Public Service (Disciplinary Proceedings) Regulations 2023

The complainant must give the accused officer a notice of complaint.

The notice of complaint must be in writing and must set out —

The notice of complaint must be approved by the Commission before it is given to the accused officer.

After the accused officer is given the notice of complaint, he or she must not resign without the prior permission of the Commission.

Paragraph (4) ceases to apply on the date on which the Commission’s decision on the complaint takes effect.

In deciding on the complaint, the Commission must consider —

If the Commission decides that the case against the accused officer is proved on a balance of probabilities —

If the Commission considers that the results of any investigation disclose grounds to require the accused officer to retire in the public interest (whether or not the case against the accused officer is proved on a balance of probabilities) —

The Commission must inform the complainant of its decision.

The complainant must cause the accused officer to be given written notice of the Commission’s decision.

The Commission’s decision takes effect on the date after the day on which the written notice is given to the accused officer, unless some other date is specified in the written notice at the direction of the Commission.

The complainant must reduce the complaint into one or more charges.

A charge must be definite.

Every charge must be approved by the Commission.

The complainant must give the accused officer written notice (called in this Division the notice of charge) about —

After the accused officer is given the notice of charge, he or she must not resign without the prior permission of the Commission.

Paragraph (2) ceases to apply on the date on which the Commission’s decision on the complaint takes effect.

The accused officer may reply in writing to the notice of charge.

The reply must be given within 14 working days after the notice of charge is given.

If the accused officer fails to reply within the time in paragraph (2), the complainant must give the accused officer a written reminder, which must state that —

For the purposes of this regulation, the accused officer is taken to have replied to the notice of charge even if his or her reply does not dispute the charge.

Subject to this regulation, the Commission must appoint a Committee and refer the charge or charges in the notice of charge against the accused officer to the Committee.

The Commission may decline to refer a charge in the notice of charge to a Committee if —

If the Commission declines to refer any charge in the notice of charge to a Committee, a Committee need not be appointed.

If a charge against the accused officer is not referred to a Committee, the Commission may proceed to decide on the charge in accordance with regulation 29.

In an inquiry (whether or not by way of an oral hearing), the Committee may permit the accused officer to be represented by —

The public officer mentioned in paragraph (1)(b) must not be senior in rank to —

For the purposes of paragraph (1)(c) —

In an inquiry (whether or not by way of an oral hearing), the Commission may direct the Committee to inquire into a fresh charge against the accused officer.

In the direction, the Commission must specify whether the fresh charge is in addition to, or in substitution of, the original charge.

The fresh charge must —

On receiving the direction, the Committee must immediately suspend the inquiry.

The accused officer must be given a fresh notice of charge, which must set out —

The accused officer may, within 14 working days after the fresh notice of charge is given, reply in writing to that notice.

The Committee may resume the inquiry only after —

Without limiting regulation 35, the Committee may consider any evidence given in respect of the original charge if the evidence is relevant to the fresh charge.

An inquiry must be by way of an oral hearing unless —

In an inquiry by way of an oral hearing, regulations 20 to 25 apply.

The accused officer must be informed of the date on which the oral hearing starts.

The accused officer must attend the oral hearing.

However, if the accused officer is absent without reasonable cause —

At the oral hearing, the accused officer may —

If a document is to be admitted in evidence at the oral hearing, the accused officer must be given access to the information in the document at a reasonable time before the document is admitted.

To avoid doubt, the Committee is not responsible for securing the attendance of any witness whom the accused officer wishes to call.

The Committee must proceed with the oral hearing from day to day, and must not adjourn except in accordance with this regulation.

An adjournment must be recorded in the report of the Committee.

An adjournment must not exceed 14 days unless permission is given by the Commission.

If the Committee is satisfied that the accused officer or the representative of the accused officer is impeding the oral hearing, the Committee must warn the accused officer or the representative.

If the Committee is satisfied that a warning under paragraph (1) is being disregarded, the Committee —

In this regulation, “impeding” —

The Committee must submit its report on the charge against the accused officer within 14 working days (or any longer time allowed by the Commission) after the end of the oral hearing.

The Committee’s report must comply with regulation 27.

The Committee’s report under regulation 25 or 26 —

The Committee’s report must include an annex setting out the information obtained by the Committee, whether from an oral hearing or elsewhere.

The annex must be in the form of a narrative instead of questions and answers, but the Committee may record any question and answer if it sees fit.

