Notices and other documents may be given by authorised officer
63.—(1) All notices and other documents of any nature that the Agency is empowered to give under this Act may, subject to the direction of the Agency, be given by any authorised officer on behalf of the Agency.
(2) Where any such notice or document mentioned in subsection (1) requires authentication, the signature or an official facsimile of the signature of any authorised officer affixed to the notice or document is sufficient authentication.
Inaccuracies in document
64.—(1) No misnomer or inaccurate description of any person, place or thing named or described in any document prepared, issued or served under, by virtue of or for the purposes of this Act affects the operation of this Act in any way as respects that person, place or thing if that person, place or thing is so designated in the document as to be identifiable.
(2) No proceedings taken under or by virtue of this Act are invalid for want of form.
Evidence
65.—(1) The contents of any record, register or document prepared, issued or served by the Agency or any authorised officer under or for the purposes of this Act are presumed to be correct until the contrary is proved.
(2) The Minister may prescribe for any record, register or document kept by the Agency or any authorised officer for the purposes of this Act to be public documents, in whole or in part.
(3) Copies of or extracts from any record, register or document mentioned in subsection (1) that are —(a)
certified by an officer or employee of the Agency to be true copies or extracts, as the case may be; and
(b)
signed by the officer or employee with the name and official title of the officer or employee,
are admissible in evidence as proof of the contents of or extracts from the record, register or document.
(4) In any suit under this section, a certificate signed by an authorised officer stating the name of the registered person and the amount of any tax, financial penalty or amount due from the registered person is sufficient evidence of the amount so due until the contrary is proved.
Disclosure of information
66. The Agency may provide any information or document obtained under this Act by the Agency or any authorised officer, to any of the public officers or statutory bodies set out in the Fourth Schedule for the purpose of enabling the performance or discharge by the public officer or statutory body of the functions or duties of the public officer or statutory body generally or as specified in that Schedule.
Service of documents
67.—(1) A document that is permitted or required under this Act to be served on a person may be served as described in this section.
(2) A document permitted or required under this Act to be served on an individual may be served —(a)
by giving it to the individual personally;
(b)
by sending it by prepaid registered post to the address specified by the individual for the service of documents or, if no address is so specified, the individual’s residential address or business address;
(c)
by leaving it at the individual’s residential address with an adult apparently resident there, or at the individual’s business address with an adult apparently employed there;
(d)
by affixing a copy of the document in a conspicuous place at the individual’s residential address or business address;
(e)
by sending it by fax to the fax number last known to the person giving or serving the document as the fax number for the service of documents on the individual;
(f)
by sending it by email to the individual’s email address; or
(g)
by transmitting an electronic record of it to an account that the individual has with any electronic transactions service.
(3) A document permitted or required under this Act to be served on a partnership (other than a limited liability partnership) may be served —(a)
by giving it to any partner or other like officer of the partnership;
(b)
by leaving it at, or by sending it by prepaid registered post to, the partnership’s business address;
(c)
by sending it by fax to the fax number used at the partnership’s business address;
(d)
by sending it by email to the partnership’s email address; or
(e)
by transmitting an electronic record of it to an account that the partnership has with any electronic transactions service.
(4) A document permitted or required under this Act to be served on a body corporate (including a limited liability partnership) or an unincorporated association may be served —(a)
by giving it to the secretary or other like officer of the body corporate or unincorporated association or the limited liability partnership’s manager;
(b)
by leaving it at, or by sending it by prepaid registered post to, the body corporate’s or unincorporated association’s registered office or principal office in Singapore;
(c)
by sending it by fax to the fax number used at the body corporate’s or unincorporated association’s registered office or principal office in Singapore;
(d)
by sending it by email to the body corporate’s or unincorporated association’s email address; or
(e)
by transmitting an electronic record of it to an account that the body corporate or unincorporated association has with any electronic transactions service.
(5) Service of a document under this section takes effect —(a)
if the document is sent by fax and a notification of successful transmission is received, on the day of transmission;
(b)
if the document is sent by email, at the time that the email becomes capable of being retrieved by the person to whom it is sent;
(c)
if the document is sent by prepaid registered post, 2 days after the day the document was posted (even if it is returned undelivered); and
(d)
if the document is sent through any electronic transactions service, at the time when the electronic record of the document enters the person’s account with the electronic transactions service.
(6) A document may be served on a person under this Act by email only with that person’s prior written consent.
(7) This section does not apply to documents to be served in proceedings in court.
