False or misleading document or information
30.—(1) Any person who, in connection with an application for a permit or registration, or being required under Part 3 to give any information or document to an authorised officer or a senior authorised officer —(a)
gives any information that is false or misleading in a material particular; or
(b)
gives any document which contains a statement or omits any matter which renders it false or misleading in a material particular,
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.
(2) In proceedings for an offence under subsection (1), it is a defence for the accused to prove that the accused has taken all reasonable steps to ascertain, and satisfy himself, herself or itself of, the truth of the matter in question.
Composition of offences
31.—(1) A senior authorised officer may compound any offence under this Act which is prescribed as a compoundable offence by collecting from a person reasonably suspected of having committed the offence a sum not exceeding $10,000.
(2) The Minister may make regulations to prescribe the offences which may be compounded.
Corporate offenders and unincorporated associations
32.—(1) Where an offence under this Act committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of an officer of the body corporate, the officer as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(2) Where the affairs of the body corporate are managed by its members, subsection (1) is to apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with the member’s functions of management as if the member were a director of the body corporate.
(3) Where an offence under this Act committed by a partnership is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, a partner, the partner as well as the partnership shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(4) Where an offence under this Act committed by an unincorporated association (other than a partnership) is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, an officer of the association or a member of its governing body, the officer or member as well as the association shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(5) In this section —“officer” —(a)
in relation to a body corporate, means a director, member of the committee of management, chief executive, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body or person purporting to act in any such capacity; or
(b)
in relation to an unincorporated association (other than a partnership), means the president, the secretary or a member of the committee of the association and includes persons holding positions analogous to those of president, secretary or member of a committee;
“partner” includes a person purporting to act as a partner.
(6) Regulations may provide for the application of any provision of this section, with such modifications as the Minister considers appropriate, to a body corporate or unincorporated association formed or recognised under the law of a territory outside Singapore.
Public servants
33. All authorised officers and senior authorised officers are deemed to be public servants for the purposes of the Penal Code 1871.
Protection from personal liability
34. No suit or other legal proceedings shall lie personally against any authorised officer or senior authorised officer, or any person acting under his or her direction, for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in the execution or purported execution of this Act or any other written law.
Minister may declare whether particular goods are or technology is regulated
35.—(1) The Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, declare that —(a)
goods specified in the notification are or are not strategic goods; or
(b)
technology specified in the notification is or is not strategic goods technology.
(2) In any proceedings for an offence under this Act alleged to have been committed after the publication of a notification mentioned in subsection (1) in relation to goods or technology specified in the notification, the notification is prima facie evidence of the matter stated in it.
Exemption
36. The Minister may, by regulations, exempt —(a)
any person or class of persons; or
(b)
any activity in respect of all goods or technology, or goods or technology of a specified nature or description,
from all or any of the provisions of this Act, subject to such terms or conditions as may be prescribed.
Regulations
38. The Minister may make regulations —(a)
to prohibit the issue of a port clearance to the master of any vessel pending compliance with any provision of the regulations;
(b)
to provide for the registration of any strategic goods to be exported, transhipped or brought in transit;
(c)
to prescribe offences in respect of the contravention of any regulations made under this section, and to prescribe fines not exceeding $10,000 that may, on conviction, be imposed in respect of any such offence; and
(d)
to prescribe anything which is required or permitted to be prescribed under this Act or is necessary or expedient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the provisions of this Act.
Source: Singapore Statutes Online (Attorney-General's Chambers), © Government of Singapore.
