SMALL CLAIMS TRIBUNALS (Formation)

Mr Goh Chee Wee asked the Minister for Finance and Minister for Trade and Industry whether the Ministry of Trade and Industry is still pursuing the matter of forming a small claims court for the interest of the consumers.

The Minister of State for Trade and Industry (Dr Wong Kwei Cheong) (for the Minister for Finance and Minister for Trade and Industry): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Government is proceeding with plans to set up the Small Claims Tribunals which will provide a simple and expeditious avenue for aggrieved consumers to seek re-dress from traders. The Attorney-General's Chambers and the Ministry of Trade and Industry have finalized the Bill. This will be introduced in Parliament shortly by the Minister for Law.

Mr Goh Chee Wee (Boon Lay): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Minister of State said that legislation will be introduced shortly. May I know how short is "shortly"? Does it mean that the legislation will be introduced in a few weeks' time?

My second question is: Can the Minister of State give us some idea of how the system of small claims court works? Would the procedure for instituting claims in the court be kept very simple?

Dr Wong Kwei Cheong: Mr Speaker, Sir, this depends on the Minister for Law but I hope the introduction of the Bill in Parliament can be done within this year.

As to his second question, since the small claims tribunals are meant to help the ordinary consumers, the legislation has to be kept as simple as possible so that the operation of the tribunals can be made as simple as possible. Then the aggrieved parties can bring their problems to the tribunals without the assistance of lawyers. With this constraint in mind, the procedure will be as follows.

First of all, the Bill for the formation of these small claims tribunals will have to be passed by this Parliament, after which, a Registry will be set up. The function of this Registry is to take down claims from the aggrieved consumers, i.e. consumers who have been sold defective goods by unscrupulous shopkeepers and so on. It is up to the Registry to try and resolve the dispute or claims between the consumer and the shopkeeper first, and it is only when such claims cannot be resolved by the Registry that the dispute will be referred to the small claims tribunal.