(8) In this section —“business address” means —(a)
in the case of an individual, the individual’s usual or last known place of business in Singapore; or
(b)
in the case of a partnership (other than a limited liability partnership), the partnership’s principal or last known place of business in Singapore;
“document” includes a direction, order or notice permitted or required under this Act to be served;
“email address” means the last email address given by the addressee concerned to the person giving or serving the document as the email address for the service of documents under this Act;
“residential address” means an individual’s usual or last known place of residence in Singapore.
Offences by corporations
68.—(1) Where, in a proceeding for an offence under this Act, it is necessary to prove the state of mind of a corporation in relation to a particular conduct, evidence that —(a)
an officer, employee or agent of the corporation engaged in that conduct within the scope of the actual or apparent authority of the officer, employee or agent; and
(b)
the officer, employee or agent had that state of mind,
is evidence that the corporation had that state of mind.
(2) Where a corporation commits an offence under this Act, a person —(a)
who is —(i)
an officer of the corporation; or
(ii)
an individual involved in the management of the corporation and in a position to influence the conduct of the corporation in relation to the commission of the offence; and
(b)
who —(i)
consented or connived, or conspired with others, to effect the commission of the offence;
(ii)
is in any other way, whether by act or omission, knowingly concerned in, or is party to, the commission of the offence by the corporation; or
(iii)
knew or ought reasonably to have known that the offence by the corporation (or an offence of the same type) would be or is being committed, and failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent or stop the commission of that offence,
shall be guilty of the same offence as is the corporation, and shall be liable on conviction to be punished accordingly.
(3) A person mentioned in subsection (2) may rely on a defence that would be available to the corporation if it were charged with the offence with which the person is charged and, in doing so, the person bears the same burden of proof that the corporation would bear.
(4) To avoid doubt, this section does not affect the application of —(a)
Chapters 5 and 5A of the Penal Code 1871; or
(b)
the Evidence Act 1893 or any other law or practice regarding the admissibility of evidence.
(5) To avoid doubt, subsection (2) also does not affect the liability of the corporation for an offence under this Act, and applies whether or not the corporation is convicted of the offence.
(6) In this section —“corporation” includes a limited liability partnership within the meaning of section 2(1) of the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2005;
“officer”, in relation to a corporation, means any director, partner, chief executive, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the corporation, and includes —(a)
any person purporting to act in any such capacity; and
(b)
for a corporation whose affairs are managed by its members, any of those members as if the member were a director of the corporation;
“state of mind” of a person includes —(a)
the knowledge, intention, opinion, belief or purpose of the person; and
(b)
the person’s reasons for the intention, opinion, belief or purpose.
Offences by unincorporated associations or partnerships
69.—(1) Where, in a proceeding for an offence under this Act, it is necessary to prove the state of mind of an unincorporated association or a partnership in relation to a particular conduct, evidence that —(a)
an employee or agent of the unincorporated association or partnership engaged in that conduct within the scope of the actual or apparent authority of the employee or agent; and
(b)
the employee or agent had that state of mind,
is evidence that the unincorporated association or partnership had that state of mind.
(2) Where an unincorporated association or a partnership commits an offence under this Act, a person —(a)
who is —(i)
an officer of the unincorporated association or a member of its governing body;
(ii)
a partner in the partnership; or
(iii)
an individual involved in the management of the unincorporated association or partnership and in a position to influence the conduct of the unincorporated association or partnership (as the case may be) in relation to the commission of the offence; and
(b)
who —(i)
consented or connived, or conspired with others, to effect the commission of the offence;
(ii)
is in any other way, whether by act or omission, knowingly concerned in, or is party to, the commission of the offence by the unincorporated association or partnership; or
(iii)
knew or ought reasonably to have known that the offence by the unincorporated association or partnership (or an offence of the same type) would be or is being committed, and failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent or stop the commission of that offence,
shall be guilty of the same offence as is the unincorporated association or partnership, and shall be liable on conviction to be punished accordingly.
(3) A person mentioned in subsection (2) may rely on a defence that would be available to the unincorporated association or partnership if it were charged with the offence with which the person is charged and, in doing so, the person bears the same burden of proof that the unincorporated association or partnership would bear.
(4) To avoid doubt, this section does not affect the application of —(a)
Chapters 5 and 5A of the Penal Code 1871; or
(b)
the Evidence Act 1893 or any other law or practice regarding the admissibility of evidence.
(5) To avoid doubt, subsection (2) also does not affect the liability of an unincorporated association or a partnership for an offence under this Act, and applies whether or not the unincorporated association or partnership is convicted of the offence.
