Appeal to Minister
Open ↗56.—(1) Any postal licensee who is aggrieved by —(a)
any decision of the Postal Authority in the exercise of any discretion vested in the Postal Authority by or under this Act; or
(b)
anything contained in any code of practice or standard of performance under section 24 or 26C, or any direction of the Postal Authority given under section 25, 26D or 26F(2),
may, within 14 days after being notified of the decision or direction or the issue or approval of the code of practice or standard of performance, as the case may be (or such longer period as the Minister allows in exceptional circumstances, whether before or after the end of the 14 days), appeal to the Minister in the prescribed manner.
[34/2007]
(2) Any person (other than a postal licensee) who is aggrieved by any decision or direction of the Postal Authority given by or under section 6(1), 9(1), 26B or 26D, may, within 14 days after being notified of the decision or direction (or such longer period as the Minister allows in exceptional circumstances, whether before or after the end of the 14 days), appeal to the Minister in the prescribed manner.[34/2007]
(3) Any person (other than the public parcel locker network operator) who is aggrieved by —(a)
any decision of the Postal Authority under section 23J(5), 23M(8) or 23N(1)(a) or (5); or
(b)
anything contained in any code of practice issued under section 23M(1), or any direction of the Postal Authority given under section 23O(2)(a),
may, within 14 days after being notified of the decision or direction or the issue of the code of practice, as the case may be (or such longer period as the Minister allows in exceptional circumstances, whether before or after the end of the 14 days), appeal to the Minister in the prescribed manner.
[10/2021]
(4) Any person who makes an appeal to the Minister under subsection (1), (2) or (3) must, within the period specified therein —(a)
state as concisely as possible the circumstances under which the appeal arises, the issues and grounds for the appeal; and
(b)
submit to the Minister all relevant facts, evidence and arguments for or against the appeal, as the case may be.[34/2007; 10/2021]
(5) Where an appeal has been made to the Minister under subsection (1), (2) or (3), the Minister may require —(a)
any party to the appeal; and
(b)
any person who is not a party to the appeal but appears to the Minister to have information that is relevant to the matters mentioned in that subsection,
to provide the Minister with all such information as the Minister may require for the purpose of considering the appeal and making a determination for resolving it, and any person so required to provide such information must provide it in the manner and within the period that the Minister may specify.
[34/2007; 10/2021]
(6) The Minister may reject any appeal of an appellant who fails to comply with subsection (4) or (5).[34/2007]
(7) Unless otherwise provided, where an appeal is lodged under this section, the decision, direction or other thing appealed against must be complied with until the determination of the appeal.[34/2007]
(8) The Minister may determine an appeal under this section by confirming, varying or reversing any decision or direction of the Postal Authority or by amending any code of practice or standard of performance.[34/2007]
(9) The decision of the Minister in any appeal is final.[34/2007]
Exclusion of liability of public postal licensees and public parcel locker network operator
Open ↗57.—(1) A public postal licensee shall not be liable in respect of any injury, loss or damage suffered by any person by reason of —(a)
any loss, misdelivery or delay of or damage to any postal article in the course of transmission by post;
(b)
any failure to provide or delay in providing any postal service or any equipment associated therewith or service ancillary thereto;
(c)
any failure, interruption, suspension or restriction of any postal service or service ancillary thereto or delay of, or fault in, any communication by post;
(d)
any loss of secrecy in communication arising from the use of any postal service; or
(e)
any wrong payment or delay in payment in connection with any remittance of money through the public postal licensee or any other irregularity in the document used in connection with the remittance,
which is due to the act or default of another person, or an accident or some other cause beyond the control of the public postal licensee.
[10/2021]
(2) Despite subsection (1), in the event of the loss of or damage to any article enclosed in or forming part of a parcel or an insured postal article, or the loss of any registered postal article while in the custody of a public postal licensee, the licensee may pay an indemnity in accordance with the provisions of the Convention regulating the affairs of the Universal Postal Union or any international agreement to which Singapore is a party.
