CHEMICAL WEAPONS (PROHIBITION) (AMENDMENT) BILL

CHEMICAL WEAPONS (PROHIBITION) (AMENDMENT) BILL: Order for Second Reading read.

3.03 pm

The Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (Dr Balaji Sadasivan): Mr Speaker , Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sir, the Chemical Weapons (Prohibition) Act ( CWPA) was passed in the year 2000 to give effect to Singapore's obligations under the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, or the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), in short.

The Act has established the licensing-based regulatory regime for the use, development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention or transfer of scheduled chemicals for permitted purposes. Permitted purposes included protective research, medical, pharmaceutical and law enforcement purposes. The licensing system is administered by the National Authority (CWC) established under the Singapore Customs.

The licensing system has facilitated a gathering of information from companies dealing with scheduled chemicals to enable Singapore to make periodic declarations to the Organisation established under the Convention. This regime has served us well over the years, and our industry is familiar with the controlled chemicals and regulatory requirements.

Reasons for amendments

Why is there a need now to amend the Chemical Weapons (Prohibition) Act? Let me elaborate further on this.

Since the entry into force of the Convention, State Parties have met annually to discuss issues pertaining to the operational aspects of the Convention. Notably, State Parties were cognisant of the needs and demands of the global chemical industry and the legitimate use of controlled chemicals and have thus decided to lift certain declaration requirements for activities involving chemical mixtures containing low concentrations of controlled chemicals.

Sir, my Ministry is therefore proposing to amend the Chemical Weapons (Prohibition) Act so as to align our domestic legislation and licensing regime with the Convention.

Mr Speaker, Sir, let me now outline the key features of the Bill.

(1) Appointment of Director-General of Customs for the administration of the Act

First, Singapore Customs is currently the appointed National Authority to implement Singapore's obligation to the Convention. Therefore, it follows that the Director-General of Customs should be responsible for the administration of the Act, subject to the directions of the Minister. In addition, all officers of Customs would be designated as authorised officers to assist the Director-General in the administration of the Act.

(2) New definition of "produce"

We are inserting a new definition of the word "produce" in line with the decision made by the State Parties to the Convention. The term "produce" refers to the formation of the scheduled chemical through chemical, biochemical or biologically mediated reaction and includes the forming of the scheduled chemical as an intermediate, by-product or a waste product during the manufacturing sequence of another product, whereby such intermediate, by-product or waste product is chemically stable enough to exist for a period to allow for possible extraction and isolation, as their isolation is not possible under normal operating conditions.

The new definition will provide greater clarity to our industry on the scope of control on the production of chemicals that is subject to licensing.

(3) Concentration limits of mixtures containing scheduled chemicals that are subject to licensing

At present, companies involved in activities such as production, processing or import and export of products containing a mixture of chemicals, regardless of the concentrations of the controlled scheduled chemicals are regulated and subject to licensing. In line with decisions made by State Parties to the Convention, chemical mixtures containing scheduled chemicals below a certain concentration will be exempted from reporting to the Organisation established by the Convention.

The Act will provide for the Minister to prescribe the concentration limits for chemical mixtures where activities involving these chemicals are exempted from licensing.

Implementation measures

These are the key features of the Bill.

1. Exempt licence requirements for activities involving chemical mixtures of low concentrations

Mr Speaker, Sir, in drafting the Bill, we received feedback from the industry, through the National Authority, that the implementation of concentration limits for product mixtures containing scheduled chemicals will reduce their cost of compliance. This is because they do not need to apply for a licence if their products contain scheduled chemicals below the specified concentration limits.

2. Enforcement efforts

My Ministry reassures the House that the exemption of licensing for low concentrations of chemical mixtures will not increase the risk of the misuse of such mixtures by terrorists to produce chemical agents for their illicit purposes. This is because chemical precursors of high purity are required for viable production of chemical agents. It is not feasible to extract chemical precursors from chemical mixtures containing low concentration of such chemicals.

The National Authority will balance the exemption with audits and inspections on chemical production facilities and traders to detect illicit activities and enforce the Act.

Outreach programme

To ensure that the industries are familiar with the new amendments and existing controls under the CWPA, the National Authority has planned a series of outreach and courses commencing from November this year to educate the industry.

Mr Speaker, Sir, this proposed Bill will bring our legislation in line with international standards in curbing the proliferation of dangerous chemical weapons. It will also provide the industry with greater clarity in our regulatory requirements.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

3.13 pm

Dr Fatimah Lateef (Marine Parade): Sir, I rise in support of the amendments to be made in the above Bill.

Singapore's main focus has always and will continue to be the regulation and inspection of chemical facilities and operators. This would include all those companies and industries dealing with chemicals stipulated in Schedules I to IV. It is important to have frequent inspections, discussions and engagement of these vendors and companies. This is also because there is very rapid development in the area whereby partially related or so-called cousin chemical may be produced from R&D activities. Therefore, the new definition of the word "produce" is indeed appropriate.

A register of all these companies and persons in charge should be maintained adequately. Also, if we do have foreign workers and foreign nationals working in these sensitive areas, it may be time to consider stricter monitoring. In these days and age where terrorist network can be extensive, we have to remain highly vigilant, in particular when dealing with areas such as this with a high potential for hazards. Can I also enquire if these premises dealing with such chemicals can be clearly demarcated and have signages? No doubt, many of these may already be sited away from residential and educational areas.

Another query I have, Sir, is whether the inspections of these premises are conducted ad hoc or the owners are pre-informed beforehand so that they can prepare the premises adequately. I would like to suggest a kind of spot-check type approach, if this is not already being done, to increase the so-called surprise element and to see what really goes on on a day-to-day basis. Also, perhaps, the monitoring of accidents and incidents or the industrial injuries and explosions can be used as KPIs for these companies and industries.

With regard to the amendment to section 9, I support the addition of the relevant phrases to make it clearer and certainly more specific. The concentration limits and types of chemicals must be prescribed by the regulations. The stiff penalties must be maintained as it is certainly a deterrent. The amendments in the Bill, Sir, ensure that practical steps are clearly defined and delineated in our quest towards preventing any chemical weapons threat.

I support the amendments as we align ourselves with the international convention.

3.16 pm

Dr Balaji Sadasivan: Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank the Member for her comments.

First, I would like to reassure the Member that in no way will these amendments endanger our current regulatory system. In excluding the companies from reporting requirements, only companies which are using low concentrations of these scheduled chemicals are involved, and this involves about 20 companies which are using chemicals under Schedule IIB and Schedule III with concentrations under 30%. The products involved are common household or industrial items such as photographic solutions, print cartridge and ink cartridge chemicals. So these are relatively safe chemicals from mixtures, from which it is generally not technically possible for any terrorist group to extract dangerous chemicals from.

As for inspections, the current regime of scheduled as well as unscheduled audits will continue. Since the time the Act was passed, these audits had found minor infringements. Ten companies had been given warning and one company was fined because it was a repeat offender. We will continue to audit and inspect companies that deal with these chemicals.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Dr Balaji Sadasivan].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.

Mr Speaker: Order. I propose to take the break now. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair again at 3.40 pm.

Sitting accordingly suspended

_at 3.17 pm until 3.40 pm.
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Column No : 2175

Sitting resumed at 3.40 pm

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]: