Confidentiality
Open ↗8.—(1) Except in the case of a prosecution for an offence under this Act, the Registrar, a Registry officer, an agent of the Registry or any other person who acts under the direction of the Director‑General or Registrar for any purpose related to the Registry is not compellable in any proceedings to give evidence in respect of, or to produce any document containing, any individually‑identifiable information which has been obtained under this Act.[Act 11 of 2023 wef 01/05/2023]
(2) Unless otherwise provided by this Act, the Registrar, a Registry officer, an agent of the Registry or any other person who acts under the direction of the Director‑General or Registrar for any purpose related to the Registry must not disclose the contents of any register or any individually‑identifiable information which may have come to his or her knowledge in the course of performing any duty or function under this Act or carrying out any act in relation to the Registry.[Act 11 of 2023 wef 01/05/2023]
(3) Any person who fails to comply with subsection (2) 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.
Disclosure and publication of anonymised information
Open ↗9.—(1) The Registrar —(a)
may, on a request by any person and —(i)
upon payment by the person of the prescribed fee; and
(ii)
subject to the conditions that the Registrar may impose; and
(b)
must, on a request by the Director‑General,
disclose or publish any information held by the Registry in an anonymised form.
[Act 11 of 2023 wef 01/05/2023]
(2) Any person who fails to comply with any condition imposed under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.
National public health programmes
Open ↗10.—(1) The Registrar may, with the approval of the Director‑General, disclose individually‑identifiable information held by the Registry to any public officer or any other person for the purpose of conducting national public health programmes concerning any reportable disease.[Act 11 of 2023 wef 01/05/2023]
(2) In determining whether to approve the disclosure under subsection (1), the Director‑General must, subject to subsection (3), have regard to —(a)
the aims and objectives of the national public health programme, including any public health benefits to Singapore;
(b)
the identity of the public officers or persons involved in the programme to whom the individually‑identifiable information held by the Registry will be disclosed;
(c)
the use to which the individually‑identifiable information will or may be put; and
(d)
the measures that will be put in place under the national public health programme to protect the individually‑identifiable information from unauthorised disclosure.[Act 11 of 2023 wef 01/05/2023]
(3) The Director‑General must not approve any disclosure under subsection (1) unless the Director‑General is satisfied that the national public health programme cannot be carried out with anonymised information.[Act 11 of 2023 wef 01/05/2023]
(4) The Director‑General may, when granting approval under subsection (1), impose the conditions that the Director‑General considers necessary with respect to —(a)
the identities of the public officers or persons, or class of public officers or persons who are authorised to receive or handle the individually‑identifiable information;
(b)
the use to which the individually‑identifiable information is to or may be put; and
(c)
the measures that must be put in place under the national public health programme to protect the individually‑identifiable information from unauthorised disclosure.[Act 11 of 2023 wef 01/05/2023]
(5) The Director‑General may, at any time, vary or revoke any of the existing conditions imposed under subsection (4) or impose new conditions.[Act 11 of 2023 wef 01/05/2023]
(6) The Director‑General may, at any time, revoke the approval given under subsection (1).[Act 11 of 2023 wef 01/05/2023]
(7) Any person who fails to comply with any condition imposed under subsection (4) or any new condition imposed under subsection (5) 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.
Medical treatment
Open ↗11. The Registrar may, if he or she thinks fit, disclose to a medical practitioner any individually-identifiable information of a medical nature held by the Registry concerning a person suffering from a reportable disease if the Registrar is satisfied that —(a)
the medical practitioner is responsible for the treatment and care of that person;
(b)
the disclosure is necessary for the proper treatment of that person; and
(c)
the requisite consent has been given for the disclosure.
Disclosure of individually‑identifiable information for public health research
Open ↗12.—(1) A person (called in this section the researcher) who requires any individually‑identifiable information held by the Registry for the purpose of carrying out any medical, epidemiological or other form of public health research concerning any reportable disease may apply to the Registrar in the prescribed form for the disclosure of the information.
(2) The Registrar may, subject to the conditions that he or she thinks fit to impose and upon the payment by the researcher of the prescribed fees (if any) disclose to the researcher the individually‑identifiable information if the Registrar is satisfied that —(a)
the research cannot be carried out with anonymised information;
(b)
the requisite consent has been given for the individually‑identifiable information to be disclosed to the researcher for the purpose of the research;
(c)
the research may —(i)
improve the quality of health services provided for patients suffering from any reportable disease in Singapore; or
(ii)
support any national public health policy, initiative or programme concerning any reportable disease; and
(d)
the researcher and the research comply with the prescribed conditions, if any.
(3) A researcher to whom the individually-identifiable information of any person has been disclosed under subsection (2) must not —(a)
use the individually‑identifiable information for any purpose other than the purpose approved by the Registrar; or
(b)
disclose the name or any other individually‑identifiable information of that person unless the requisite consent has been given for the disclosure.
(4) A researcher to whom the individually‑identifiable information of any person has been disclosed under subsection (2) must not disclose —(a)
the name or any other information leading to the identification of the healthcare institution in which that person has been diagnosed with, or has been or is being examined or treated for, a reportable disease unless the manager of that healthcare institution has given his or her consent for the disclosure in the prescribed form and manner; or
(b)
the name or any other information leading to the identification of the person who provided the individually‑identifiable information to the Registrar under this Act, unless that person has given his or her consent for the disclosure in the prescribed form and manner.
(5) Before making any decision on an application under subsection (1), the Registrar may refer the application to a national research advisory committee comprising at least 3 and not more than 5 members appointed by the Director‑General and, in making a decision, the Registrar must have regard to any report made to the Registrar by the national research advisory committee.[Act 11 of 2023 wef 01/05/2023]
(6) Where a researcher to whom any individually-identifiable information of any person has been disclosed under subsection (2) contravenes subsection (3) or (4) or any condition imposed under subsection (2), the researcher 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.
Source: Singapore Statutes Online (Attorney-General's Chambers), © Government of Singapore.
