CUSTOMS (AMENDMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

5.05 p.m.

The Minister for Finance (Mr Hon Sui Sen): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

The Bill seeks to amend the Customs Act (Chapter 133 of the Revised Edition) to strengthen and improve customs enforcement and administrative procedures.

Clause 3 seeks to amend section 18 of the Customs Act to empower the Comptroller of Customs to refund composition fines which have been overpaid or erroneously paid. At present, all applications for such refunds have to be referred to the Minister for Finance. This amendment is intended to facilitate administrative procedures.

Clause 4 proposes to amend section 20 of the Customs Act to render customs duty payable at the time instead of, as presently provided, "on the day" of the removal of the goods from customs control. The amendment is intended to enable immediate changes of duty to be imposed at any time of the day, for example, at 3 p.m, instead of only at midnight, so that the revised rates will be immediately effective upon removal or release of the goods.

Section 21(8) (c) of the Customs Act provides that the rate of exchange for assessing the duty on imports shall be based on the rate existing at the time the goods are removed from a Government warehouse, licensed factory warehouse or licensed warehouse. Clause 5 substitutes for this a provision merely that the rate of exchange for the assessment of import duty shall be the rate at the time customs duty is paid. This amendment is introduced as, in practice, goods are removed often not from licensed warehouses but from the Free Trade Zone or at the point of entry such as Woodlands.

The Customs Act at present is deficient in provisions for the control and supervision of dutiable goods in transit. Despite this limitation, Customs has exercised control by requesting ships which call at the port to supply lists of such goods. Clauses 6, 7, 10 and 12 propose to amend sections 29, 34, 39 and 43 of the Customs Act respectively to give legislative sanction to the existing practice in customs control and supervision of dutiable goods in transit.

Clause 10 seeks also to amend section 40 of the Customs Act to empower the Comptroller of Customs to hold the master, owner or agent of the vessel, or the pilot, owner or agent of the aircraft, or the station master of a railway station responsible for dutiable goods found short or missing on board a vessel, aircraft or train. This is intended to prevent smuggling and to make masters of vessels more cautious when endorsing manifests.

Clause 15 proposes to amend section 61 of the Customs Act to ensure that a licence is taken out before intoxicating liquors imported in bulk are bottled.

The existing provisions in the Customs Act do not require a wholesaler to obtain a licence to sell beer or a retailer who sells beer in bottles which have not been opened from Customs control for consumption elsewhere than at the place of sale. In practice, consumption often takes place at retail beer shop premises. Clauses 16, 17, 18 and 19 therefore seek to amend sections 64, 65, 67 and 70 respectively of the Act to provide for licensing the sale of beer by wholesale or retail. A licence will now be issued only when health, police and customs requirements are met. This will enable a more meaningful and manageable control to be exercised over the licensees.

Under clause 22, section 84 of the Customs Act is amended to empower the proper officer of customs to require a person to give information or produce documents at a specified customs office or station.

Clause 23 seeks to amend section 91 of the Act to enable the Comptroller of Customs to charge such fees as may be appropriate for the supply of customs documents or for rendering services to the public. These services include supervising the operations in a factory or warehouse, attending to the destruction of dutiable goods, and overseeing the packing and sealing of cases and packages of duty-paid goods for re-export under the draw-back scheme.

There is, at present, no provision for customs officers to search premises of importers for documents in connection with under-declarations and revenue evasion. As such searches are an essential part of Customs preventive and revenue evasion work, it is proposed in clause 24 to amend section 94 of the Customs Act to specifically empower customs officers to search premises for this purpose.

The inclusion of the new section 99A under clause 27 is to legalise the setting up of road barriers by customs officers in the course of their duty. This provision is to protect customs officers from any claims arising out of any accident caused by these road barriers.

Under clause 28, a new section 109A is included to provide that any report from a Government chemist on any matter submitted to him for examination may be used as prima facie evidence by the prosecution in any proceedings for an offence under the Customs Act.

The maximum fine for making incorrect declarations or falsifying documents as provided under section 119 of the Customs Act is $5,000. Clause 30 seeks to increase this limit to the amount of Customs duty payable, if the duty exceeds $5,000. It also seeks to make it an offence for any person to omit any material particulars in a Customs declaration which he is required to disclose. The proposed amendments are aimed at deterring evasion of customs duty.

Presently, the Customs Department has to rely on the Police for action under the Minor Offences Act against persons who abuse its officers. The penalty as provided in the Act is a fine not exceeding $50. Clause 31 proposes to empower Customs to deal with such an offence, and clause 32 increases the penalty from $2,000 to $3,000. This will enable Customs to prosecute offenders expeditiously and is intended to be an effective deterrent.

The other amendments are either consequential or are designed to tidy up procedural matters.

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 Hon Sui Sen].

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