Wholesome Meat and Fish Act 1999 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 2 · Control of Import, Export and Transhipment of Meat Products and Fish Products
6. Prohibition of import, export or transhipment of meat products or fish products without permit
Feedback & supportLast amended by an amending law of 2021.
A licensee must not import any meat product or fish product for sale, supply or distribution in Singapore unless —
meat product
“meat product” means —(a)a carcase or any part of a carcase; and(b)any product or by-product of a carcase,which is intended for human consumption;
the licensee has obtained a permit from the Director‑General in respect of each consignment of meat products or fish products to be imported by the licensee and the import of each such consignment is carried out in accordance with the conditions of the permit;
the whole consignment conforms to the description as contained in the permit;
the whole consignment meets with the prescribed standards; and
the meat products or fish products constituting the consignment are packaged and labelled in the prescribed manner.
A licensee must not export any meat product or fish product from Singapore to any country, territory or place unless —
fish product
“fish product” means —(a)any fish or part of a fish; and(b)any product or by-product of any fish,which is intended for human consumption;
the licensee has obtained a permit from the Director‑General in respect of each consignment of meat products or fish products to be exported by the licensee and the export of each such consignment is carried out in accordance with the conditions of the permit;
the whole consignment to be exported conforms to the description as contained in the permit;
in the case of a consignment of meat products, the whole consignment has been derived from animals which have been slaughtered in slaughter‑houses licensed under this Act or from meat products which have been imported in accordance with this Act;
the whole consignment has been processed in a processing establishment licensed under this Act;
in the case of a consignment which requires to be stored in a cold store, the cold store in which the consignment has been or is being stored is licensed under this Act;
the licensee provides the Director‑General with satisfactory evidence that the whole consignment meets with the requirements of the country to which it is being exported; and
the meat products or fish products constituting the consignment are packaged and labelled in the prescribed manner.
A licensee must not tranship any meat product or fish product in Singapore unless the licensee has obtained a permit from the Director‑General in respect of each consignment of meat products or fish products to be transhipped by the licensee and the transhipment is carried out in accordance with the conditions of the permit.
tranship
“tranship”, with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means to bring any goods into Singapore by land, sea or air from any place which is outside Singapore and then to remove those goods from the conveyance in which they were brought into Singapore and —(a)return them to that same conveyance; or(b)transfer them to another conveyance for the purpose of being taken out of Singapore,whether those goods are to be transferred directly between conveyances or whether they are to be landed in Singapore after they were brought into Singapore and stored, pending their being taken out of Singapore;
Any licensee who contravenes or fails to comply with subsection (1), (2) or (3) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both and, in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding $20,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both.
Subject to subsection (6), in any proceedings for an offence under subsection (4), it is a defence for the person charged to prove —
that the commission of the offence was due to the act or default of another person or to some other cause beyond the control of the person charged; and
that the person charged took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of such an offence by the person charged or by any person under the control of the person charged.
If in any proceedings the defence provided by subsection (5) involves the allegation that the commission of the offence was due to the act or default of another person, the person charged is not, without permission of the court, entitled to rely on that defence unless, within a period ending 7 clear days before the hearing, the person charged has served on the prosecutor a written notice giving such information as was then in the possession of the person charged identifying or assisting in the identification of that other person.
In this section, “licensee” means any person who has obtained a licence as required under section 5 for the import, export or transhipment of any meat product or fish product.