MINISTRY OF LAW

Parliament of Singapore · 10 January 1994 · 8th Parliament

Official Report, 10 January 1994, Vol 62, Issue 1 · Open in the reader (summaries, search, filters)

PROF S JAYAKUMAR Minister for Law

The Ministry and Attorney-General's Chambers will conduct a major review of legislation to provide adequate legal infrastructure to support the regionalisation drive. Where appropriate, we will adopt international conventions and model laws which harmonise and facilitate international trade and dispute settlements.

  1. To create a more predictable legal environment for business operations, we will review and, where necessary, modify our commercial laws.

  2. Following the enactment of the Application of English Law Act 1993, we will review other Acts of Parliament which rely on English law.

  3. We will introduce legislation to abolish all appeals to the Privy Council.

  4. In law reform, our two priority areas will be new legislation on patents and bankruptcy:

a. Patents: We will introduce new laws to upgrade the existing patent system and make it more convenient for Singaporeans to obtain patent protection for their inventions. We propose to change the current requirement that Singaporeans must first obtain patent protection in the United Kingdom before their inventions can be protected in Singapore, and instead allow Singaporeans to file patent applications locally.

b. Bankruptcy: We will introduce legislation to improve administration of the affairs of bankrupts, and protect creditors' interests without stifling entrepreneurship. We will strike a fair balance between the interests of the debtor, the creditor and society. There will be greater accountability of bankrupts in the administration of their estates on the one hand, and speedier discharges of bankrupts on the other.

  1. The Registry of Land Titles will be converting all lands from the common law to the land titles registration system. It will computerise the Land Titles Register to handle more land transactions and public searches.

  2. The Attorney-General's Chambers will improve its function of giving legal advice to Ministries and Departments by centralising legal services in its Civil Division. It will assign teams of legal officers dedicated to different Ministries and Departments.

Source: Singapore Parliament Official Report (Hansard) for 10 January 1994. Republished on SGParliament.