(6) In this section —“officer”, in relation to an unincorporated association (other than a partnership), means the president, the secretary, or any member of the committee of the unincorporated association, and includes —(a)
any person holding a position analogous to that of president, secretary or member of a committee of the unincorporated association; and
(b)
any person purporting to act in any such capacity;
“partner” includes a person purporting to act as a partner;
“state of mind” of a person includes —(a)
the knowledge, intention, opinion, belief or purpose of the person; and
(b)
the person’s reasons for the intention, opinion, belief or purpose.
Power of court to order cause of contravention to be remedied
70.—(1) Where any person is convicted of an offence under this Act, the court may, in addition to or instead of imposing any fine or imprisonment or both, order the person to take, within the time specified in the order (or within any further time as the court may allow), such steps as may be so specified to remedy the contravention or any matter resulting from the contravention.
(2) Subject to subsection (3), where an order is made under subsection (1), the convicted person is not liable under this Act in respect of the continuation of the contravention during the time specified in the order or allowed by the court to remedy the matters in respect of which the contravention occurred.
(3) If the order under subsection (1) is not complied with by the person to whom the order is given, the person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000 for every day or part of a day during which the non‑compliance continues after the date of conviction for the offence mentioned in that subsection.
Composition of offences
71.—(1) An officer of the Agency authorised by the Agency to compound offences may compound any offence under this Act that is prescribed as a compoundable offence, by collecting from a person reasonably suspected of having committed the offence a sum not exceeding the lower of the following:(a)
one half of the amount of the maximum fine that is prescribed for the offence;
(b)
$5,000.
(2) On payment of the sum of money, no further proceedings are to be taken against that person in respect of the offence under this Act.
Payment of moneys into Consolidated Fund
72. All sums collected under this Act in connection with the payment of tax, as financial penalty, or in composition of any offence, must be paid into the Consolidated Fund.
Amendment of Schedules
73.—(1) The Minister may, by order in the Gazette, amend, add to or vary the First, Second or Fourth Schedule.
(2) The Minister may, in any order made under subsection (1), make any saving or transitional provision as may be necessary or expedient.
(3) Every order made under subsection (1) must be presented to Parliament as soon as possible after publication in the Gazette.
Exemptions
74. The Minister may, by order in the Gazette and with or without conditions, exempt —(a)
any or any class or description of business facility from all or any of the provisions of this Act, wholly or to any extent; or[Act 37 of 2022 wef 01/01/2024]
(b)
any or any class or description of persons from compliance with all or any of the provisions of this Act, wholly or to any extent.[Act 37 of 2022 wef 01/01/2024]
Extensions of time
75.—(1) A person that, in any particular case, is unable to do any thing that the person is required to do under this Act within the time specified for it may apply in writing to the Agency for an extension of time.
(2) The Agency may grant an extension of time (whether for the same or less than the period of extension applied for), upon being satisfied that there are good reasons to do so.
(3) The Agency may grant the extension of time under subsection (2) after the time sought to be extended has expired, but only if the application by the person was made to the Agency before the expiry of the time sought to be extended.[Act 37 of 2022 wef 01/01/2024]
(4) Where subsection (3) applies, the Agency must extend the time to a date after the date of the decision of the Agency on the application and, to avoid doubt, time is treated as extended so long as the Agency has not made its decision.[Act 37 of 2022 wef 01/01/2024]
(5) The Agency may grant one or more extensions of time under and in accordance with this section.[Act 37 of 2022 wef 01/01/2024]
Regulations
76.—(1) The Minister may make regulations necessary or expedient for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act (other than Division 1A of Part 5).[Act 37 of 2022 wef 01/01/2024]
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the Minister may make regulations for or with respect to all or any matter in the Fifth Schedule.
(3) Regulations may make different provisions for —(a)
different persons or business facilities;
(b)
different classes of persons or business facilities; or
(c)
different circumstances.
(4) The Minister may, in making any regulations, provide that any contravention of any provision of the regulations shall be an offence punishable with a fine not exceeding $50,000 or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or with both.
Incorporation by reference
77.—(1) Regulations may incorporate by reference —(a)
wholly or partially;
(b)
with or without any addition, omission or substitution; or
(c)
specifically or by reference,
any code of practice, standard, requirement, specification or other document (called in this section the material) that relates to any subject matter of any regulations.
(2) The incorporation by reference may be of the material —(a)
as in force or published at a particular time, or from time to time; and
(b)
whether issued by the Agency, or by any standards-setting or other organisation, or any other person.
