Interpretation of this Part
Open ↗82. In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires —“agreement” includes an arrangement and an undertaking;
“asset”, in relation to a transferor, means property of any kind (whether tangible or intangible, whether arising from, accruing under, created or evidenced by or the subject of, an instrument or otherwise and whether actual or contingent) of that transferor on the eve of the transfer date and includes, without limitation, any —(a)
legal or equitable interest in real or personal property, whether situated in or outside Singapore;
(b)
chose in action;
(c)
money or securities;
(d)
plant and equipment, whether situated in or outside Singapore;
(e)
intellectual property;
(f)
infrastructure, whether situated in or outside Singapore; and
(g)
right;
“Info-communications Development Authority of Singapore” means the Info‑communications Development Authority of Singapore established by section 3 of the Info‑communications Development Authority of Singapore Act (Cap. 137A, 2000 Revised Edition);
“liability”, in relation to a transferor, means any liability, debt or obligation (whether actual or contingent, liquidated or unliquidated, and whether owed alone or jointly, or jointly and severally, with any other person) of that transferor on the eve of the transfer date;
“MDA employee”, means an individual who, on the eve of the transfer date, is an employee of the Media Development Authority of Singapore;
“Media Development Authority of Singapore” means the Media Development Authority of Singapore established by section 3 of the Media Development Authority of Singapore Act (Cap. 172, 2003 Revised Edition);
“Personal Data Protection Commission” means the Personal Data Protection Commission established by section 5(1) of the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 in force immediately before the transfer date;
“records”, in relation to a transferor, means registers, papers, documents, minutes, receipts, books of account and other records, however compiled, recorded or stored, of that transferor existing on the eve of the transfer date;
“right”, in relation to a transferor, means any right, power, privilege or immunity of that transferor on the eve of the transfer date;
“transfer date” means 1 October 2016;
“transferor” means —(a)
the Info‑communications Development Authority of Singapore;
(b)
the Media Development Authority of Singapore; or
(c)
the Personal Data Protection Commission;
“transferring IDA employee” means an employee of the Info‑communications Development Authority of Singapore who, on the eve of the transfer date, is in the Info‑communications Media Development Authority Designate Wing of the Info‑communications Development Authority of Singapore;
“transferring IDA function” means the functions discharged by the Info‑communications Media Development Authority Designate Wing of the Info‑communications Development Authority of Singapore on the eve of the transfer date.
Transfer of undertakings to Authority
Open ↗83.—(1) On the transfer date —(a)
all assets and liabilities of the Media Development Authority of Singapore;
(b)
all assets and liabilities of the Info‑communications Development Authority of Singapore to the extent that they relate, directly or indirectly, to the transferring IDA function;
(c)
all liabilities of the Info‑communications Development Authority of Singapore relating to the payment of benefits under the Pensions Act 1956 to the former employees of the Info‑communications Development Authority of Singapore (or its predecessors); and
(d)
all assets and liabilities of the Personal Data Protection Commission,
are transferred to the Authority.
(2) A certificate signed by the Minister certifying whether an asset or a liability specified in the certificate has been transferred to the Authority under subsection (1) is admissible in evidence in any proceedings as proof of the matters stated in the certificate.
(3) When any asset or liability of a transferor is transferred to the Authority under subsection (1), the following provisions have effect:(a)
the asset vests in the Authority without the need for any further conveyance, transfer, assignment or assurance;
(b)
the liability becomes the liability of the Authority;
(c)
all legal or other proceedings relating to that asset or liability that are pending immediately before the transfer date by or against that transferor (or a predecessor of that transferor) are taken to be proceedings pending by or against the Authority;
(d)
any legal or other proceedings relating to that asset or liability which could have been started immediately before the transfer date by or against that transferor (or a predecessor of that transferor) may be started by or against the Authority;
(e)
a judgment or order of a court or other tribunal obtained before the transfer date by or against that transferor (or a predecessor of that transferor) relating to that asset or liability becomes enforceable by or against the Authority;
(f)
any document in any legal or other proceedings relating to that asset or liability that has been served on or by that transferor (or a predecessor of that transferor) before the transfer date is taken, where appropriate, to have been served on or by the Authority;
(g)
any act, matter or thing done or omitted to be done before the transfer date in relation to that asset or liability by, to or in respect of that transferor (or a predecessor of that transferor) is (to the extent to which that act, matter or thing has any force or effect) taken to have been done or omitted to be done by, to or in respect of the Authority;
(h)
a reference to that transferor (or a predecessor of that transferor) in any Act, any instrument made under any Act, any agreement or any document of any kind is taken to be or includes (to the extent to which the reference relates to that asset or liability) a reference to the Authority;
(i)
any agreement relating to that asset or liability and to which that transferor (or a predecessor of that transferor) is a party becomes enforceable by or against the Authority.