(3) The public parcel locker network operator is not liable in respect of any injury, loss or damage suffered by any person by reason of any of the following, which is due to the act or default of another person, or an accident or other cause beyond the control of the public parcel locker network operator:(a)
any loss of or damage to any parcel that is placed in any public parcel locker;
(b)
the non‑receipt or late receipt by the intended recipient of any parcel placed in any public parcel locker;
(c)
the non‑collection or late collection by a delivery service provider of any parcel placed in any public parcel locker;
(d)
the inability to use, or any interruption, suspension or restriction of the use of, a public parcel locker;
(e)
any loss of secrecy in communication arising from the use of a public parcel locker.[10/2021]
Exemption from distress and attachment
Open ↗58.—(1) The following are not subject to distress, and are not liable to be taken under or pursuant to an enforcement order of a court in any bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings against any person, without the prior written approval of the Minister:(a)
in relation to a public postal licensee — any installation or plant used for posts of the licensee;
(b)
in relation to the public parcel locker network operator — any public parcel locker, related installation or related software.[10/2021]
[Act 25 of 2021 wef 01/04/2022]
(2) Every installation or plant used for posts placed under, over, along, across, in or upon any property by a public postal licensee remains the property of the licensee whether or not it has become in whole or in part a fixture.
(3) Every public parcel locker and related installation installed by the public parcel locker network operator remains the property of the public parcel locker network operator whether or not it has become in whole or in part a fixture.[10/2021]
Service of documents
Open ↗59.—(1) Unless otherwise expressly provided in this Act, any notice, order or document required or authorised by this Act or any regulations made under this Act to be given or served on any person, and any summons issued by a court in connection with any offence under this Act or any regulations made under this Act may be served on the person concerned —(a)
by delivering it to the person or to some adult member or employee of his or her family at his or her last known place of residence;
(b)
by leaving it at his or her usual or last known place of residence or place of business in a cover addressed to him or her;
(c)
by affixing it to some conspicuous part of his or her last known place of residence;
(d)
by sending it by registered post addressed to the person at his or her usual or last known place of residence or place of business; or
(e)
where the person is a body corporate —(i)
by delivering it to the secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate at its registered or principal office; or
(ii)
by sending it by registered post addressed to the body corporate at its registered or principal office.
(2) Any notice, order, document or summons sent by registered post to any person in accordance with subsection (1) is deemed to be duly served on the person to whom the letter is addressed at the time when the letter would, in the ordinary course of post, be delivered and in proving service of the same it is sufficient to prove that the envelope containing the notice, order, document or summons was properly addressed, stamped and posted by registered post.
Exemption by Minister
Open ↗60. The Minister may exempt any person or class of persons from all or any of the provisions of this Act.
Regulations
Open ↗61.—(1) The Postal Authority may, with the approval of the Minister, make regulations for any purpose for which regulations are required to be made under this Act and generally for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act.
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the Postal Authority may, with the approval of the Minister, make regulations for or with respect to all or any of the following matters:(a)
the classes and the conditions for the grant of licences by the Postal Authority;
(b)
the acceptance, transmission by post, detention and disposal of postal articles;
(c)
the supply, sale and use of postage stamps;
(d)
the import, manufacture, sale, supply and use of franking machines;
(e)
the limit of amount of money that may be remitted through a public postal licensee mentioned in section 11(1) and the manner and conditions under which such money may be remitted;
(f)
the articles or things which may not be transmitted by post;
(g)
the types of articles not to be treated as letters;
(h)
the manner of receiving, delivering, collecting and distributing mail bags and postal articles, including facilitating access for postal licensees to letter boxes;
(i)
the conditions and restrictions for the payment of indemnity for the loss of or damage to postal articles where indemnity is payable under this Act;
(j)
the registration of postal articles and the cases where insurance of postal articles may be required;
(k)
the installation, operation and maintenance of the public parcel locker network;
(l)
the fees and charges to be paid in respect of any matter or anything done, or any services rendered, by the Postal Authority under or by virtue of this Act, including a code of practice or standard of performance;
(m)
the waiver or refund, in whole or in part, by authorised officers of the Postal Authority of any such fees in the circumstances of any particular case;
(n)
the interest (such interest, if unpaid, to constitute a debt due to the Postal Authority and be recoverable as such) to be paid for late payment of any fees or charges prescribed under this Act.[34/2007; 10/2021]
Source: Singapore Statutes Online (Attorney-General's Chambers), © Government of Singapore.