(3) Unless otherwise provided in the regulations, where any material is incorporated by reference in the regulations under subsection (1) —(a)
the material is treated for all purposes as forming part of the regulations; and
(b)
for any incorporation by reference of the material as in force or published from time to time, every amendment to the material that is made by the Agency, organisation or person issuing the material is treated as forming part of the regulations from the time the amendment takes effect.
(4) If any provision in any material is inconsistent with any provision of this Act, such provision in the material, to the extent of the inconsistency —(a)
is to have effect subject to this Act; or
(b)
having regard to this Act, is not to have effect.
(5) Where any material is incorporated by reference in any regulations, the Agency must give notice in the Gazette stating —(a)
that the material is incorporated in the regulations, and the date on which the relevant provision in the regulations takes effect;
(b)
that the material is available for inspection, free of charge, and the place at which such material may be inspected;
(c)
that copies of the material can be purchased, and the place where the copies can be purchased; and
(d)
if copies of the material are available in other ways, the details of where or how the copies can be accessed or obtained.
(6) Where any material is incorporated by reference as in force or published from time to time in any regulations is amended or revoked, the Agency must give notice in the Gazette stating —(a)
that the material is amended or revoked, and the date on which the amendment or revocation takes effect; and
(b)
for an amendment —(i)
that the amendment to the material, or the material as amended, is available for inspection, free of charge, and the place at which such amendment or amended material may be inspected;
(ii)
that copies of the amendment to the material, or the material as amended, can be purchased, and the place where the copies of the amendment or the amended material can be purchased; and
(iii)
if copies of the amendment to the material, or the material as amended, are available in other ways, the details of where or how the copies of the amendment or the amended material can be accessed or obtained.
(7) In addition, for the purposes of subsections (5)(b) and (6)(b)(i), the Agency must cause a copy of every material, amendment or amended material referred to, to be made available for inspection by members of the public without charge at any of its offices during normal office hours.
(8) To avoid doubt, any part of the material that is not incorporated by reference under subsection (1) does not have any legislative effect.
Advisory guidelines
78.—(1) The Agency may issue advisory guidelines for the purposes of providing practical guidance or certainty in respect of any one or more requirements imposed under this Act.
(2) The advisory guidelines may —(a)
be of general or specific application; or
(b)
specify that different provisions of the advisory guidelines apply to different circumstances, or are applicable to different persons or classes of persons.
(3) The Agency may amend or revoke the whole or part of any advisory guidelines issued under subsection (1).
(4) Advisory guidelines issued or amended under this section do not have any legislative effect.
(5) Where a person fails to comply with any provision of an advisory guideline issued under this section applicable to the person, this does not of itself render the person liable to criminal proceedings; but the failure may, whether in civil or criminal proceedings, be relied upon by any party to the proceedings as tending to establish or to negate any liability that is in question in the proceedings.
Saving and transitional provisions
79.—(1) Where —(a)
a corporation is a registered corporation on 31 December 2018 under the Energy Conservation Act 2012; and
(b)
the corporation submitted in 2018 a monitoring plan under section 26C of that Act for any business activity or premises, or part of a business activity or premises,
then, as from and including 1 January 2019 —
(c)
the corporation is treated as a registered person for the purposes of this Act;
(d)
the business activity or premises or part is treated as both a reportable facility and a taxable facility of the corporation as a registered person for the purposes of this Act; and
(e)
the monitoring plan submitted under that Act is treated as if it were a monitoring plan submitted under this Act, and if approved under that Act as if it had been approved under this Act.
(2) Where —(a)
the reckonable GHG emissions from any business activity or premises, or part of a business activity or premises, under the operation control of a corporation attained 2,000 tCO2e (or higher) in 2017; and
(b)
as at 31 December 2018 —(i)
the corporation continues to have operational control over the business activity, premises or part; and
(ii)
the corporation is a registered corporation under the Energy Conservation Act 2012,
then, as from and including 1 January 2019 —
(c)
the corporation is treated as a registered person for the purposes of this Act; and
(d)
the business activity or premises or part is treated as a reportable facility of the corporation as a registered person for the purposes of this Act.
(3) For the purposes of this Act, the first reporting period under section 11 for a corporation mentioned in subsection (1) or (2) is the year 2019, and the corporation is not required to submit any report under section 27 of the Energy Conservation Act 2012 in relation to paragraph (c) of that section for any period prescribed under that section, or any part of such period, from 1 January 2019 onwards.[80
Source: Singapore Statutes Online (Attorney-General's Chambers), © Government of Singapore.
