Administration of Act
80.—(1) The Commissioner may appoint —(a)
any public officer as an authorised officer; or
(b)
any other individual as an authorised person,
to assist the Commissioner in the administration of this Act.
(2) The Commissioner may delegate the exercise of all or any of the Commissioner’s powers or duties under this Act (except the power of delegation under this subsection) to any authorised officer or authorised person, subject to any conditions or limitation that the Commissioner may specify.
(3) Every authorised person appointed under subsection (1)(b) is deemed to be a public servant for the purposes of the Penal Code 1871 when exercising any power conferred or performing any duty imposed on the authorised person by or under this Act.
Powers of Commissioner, authorised officers and authorised persons
81.—(1) For the purposes of the execution of this Act, the Commissioner and any authorised officer or authorised person has the following powers:(a)
to enter, inspect and examine at any time any premises;
(b)
to inspect or examine any thing or observe any activity conducted in or on the premises;
(c)
to make a still or moving image or recording of the premises and any thing in or on the premises;
(d)
to inspect any document in or on the premises and take extracts from, or make copies of, any such document;
(e)
to take into or onto the premises any equipment and material that the Commissioner, authorised officer or authorised person requires for the purpose of exercising any power in relation to the premises;
(f)
to operate electronic equipment in or on the premises;
(g)
to take into custody any article in the premises which is relevant to the carrying out of the provisions of this Act.
(2) For the purposes of the execution of this Act, the Commissioner or an authorised officer may —(a)
examine orally any person who appears to be acquainted with any facts and circumstances relevant to the carrying out of the provisions of this Act;
(b)
require any person who appears to be acquainted with any facts and circumstances relevant to the carrying out of the provisions of this Act to attend at the time and place specified in a written notice served on the person; and
(c)
require any person whom the Commissioner or authorised officer has reason to believe has any document or information relevant to the carrying out of the provisions of this Act to produce the document or provide the information, within a reasonable period specified by the Commissioner or authorised officer.
(3) The power under subsection (1)(f) to operate electronic equipment in or on any premises includes the power —(a)
to use a disk, tape or other storage device that is in or on the premises and can be used with the equipment or in association with the equipment;
(b)
to operate electronic equipment in or on the premises to put the relevant data in documentary form and remove the documents so produced from the premises; and
(c)
to operate electronic equipment in or on the premises to transfer the relevant data to a disk, tape or other storage device that —(i)
is brought to the premises for the exercise of the power; or
(ii)
is in or on the premises and the use of which for that purpose has been agreed in writing by the occupier of the premises,
and to remove the disk, tape or other storage device from those premises.
(4) The power to require a person to provide a document or information under subsection (2)(c) includes the power —(a)
to require that person, or any person who is or was an officer or employee of that person, to provide an explanation of the document or information;
(b)
if the document or information is not provided, to require that person to state, to the best of his or her knowledge and belief, where it is; and
(c)
if the information is recorded otherwise than in legible form, to require the information to be made available to the Commissioner or authorised officer in legible form.
(5) A person examined under this section must state truly the facts and circumstances relevant to the carrying out of the provisions of this Act with which the person is acquainted, except only that the person need not say anything that might expose the person to a criminal charge, penalty or forfeiture.
(6) A statement made by a person examined under this section must —(a)
be reduced to writing;
(b)
be read over to the person;
(c)
if the person does not understand English, be interpreted in a language that the person understands; and
(d)
after correction (if necessary), be signed by the person.
Notice to platform operator by Commissioner, etc., of inspection or visit
82. On entering any premises occupied by a platform operator under section 81(1)(a), the Commissioner, authorised officer or authorised person (as the case may be) must notify the platform operator or the platform operator’s representative of his or her presence unless he or she considers that such a notification may be prejudicial to the efficient performance of his or her duties.
Disposal of documents or thing
83.—(1) Any document or thing that the Commissioner or an authorised officer or authorised person takes possession of under this Part must —(a)
where the document or thing is produced in any criminal trial, be dealt with in accordance with section 364 of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010; and
(b)
in any other case — be returned to the owner or reported to a Magistrate.
(2) Where the report of any document or thing is made to a Magistrate under subsection (1)(b), the Magistrate may order the document or thing —(a)
to be forfeited; or
(b)
to be disposed of in any manner that the Magistrate thinks fit.
(3) Nothing in this section is taken to prejudice any right to retain or dispose of property which may exist in law apart from this section.
Offences of wilfully obstructing or delaying Commissioner, etc.
84.—(1) A person who —(a)
wilfully obstructs or delays the Commissioner or an authorised officer or authorised person in the exercise of his or her powers under this Part;
(b)
wilfully withholds any information that the person is required to give under this Act; or
(c)
in providing any document or information required by the Commissioner or an authorised officer under this Act, makes any statement which the person knows or ought reasonably to know that, or is reckless as to whether, it is false or misleading in a material particular,
shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1) shall be liable on conviction —(a)
to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both; and
(b)
in the case of a second or subsequent offence — to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.
(3) A platform operator or other person that in any way obstructs any platform worker from appearing before the Commissioner or an authorised officer 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.
Persons not to reveal protected information
85.—(1) If a person exercising any function under this Act obtains protected information about the affairs of another person, the firstmentioned person must not disclose that protected information to any other person unless the disclosure —(a)
is made with the written consent of the person to whom the information relates;
(b)
is for the purpose of the administration or enforcement of this Act; or
(c)
is in compliance with the requirement of any court, tribunal, authority or person having lawful authority to require the production of documents or the answering of questions.
(2) If any person acts in contravention of subsection (1), he or she 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 2 years or to both.
(3) For the purpose of this section, the reference to a person disclosing any protected information includes his or her permitting any other person to have any access to any record, document or other thing containing that information which is in his or her possession or under his or her control by virtue of the person being or having been an authorised officer or authorised person.
(4) In this section, “protected information” means information the disclosure of which would, or could reasonably be expected to, disclose a trade secret or to adversely affect a person in relation to the lawful business affairs of that person.
Source: Singapore Statutes Online (Attorney-General's Chambers), © Government of Singapore.