(4) The operation of this section does not —(a)
constitute a breach of, or default under, any Act or other law, or any agreement, or otherwise a civil wrong or criminal wrong;
(b)
constitute a breach of duty of confidence (whether arising by contract, in equity, by custom, or in any other way);
(c)
constitute a breach of any contractual provision prohibiting, restricting or regulating the assignment or transfer of assets or liabilities or the disclosure of any information;
(d)
constitute a termination of any agreement or obligation, fulfil any condition that allows a person to terminate or otherwise releases a person from any agreement or obligation, or give rise to any right or remedy in respect of any agreement or obligation; or
(e)
constitute frustration of any contract, or cause any agreement to be void or otherwise unenforceable.
(5) No attornment to the Authority by a lessee of a transferor is required.
Transfer of employees to Authority
Open ↗84.—(1) On the transfer date —(a)
every MDA employee stops being an employee of the Media Development Authority of Singapore; and
(b)
every transferring IDA employee stops being an employee of the Info‑communications Development Authority of Singapore,
and is each transferred to the service, and becomes an employee, of the Authority on terms no less favourable than those enjoyed by the employee on the eve of the transfer date.
(2) A certificate signed by the Minister certifying whether an individual named in the certificate has been transferred to the service of the Authority under subsection (1) is admissible in evidence in any proceedings as proof of the matters stated in the certificate.
(3) The transfer of an employee of a transferor to the Authority under subsection (1) —(a)
does not interrupt continuity of that employee’s service;
(b)
does not constitute a retrenchment or redundancy of that employee’s employment by the transferor; and
(c)
does not entitle that employee to any compensation or other payment or benefit merely because he or she stops being employed by the transferor.
(4) Nothing in this section prevents —(a)
any of the terms and conditions of employment of an individual transferred to the service of the Authority under subsection (1) from being altered by or under any law, award or agreement with effect from any time after the transfer date; and
(b)
an individual transferred to the service of the Authority under subsection (1) from resigning from such service any time after the transfer date, in accordance with the terms and conditions of his or her employment then applicable.
(5) To avoid doubt, section 18A of the Employment Act 1968 does not apply to the transfer of any employee of a transferor to the service of the Authority under subsection (1).
General preservation of employment terms, etc.
Open ↗85.—(1) When an employee of a transferor is transferred to the service of the Authority under section 84(1) (called in this section a transferred employee), the transferred employee’s service with the Authority must be regarded for all purposes as having been continuous with his or her service with that transferor immediately before the transfer date.
(2) On the transfer date —(a)
a transferred employee retains all accrued rights as if his or her employment with the Authority were a continuation of employment with that transferor;
(b)
the liabilities of that transferor relating to the transferred employee’s accrued rights to annual, sick, maternity or other leave and superannuation become the liabilities of the Authority; and
(c)
a reference in the contract of employment that had effect in relation to the transferred employee immediately before the transfer date is taken to be, or includes, a reference to the Authority.
(3) Until such time as the Authority draws up the terms and conditions of employment for the transferred employee, the Authority is to be regarded as employing the transferred employee on the same terms and conditions of his or her employment with that transferor on the eve of the transfer date.
(4) Any term or condition of employment drawn up by the Authority relating to the length of service of the transferred employee with the Authority must recognise the length of service of that employee with that transferor (including any previous service of that employee taken to be service with that transferor) to be service with the Authority.
(5) For any conduct of the transferred employee when he or she was employed by that transferor which would have rendered that employee liable to be reprimanded, reduced in rank, retired, dismissed or punished by that transferor, the Authority may —(a)
start any disciplinary proceedings against that employee;
(b)
carry on and complete any disciplinary proceedings started by that transferor against that employee if those proceedings are pending on the eve of the transfer date; and
(c)
reprimand, reduce in rank, retire, dismiss or otherwise punish that employee as if that employee were not transferred and this Act had not been enacted.
(6) Where, on the eve of the transfer date, any matter about the conduct of the transferred employee during his or her employment with that transferor concerned —(a)
was in the course of being heard or investigated by a committee of that transferor acting under due authority; or
(b)
had been heard or investigated, but no order, ruling or direction had been made, by that committee,
that committee must complete the hearing or investigation and make such order, ruling or direction as it could have made under the authority vested in it before that date, and that order, ruling or direction is to be regarded as an order, ruling or direction of the Authority.
Transfer of records
Open ↗86. On the transfer date, the following records become the records of the Authority:(a)
all records of the Media Development Authority of Singapore;
(b)
every record, or part of a record, of the Info‑communications Development Authority of Singapore that relates to —(i)
any asset or liability transferred to the Authority under section 83(1); or
(ii)
any transferring IDA employee;
(c)
all records of the Personal Data Protection Commission.
Source: Singapore Statutes Online (Attorney-General's Chambers), © Government of Singapore.