The Commission may, at any time during an inquiry or after the Committee submits its report —

The accused officer must be given at least 14 days’ notice of any further meeting of the Committee pursuant to paragraph (1).

In deciding on the charge against the accused officer, the Commission must consider —

If the Commission decides that the charge against the accused officer is proved on a balance of probabilities, the Commission may decide to take one (and only one) of the following actions:

The Commission must inform the complainant of its decision.

The complainant must cause the accused officer to be given written notice of the Commission’s decision.

The Commission’s decision takes effect on the date after the day on which the written notice is given to the accused officer, unless some other date is specified by the Commission.

If the accused officer is dismissed, he or she forfeits all claim to any allowance or other benefit that he or she would have enjoyed but for the dismissal.

The members of a Committee are to be appointed by the Commission from a panel.

For the purposes of paragraph (1) —

The Commission must cause each member of a Committee to be notified of the member’s appointment.

An allowance must be paid in accordance with this regulation to the member of a Committee who is not a public officer.

In a case where the Committee holds an inquiry by way of an oral hearing —

In a case where the Committee holds an inquiry other than by way of an oral hearing, the allowance is to be at a rate determined by the Permanent Secretary.

In this regulation, “Permanent Secretary” means the Permanent Secretary for the Public Service Division of the Prime Minister’s Office.

This regulation applies if criminal proceedings are pending against a public officer.

While the criminal proceedings are pending, the public officer must not resign without the prior permission of the Commission.

A complaint may still be made against the public officer under Part 2, and proceedings under Part 2 on the complaint may start and continue.

However, if charges against the public officer have been brought under Division 3 of Part 2 (proceedings where dismissal or demotion contemplated), the Commission must not decide on any charge that is based on grounds that are related to the subject matter of the criminal proceedings.

For the purposes of this regulation —

This regulation applies if a public officer is convicted of an offence by a court.

The Commission may start proceedings under this regulation to dismiss, demote or otherwise punish the public officer.

In proceedings under this regulation —

In deciding whether to punish the public officer, the Commission may consider —

Unless the Commission directs otherwise, the public officer is not entitled to any emoluments for the period —

If the public officer had his or her increment withheld while the proceedings for the offence are pending, the Commission may order the withheld increment to be forfeited in addition to any other punishment imposed by the Commission.

If the public officer is dismissed in proceedings under this regulation, he or she forfeits all claim to any allowance or other benefit that he or she would have enjoyed but for his or her dismissal.

A public officer who is convicted of an offence by a court must not resign unless —

For the purposes of paragraph (8)(b), proceedings for the offence are treated as not having been determined if —

This regulation applies if a public officer is acquitted of an offence.

To avoid doubt, a complaint may still be made against the public officer under Part 2, and proceedings under Part 2 on the complaint may start and continue.

The Commission may interdict a public officer from the exercise of the functions and powers of his or her office if —

In this regulation, “Permanent Secretary” includes a person who may make a complaint against the public officer.

If a public officer is interdicted, the Commission may order that his or her emoluments —

However, the emoluments of the public officer must not continue to be withheld under paragraph (1)(b) if none of the circumstances in regulation 41(1)(a) apply to the public officer.

In a case where a public officer is interdicted and has his or her emoluments withheld under regulation 42, the Commission may order that the withheld emoluments be wholly or partly forfeited if any of the following occurs (whether before, during or after the interdiction):

To avoid doubt, any emoluments of a public officer withheld under regulation 42 must be paid to the public officer if —

The Commission must cause the public officer to be given a written notice about the prima facie grounds for requiring him or her to retire in the public interest.

After the public officer is given the written notice, he or she must not resign without the prior permission of the Commission.

Paragraph (2) ceases to apply on the date on which the Commission’s decision in the proceedings takes effect.

The Commission must call for a report from the Permanent Secretary under whom the public officer is serving.

The Commission may call for a report from any Permanent Secretary under whom the public officer has served.

In this regulation, “Permanent Secretary” includes a person who may make a complaint against the public officer (except a member of the Commission).

After considering the following matters, the Commission may require the public officer to retire in the public interest:

If the public officer is required to retire in the public interest —

The Public Service (Disciplinary Proceedings) Regulations (Rg 1) (called in this regulation the former Regulations) are revoked.

However, any proceeding pending under the former Regulations immediately before 19 January 2023 are to be disposed of in accordance with the former Regulations as if the former Regulations have not been revoked.