Bill Tabled in Parliament to Amend Customs Act to Strengthen Customs’ Regulatory and Enforcement Regime

On 25 October 2024, the Ministry of Finance (“MOF“) and Singapore Customs (“Customs“) issued a summary of the feedback received to the Consultation (from 13 September 2024 to 4 October 2024) on proposed amendments to the Customs Act 1960 (“Act“) via the draft Customs (Amendment) Bill.

The proposed amendments seek to (i) improve Customs’ operational effectiveness and strengthen its regulatory and enforcement regime; and (ii) heighten deterrence by introducing new offence provisions and increase the maximum penalties for specified offences. For more information on the proposed amendments, please see our September 2024 NewsBytes article titled “MOF and Customs Consult on Proposed Legislative Changes to Enhance Regulatory and Enforcement Powers and Strengthen Penalties”.

The feedback received to the Consultation was generally supportive of the proposed amendments. In this regard, the only suggestion received was to refine the wording of one of the proposed amendments (see paragraph 3 of the draft Customs (Amendment) Bill), to clarify that where the licence of a licensed warehouse operator has expired or is withdrawn, “dutiable goods” can continue to be stored in that warehouse so long as duty has already been paid on the same.

However, MOF and Customs rejected this suggestion, stating that the proposed amendments are sufficiently clear that: (i) if duty has been paid on the “dutiable goods” at the point of licence expiry or withdrawal, there is no requirement for the goods to be removed from the warehouse; and (ii) licensed warehouse operators are only required to physically remove duty-suspended “dutiable goods” from the warehouse if duty has not been paid on the same at the point of licence expiry or withdrawal (see section 3 of the Act, defining “dutiable goods” as “any goods subject to the payment of customs duty or excise duty … and on which customs duty or excise duty has not been paid…”).

The Customs (Amendment) Bill was introduced for First Reading in Parliament on 11 November 2024.

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