Regulation of Importsand Exports Act 1995 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 4 · Enforcement and Monitoring Compliance
28A. Penalty for incorrect trade descriptions
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Any person who imports, exports or tranships any goods and —
goods
“goods” means any movable or personal property whatsoever but does not include choses in action and money (except for a collector’s piece, an investment article or item of numismatic interest and currency notes imported or exported in substantial quantities);
applies or causes to be applied to the goods an incorrect trade description; or
has in the person’s possession for sale or for any purpose of trade any goods to which an incorrect trade description has been applied,shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction —
in respect of a first offence, to a fine not exceeding $100,000 or 3 times the value of the goods in respect of which the offence was committed, whichever is the greater, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both; and
in respect of a second or subsequent offence, to a fine not exceeding $200,000 or 4 times the value of the goods in respect of which the offence was committed, whichever is the greater, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both.
For the purpose of subsection (1), a person is treated as applying a trade description to goods if the person —
affixes or annexes the trade description to, or in any manner marks the trade description on or incorporates it with —
the goods themselves; or
anything in, on or with which the goods are supplied;
places the goods in or with anything that the trade description has been affixed or annexed to, marked on or incorporated with or places any such thing with the goods; or
uses the trade description in any manner likely to be taken as referring to the goods.
For the purpose of subsection (1), where the goods are for export or transhipment and the ultimate destination of the goods is a foreign country which has entered into a prescribed agreement with Singapore, a trade description applied to such goods is treated as being incorrect if it is not in accordance with any rules of origin specified in that agreement.
export
“export” means to take or cause to be taken out of Singapore by land, water or air and includes the placing of any goods in a conveyance for the purpose of the goods being taken out of Singapore but does not include the taking out from Singapore of any goods on the same conveyance on which they were brought into Singapore unless such goods after being brought into Singapore have been landed or transhipped within Singapore;
For the purpose of subsection (1), a person mentioned in that subsection is treated as being in possession of goods if the person is in any way entitled to the custody or control of those goods.
Without affecting the provisions of this Act, for the purpose of determining whether an offence under subsection (1) is being or has been committed, an authorised officer may —
at any reasonable time enter upon the premises of any person mentioned in subsection (1) and carry out an inspection of those premises; and
require any person —
to furnish any information within the person’s knowledge; or
to produce for inspection any book or document within the person’s custody or possession, and to provide copies of or extracts from such book or document.
In this section —
“foreign country” means any country or territory outside Singapore;
“prescribed agreement” means an agreement between Singapore and a foreign country which is prescribed as an agreement for the purpose of subsection (3);
“trade description” means any description, statement or indication which, directly or indirectly and by whatever means given, relates to the place of origin, manufacture or production of the goods.