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Subsidiary Legislation

Maintenance of Religious Harmony (Donation Reporting and Foreign Influence Disclosure) Regulations 2022

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Part 1

Preliminary

Official textFrom Singapore Statutes Online, unchanged

reg 1Citation and commencement

These Regulations are the Maintenance of Religious Harmony (Donation Reporting and Foreign Influence Disclosure) Regulations 2022 and come into operation on 1 November 2022.

Subregulation 1

In these Regulations —

“appeal” means an appeal to the Minister under section 16D(5) or 16E(5) of the Act;

“appeal proceedings” means proceedings under Part 4 in connection with an appeal against an appealable decision;

“appealable decision” means —

(a)

a direction of the competent authority under section 16D(3) of the Act; or

(b)

a direction of the competent authority under section 16E(3) of the Act;

“Appeals Secretary” means the Appeals Secretary appointed under regulation 11;

“appellant” means any of the following who is aggrieved by the appealable decision in question:

(a)

if the appealable decision is a direction of the competent authority under section 16D(3) of the Act —

(i)

the religious group to which the direction is given; or

(ii)

the individual required to be removed in the direction;

(b)

if the appealable decision is a direction of the competent authority under section 16E(3) of the Act —

(i)

the religious group to which the direction is given; or

(ii)

the individual required to be removed in the direction;

“appropriate form”, in relation to any purpose for which a specific form is required by these Regulations to be used, means the relevant form that is provided by the competent authority and is set out on the website at http://www.mha.gov.sg/mha‑e‑services;

“authorised representative”, in relation to an entity making an appeal, means a responsible officer of the entity authorised by the entity to act for the entity in relation to the appeal;

“contact address”, for an appellant, means any of the following nominated by the appellant for the receiving of documents, notices or orders under the Act:

(a)

a residential address in Singapore; (b)a place of business or work in Singapore;

(c)

an email address or a social media account;

“identity particulars” means —

(a)

for an individual — his or her full name, and the number of his or her passport or other identity document; or

(b)

for an entity —

(i)

the full name of the entity;

(ii)

the country in which the entity was incorporated or otherwise formed; and

(iii)

the Unique Entity Number (UEN) of the entity, where available;

“parties”, in relation to any appeal against an appealable decision, means the appellant against the appealable decision and the competent authority, and “party” in Part 4 means either one of them;

“reportable arrangement or agreement” means an arrangement or agreement described in section 16B(1) of the Act;

“reporting period”, for a donation report and a foreign affiliation report of a religious group, has the meaning given by sections 16A(6) and 16B(6), respectively, of the Act;

“section 16D trigger date” means the date declared by the Minister under section 16D(1) of the Act;

“section 16E trigger date” means the date declared by the Minister under section 16E(1) of the Act;

“section 16E(2) requirement” means the requirement in section 16E(2) of the Act that more than half of the total number of seats in the governing body of a religious group must be occupied or held by individuals who are citizens of Singapore;

“working day” means any day except a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday.

Subregulation 2

Where the time specified by these Regulations for doing any act expires on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the act is in time if done on the next following working day.

Subregulation 3

Where strict compliance with an appropriate form is not possible, the competent authority may allow for the necessary modifications to be made to that form, or for the requirements of that form to be complied with in any other manner that the competent authority thinks fit.

reg 2ASection 2 of Act — responsible officers

(1)

Paragraph (2) applies in relation to a religious group that is not described in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of the definition of “responsible officer” in section 2 of the Act.

(2)

For the purposes of paragraph (d) of the definition of “responsible officer” in section 2 of the Act, each of the following persons is prescribed as a responsible officer of a religious group:

(a)

if the religious group is a sole proprietorship — the sole proprietor;

(b)

if the religious group is a trustee of an express trust — the trustee;

(c)

if the religious group is an express trust — a trustee of the express trust;

(d)

if the religious group is a mutual benefit organisation as defined by section 2 of the Mutual Benefit Organisations Act 1960 —

(i)

the president, secretary and treasurer of the organisation; and

(ii)

if an office mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) is vacant — a person carrying out the duties of that office;

(e)

if the religious group is a platform work association as defined by section 19 of the Platform Workers Act 2024 —

(i)

the president, secretary and treasurer of the platform work association; and

(ii)

if an office mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) is vacant — a person carrying out the duties of that office;

(f)

if the religious group is a society as defined by section 2(1) of the Co-operative Societies Act 1979 —

(i)

the chairperson, secretary and treasurer of the society; and

(ii)

if an office mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) is vacant — a person carrying out the duties of that office;

(g)

if the religious group is a trade union as defined by section 2 of the Trade Unions Act 1940 —

(i)

the president, secretary and treasurer of the trade union; and

(ii)

if an office mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) is vacant — a person carrying out the duties of that office;

(h)

if the religious group is a body corporate that is not described in sub‑paragraphs (b) to (g) —

(i)

a person holding the office of chairperson, managing director or company secretary of the body corporate or any position analogous to any of those offices in that body corporate; and

(ii)

if an office mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) is vacant — a person carrying out the duties of that office;

(i)

if the religious group is an unincorporated body of persons that is not described in sub‑paragraphs (a) to (g) —

(i)

a person holding the office of president, secretary or treasurer of the unincorporated body of persons, or any position analogous to any of those offices in that body; and

(ii)

if an office mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) is vacant — a person carrying out the duties of that office.

Subregulation 1

Paragraph (2) applies in relation to a religious group that is not described in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of the definition of “responsible officer” in section 2 of the Act.

Subregulation 2

For the purposes of paragraph (d) of the definition of “responsible officer” in section 2 of the Act, each of the following persons is prescribed as a responsible officer of a religious group:

(a)

if the religious group is a sole proprietorship — the sole proprietor;

(b)

if the religious group is a trustee of an express trust — the trustee;

(c)

if the religious group is an express trust — a trustee of the express trust;

(d)

if the religious group is a mutual benefit organisation as defined by section 2 of the Mutual Benefit Organisations Act 1960 —

(i)

the president, secretary and treasurer of the organisation; and

(ii)

if an office mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) is vacant — a person carrying out the duties of that office;

(e)

if the religious group is a platform work association as defined by section 19 of the Platform Workers Act 2024 —

(i)

the president, secretary and treasurer of the platform work association; and

(ii)

if an office mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) is vacant — a person carrying out the duties of that office;

(f)

if the religious group is a society as defined by section 2(1) of the Co-operative Societies Act 1979 —

(i)

the chairperson, secretary and treasurer of the society; and

(ii)

if an office mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) is vacant — a person carrying out the duties of that office;

(g)

if the religious group is a trade union as defined by section 2 of the Trade Unions Act 1940 —

(i)

the president, secretary and treasurer of the trade union; and

(ii)

if an office mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) is vacant — a person carrying out the duties of that office;

(h)

if the religious group is a body corporate that is not described in sub‑paragraphs (b) to (g) —

(i)

a person holding the office of chairperson, managing director or company secretary of the body corporate or any position analogous to any of those offices in that body corporate; and

(ii)

if an office mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) is vacant — a person carrying out the duties of that office;

(i)

if the religious group is an unincorporated body of persons that is not described in sub‑paragraphs (a) to (g) —

(i)

a person holding the office of president, secretary or treasurer of the unincorporated body of persons, or any position analogous to any of those offices in that body; and

(ii)

if an office mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) is vacant — a person carrying out the duties of that office.

Part 2

Donation Reporting

Read on from Part 2

Part 3

Affiliations and Management Reporting

Read on from Part 3

Part 4

Appeal Proceedings

Read on from Part 4