisfaction of the Comptroller —

Subsection (1) of section 15 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —

Subsection (2) of section 16 of the Ordinance is hereby deleted and the following substituted therefor: —“(2) Such special tax shall be levied in accordance with such scales as may from time to time be prescribed by the Minister by order published in the Gazette.”.

Section 18 of the Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —“Payment of duty, etc., short levied or erroneously refunded

18. Whenever any customs duty, tax, fee or other charge under this Ordinance has been short levied or erroneously refunded for any reason or owing to any cause, the person who should have paid the amount short levied or to whom the refund has erroneously been made shall pay the deficiency or repay the amount erroneously refunded to him on demand being made within one year from the date of the short levy or refund, and without prejudice to any other remedy for the recovery of the amount due, any dutiable goods belonging to such person which may be in customs control may be detained until the deficiency be paid or the refund be repaid, as the case may be:Provided that where the short levy or erroneous refund does not exceed five dollars in any one case, the Comptroller may waive the recovery of such short levy or erroneous refund.”.

Subsection (8) of section 20 of the Ordinance is hereby amended by deleting the word “Malayan” appearing in the second line of paragraph (c) thereof and substituting therefor the word “Singapore”.

Section 24 of the Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —“Import of trade samples24.—

Subsection (2) of section 25 of the Ordinance is hereby amended by deleting the words “from the States of Malaya” appearing in the second and third lines thereof.

Section 28 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —

Section 29 of the Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —“Permit not used to be returned in twenty-four hours

29. Any person who has obtained a permit to remove any goods from customs control and has not availed himself thereof shall, within twenty-four hours of the expiry of the permit, or as soon thereafter as the office of the proper officer of customs is open for business, return such permit to the office of the proper officer of customs.”.

Section 31 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —

Section 33 of the Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —“Particulars of goods inwards to be furnished

33. The master or agent of every vessel and the pilot or agent of every aircraft arriving in Singapore or the station-master at the railway station on the arrival of every train shall, within twenty-four hours after arrival of the vessel, aircraft or train, or within such further period as the Comptroller may in his discretion allow, furnish to the proper officer of customs at the customs office designated by the Comptroller a full and correct inward manifest, certified by such master, pilot, agent or station-master, containing all particulars as to quantity, marks and description of goods destined for Singapore and shall in the case of every vessel or aircraft, in like manner, furnish a full and correct transhipment manifest and a list of sea or air stores on board the vessel or aircraft.”.

Subsection (1) of section 34 of the Ordinance is hereby deleted and the following substituted therefor: —“(1) Within one month of the arrival of a vessel, aircraft or train, the master or agent of the vessel or the pilot or agent of the aircraft or the station-master shall present to the proper officer of customs a certified amendment to the manifest required by section 33 of this Ordinance due to short-shipment, short-landing, overlanding or any other cause.”.

Section 35 of the Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —“Particulars of goods exported to be furnished

35. Within forty-eight hours of the departure of every ship, aircraft or train or within such further period as the Comptroller may in his discretion allow, the owner or agent of such vessel or aircraft or the station-master of the railway station shall furnish to the proper officer of customs a full and correct outward manifest of all goods exported thereon, or which have been taken aboard such ship or aircraft as sea or air stores, and shall in like manner furnish a full and correct statement of all goods transhipped.”.

Subsection (3) of section 70 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —

Section 72 of the Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —“Drawback on goods used in manufacture

72. Where any goods are prescribed to be goods in respect of which drawback may be allowed on exportation as part or ingredient of any goods manufactured in Singapore and such prescribed goods are so exported by the manufacturer as part or ingredient of any goods manufactured in Singapore, then if customs duty has been paid on such prescribed goods and not drawn back the Comptroller may, on such exportation, allow to the manufacturer a drawback of the duty so paid at such rates as may be prescribed, if —

Section 78 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —

Section 97 of the Ordinance is hereby amended by inserting, immediately after subsection (8) thereof, the following subsections: —“(9) A senior officer of customs may in his discretion release any goods seized under the provisions of this section to the importer or owner thereof subject to such conditions and on such security as that officer may determine.(10) The security required under subsection (9) of this section may be by cash deposit or bank guarantee or both.”.

Subsection (1) of section 112 of the Ordinance is hereby amended by deleting the words “six hundred” appearing in the last line thereof and substituting therefor the words “one thousand”.