RUBBER ASSOCIATION OF SINGAPORE (INCORPORATION) (AMENDMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read. 6.28 pm

The Minister for Finance and Minister for Trade and Industry (Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time.'

The Rubber Association of Singapore (RAS) was established in 1965 with the task of regulating transactions in the Singapore rubber market. Its responsibilities were inherited from its original sponsors, ie the Rubber Trade Association of Singapore (RTAS) and the Singapore Chamber of Commerce Rubber Association (SICCRA). At the request of the RAS, the Rubber Association of Singapore (incorporation) Act was enacted by Parliament in 1967 to provide for the incorporation of the RAS as a corporate body and to enable it to levy a cess on rubber exports to pay for the costs of promoting and regulating the rubber trade.

Under the Act, the policy and decision-making authority is vested in the Management Committee of the Association which comprises seven members from the Rubber Trade Association of Singapore (RTAS) and seven from the Singapore Chamber of Commerce Rubber Association (SICCRA). The Committee also has a representative from the Government.

During the last 16 years, the Management Committee has been successful in its regulatory role. It has satisfactorily and speedily settled most disputes within the rubber trade. In the periods of volatile rubber prices as well as in the depressed market conditions, such as the recent ons, there has been no major collapse of any firm in Singapore. The few defaults that have occurred have been efficiently handled by the Management Committee with minimum disruption to the market.

In the light of changing circumstances, the RAS now finds that the present structure of the Committee is no longer adequate to most the needs of the industry. The two constituent associations of the RAS have hence proposed to the Government to amend the RAS Act to restructure the Management Committee. The membership of the Committee will remain at 15. The members from the industry will be elected by members of the Association to represent all classes of the rubber trade, irrespective of their status as SICCRA or RTAS members. There will be provision for nomination of members from outside the trade, including the Government. Such representation will ensure that cross-sectional interests of the trade will be taken into account and will facilitate the Association's efforts to develop the rubber market.

The Bill before the House therefore seeks to effect the recommendations of the Rubber Association of Singapore. The Bill also introduces minor consequential amendments relating to the restructuring of the Association's Management Committee.

Sir, I beg to move.

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 Tony Tan Kong Yam).

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