Singapore legislation
Section 46
Section 46
Power to require information, etc.
(1)
The Postal Authority or any officer of the Postal Authority authorised in that behalf may, for the purpose of conducting an investigation or discharging its functions under this Act, by order —
require any person to provide the Postal Authority with any information in the person’s possession which relates to any postal service or postal system or the public parcel locker network or any part of the public parcel locker network; and
require any person who has in the person’s custody or under the person’s control any document which relates to any postal service or postal system or the public parcel locker network or any part of the public parcel locker network —
to provide the Postal Authority with a copy of or extract from the document; or
unless the document forms part of the records or other documents of a court or public authority, to transmit the document itself to the Postal Authority for its inspection.
(2)
The Postal Authority or any officer authorised by it in that behalf is entitled without payment to keep any copy or extract provided to the Postal Authority under subsection (1).
(3)
The Postal Authority or any officer authorised by it in that behalf must at all reasonable times in the day have full and free access to all buildings, places, books, documents and other papers for the purpose of discharging the Postal Authority’s functions under this Act, and may, without payment, inspect, copy or make extracts from any such books, documents or papers.
(4)
The Postal Authority or any officer authorised by it in that behalf may take possession of any books, documents or papers where in the opinion of the Postal Authority —
the books, documents or papers may be interfered with or destroyed unless possession is taken; or
the books, documents or papers may be required as evidence in proceedings for an offence under this Act or any regulations made under this Act.
(5)
The rights conferred by this section include, in relation to information recorded otherwise than in legible form, the right to require the information to be made available in legible form for inspection or for a copy or extract to be made of or from it.
(6)
The power under this section to require a person to produce a document includes the power —
if the document is produced, to require the person, or any person who is a present or past officer of that person or is or was at any time employed by that person, to provide an explanation of the document; or
if the document is not produced, to require the person to state, to the best of that person’s knowledge and belief, where it is.
(7)
A person who —
fails to comply with any requirement specified in any order under subsection (1);
intentionally alters, suppresses or destroys any document which the person has been required under subsection (1) to provide or transmit; or
in providing any information required of the person under subsection (1), makes any statement which the person knows to be false in a material particular, or recklessly makes any statement which is false in a material particular,shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $50 for every day or part of a day during which the offence continues after conviction.
(8)
If a person is charged with an offence under subsection (7) in respect of a requirement to produce any document or information under subsection (1), it is a defence for the person to prove that —
the document was not in the person’s possession or under the person’s control;
it was not reasonably practicable for the person to comply with the requirement; or
the person had a reasonable excuse for failing to provide the information required.
(9)
No person is by virtue of this section obliged to disclose any particulars as to which the person is under any statutory obligation to observe secrecy.
(10)
In this section, “document” includes any electronic record within the meaning of the Electronic Transactions Act 2010.