RUBBER ASSOCIATION OF SINGAPORE (INCORPORATION) (AMENDMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

3.50 p.m.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance (Mr Tang See Chim): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Subsection (2) of section 3 of the Rubber Association of Singapore (Incorporation) Act, 1967, provides for a common seal of the Association. Subsection (4) of section 3 of that Act provides for the use of this seal, in that the seal can be affixed only pursuant to a resolution by the Committee and in the presence of, and witnessed by, the Chairman or Deputy Chairman or any member of the Management Committee and by the Secretary.

At present, the Rubber Association of Singapore issues Certificates of Origin to rubber exporters to facilitate shipments of rubber to European and American countries. Though there is no statutory requirement that a Certificate of Origin must be sealed to be valid, it is an accepted commercial practice to seal such certificates. All Certificates of Origin issued by the Trade Division of the Ministry of Finance, for example, are sealed by the Government seal. In the case of Certificates of Origin issued by the Rubber Association of Singapore, certain European countries like Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece have refused to accept these Certificates of Origin unless they are sealed, and such refusal would affect our export of rubber to those countries.

The present procedure for the endorsement of the common seal on Certificates of Origin issued by the Association is extremely cumbersome. Quite apart from the requirement of a resolution, it is also not convenient for all endorsements to be carried out in the presence of a member of the Committee, whether he be the Chairman or Deputy Chairman or an ordinary Committee member. This is because members of the Association and the Association's Secretary do not share the same premises. As such, the endorsement of the seal has to be done at a Committee member's office in the presence of both the member and the Secretary, and the Committee member's office may be far away from the Secretariat. Rubber exporters have complained that such procedures have caused unnecessary delay in the endorsement of urgently required Certificates, resulting in delay in the shipment of rubber.

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

3.54 p.m.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance (Mr Tang See Chim): This Bill, therefore, seeks to simplify the procedure for the affixing of the Association's common seal on Certificates of Origin. It seeks to do away with the requirement of a resolution and allows the seal to be affixed in the presence of the Secretary and any other person so authorised by the Committee. This simplified procedure applies to Certificates of Origin only and does not apply to any other document.

Sir, I beg to move.

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. -[Mr Tang See Chim].

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