Public Consultation on Proposed Amendments to the Regulation of Imports and Exports Act
Public Consultation on Proposed Amendments to the Regulation of Imports and Exports Act
Introduction
1. The Ministry of Trade and Industry is seeking public feedback on the proposed amendments to the Regulation of Imports and Exports Act (RIEA). The amendments mainly relate to sharing of information among domestic government agencies. The Bill also contains technical amendments to clarify the law with no changes in policy or its execution.
2. We invite you to contribute comments on the proposed amendments to improve the draft legislation with regard to its clarity or its implications for businesses and the general public.
Scope of the Consultation Exercise
3. The draft Regulation of Imports and Exports (Amendment) Bill 2013 covers changes of existing policy for sharing of traders’ declaration information resulting from on-going reviews of the Regulation of Imports and Exports Act. The main changes are summarised as follows:
(a) Changes to facilitate sharing of information among domestic public agencies:
(i) Allow sharing of information collected under the Regulation of Imports and Exports Act to domestic public agencies for processing, analysis and publishing of trade statistics;
(ii) Allow sharing of that information to domestic public agencies to safeguard national security, public health and safety; and,
(iii) Allow sharing of that information to domestic public agencies for the investigation, enforcement and prosecution of offences under domestic laws.
(b) Changes to give greater legal clarity on trade terms and to align provisions within the Regulation of Imports and Exports Act with current operations.
4. The summary table Summary Table RIEA Amendments.pdf lists and explains the proposed changes to the Regulation of Imports and Exports Act.
Mode of Consultation
5. All submissions should be clear and concise, and should provide a reasoned explanation for any proposed revision to the proposed amendments. Where feasible, parties should identify the specific clause of the proposed amendments to the Acts, or specific paragraph of the consultation paper on which they are commenting. Where parties choose to suggest revisions to the text of the proposed amendments to the Acts, they should state clearly the specific changes to the text that they propose.
6. The draft Regulation of Imports and Exports (Amendment) Bill 2013 is available for public consultation from 22 July 2013 to 20 August 2013. Parties submitting comments should include their personal/company particulars as well as their correspondence address, contact numbers, and email addresses on the cover page of their submissions, so that we may follow up with you to clarify your comments, if necessary.
7. MTI reserves the right to make public all or parts of any submission and to disclose the identity of the author. Parties may request that any part of the submission that they believe to be proprietary, confidential, or commercially sensitive be kept confidential. Any such information should be clearly marked and placed in a separate annex. Where MTI agrees with the request, it will consider the information but will not publicly disclose it. If MTI rejects the request, it will not consider the information and will return the information to the party. As far as possible, parties should limit any request for confidential treatment of information submitted.
8. This draft legislation is released only for the purpose of consultation and should not be used for individual or business decisions as it does not represent the final legislation or regulations. All comments received during the consultation exercise will be reviewed thoroughly and, if accepted, will be incorporated in the Bill for introduction in Parliament.
Feedback Channels
9. We encourage all interested participants to submit your comments through any of the following channels:
Email: mti_email@mti.gov.sg
Fax: 6332 7260; or
Post: Ministry of Trade and Industry
100 High Street, #09-01
The Treasury
Singapore 179434
Documents to Download
10. For your convenience, the relevant documents relating to this public consultation exercise can be downloaded for reference here.