On 19/06/2013,
you requested for the version in force on 19/06/2013
incorporating all amendments published on or before 19/06/2013.
The closest version currently available is that of 30/12/2000.
PART VII
MISCELLANEOUS
43. Any person who refuses any authorised person access to any place, premises or vehicle or otherwise hinders him in the performance of his duty, or refuses or neglects to give any information which is reasonably required of him and which he has it in his power to give or which he is required by this Act to give, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.
44.
—(1) When any place liable to inspection under section 38 is closed, any person residing in or being in charge of such place shall, on demand by any authorised person, allow him free entry thereto and afford all reasonable facilities for a search therein.
(2) If entry to such place cannot be obtained, any authorised person may —
(a)
break open any outer or inner door or window of any place;
(b)
forcibly enter such place and every part thereof; or
(c)
remove by force any obstruction to such entry or search.
(3) Any person who refuses any such entry or in any way prevents or obstructs any authorised person in effecting an entrance or search under this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.
45. A certificate purporting to be signed by a Scientific Officer and purporting to relate to petroleum shall be admitted in evidence in any proceedings for an offence under Part VI, on its production by the prosecution without proof of signature and, until the contrary is proved, such certificate shall be prima facie evidence of all matters contained therein.
46.
—(1) The Commissioner or any officerduly authorised in writing in that behalf by the Commissioner or any police officer may without warrant arrest any person whom he reasonably suspects to have committed an offence under this Act or any regulations made thereunder —
(a)
if the name and address of the person are unknown to him;
(b)
if the person declines to give his name and address; or
(c)
if there is any reason to doubt the accuracy of the name and address, if given.
(2) A person arrested under this section may be detained until his name and address are correctly ascertained.
(3) No person arrested shall be detained longer than is necessary for bringing him before a court unless the order of a court for his detention is obtained.
47.
—(1) No misnomer or inaccurate description of any person, premises, building, holding, street or place named or described in any document prepared, issued or served under, by virtue of or for the purposes of this Act or any regulations made thereunder, shall in any way affect the operation of this Act or any such regulations as respects that person or place if that person or place is so designated in the document as to be identifiable.
(2) No proceedings taken under or by virtue of this Act or any such regulations shall be invalid for want of form.
48.
—(1) The contents of any document prepared, issued or served under, by virtue of or for the purposes of this Act or any regulations made thereunder shall, until the contrary is proved, be presumed to be correct.
(2) All records and other documents required by this Act or any regulations made thereunder to be kept by the Commissioner shall be deemed to be public documents and copies thereof or extracts therefrom certified by the officer responsible for the custody thereof to be true copies or extracts, as the case may be, subscribed by that officer with his name, and his official title shall be admissible in evidence as proof of the contents of the documents or extracts.
(3) A certificate purporting to be under the hand of the Commissioner and specifying the costs and expenses or arrears as due and payable by any person shall be prima facie evidence of the facts certified therein and of the signature of the Commissioner.
49.
—(1) Any notice, order or document required or authorised by this Act or any regulations made thereunder to be served on any person shall be deemed to be sufficiently served —
(a)
by delivering a copy thereof to the person to whom it is addressed or by delivering it at the last known place of residence of that person to some adult member or servant of his family;
(b)
by delivering it at the usual or last known place of residence or business of that person in a cover addressed to that person; or
(c)
by sending it by registered post addressed to that person at his usual or last known place of residence or business.
(2) A notice, order or document required or authorised by this Act or any regulations made thereunder to be served on the owner or occupier of any premises shall be deemed to be properly addressed if addressed by the description of the “owner” or “occupier” of the premises without further name or description.
(3) Any notice, order or document required or authorised by this Act or any regulations made thereunder to be served on the owner or occupier of any premises may be served by delivering the same or a true copy thereof to some adult person on the premises or, if there is no such person on the premises to whom the same can with reasonable diligence be delivered, by affixing the notice to some conspicuous part of the premises.
50. Notwithstanding the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap. 68), a District Court or a Magistrate’s Court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine all offences under this Act and shall have power to impose the full penalty or punishment in respect of an offence under this Act.
51.
—(1) The Commissioner may, in his discretion, compound any offence under this Act or any regulations made thereunder which is prescribed as a compoundable offence by collecting from the person reasonably suspected of having committed the offence a sum not exceeding $500.
(2) The Minister may make regulations to prescribe the offences which may be compounded under this section.
52. Proceedings in respect of any offence under this Act or any regulations made thereunder may be conducted by any officer of the Force or any other person authorised in writing in that behalf by the Commissioner.
53. The Minister may, by order either generally or in any particular case, and subject to such conditions as he may impose, exempt any person, premisesor fire safety works from all or any of the provisions of this Act or any regulations made thereunder.
54. Where an offence under this Act or any regulations made thereunder has been committed by a body corporate, a partnership or unincorporated association of persons, any person who at the time of the commission of the offence was a director, manager, partner, secretary or other similar officer thereof, or was purporting to act in any such capacity shall be guilty of that offence unless he proves that —
(a)
the offence was committed without his consent or connivance; and
(b)
he had exercised all such diligence to prevent the commission of the offence as he ought to have exercised having regard to the nature of his functions in that capacity and to all the circumstances.
55.
—(1) Any regulations made under section 61 may adopt wholly or partially or as amended by the regulations or by reference any code, standard, rule, specification or provision which relates to any matter with which the regulations deal and which is —
(a)
recommended, issued or adopted by the Singapore Productivity and Standards Board;
(b)
recommended, issued or adopted by any other standards organisation or body of any place outside Singapore being an organisation or body approved by the Commissioner; or
(c)
included in any document issued by any Government department or issued by the public authority constituted under any written law.
[1/96]
(2) The Commissioner shall cause a copy of every code, standard, rule, specification or provision adopted under subsection (1)(b) or (c) to be made available for inspection by members of the public without charge at the office of the Commissioner during normal office hours.
(3) In any proceedings under this Act or any regulations made thereunder, a copy certified by the Commissioner as a true copy of a code, standard, rule, specification or provision adopted under subsection (1)(b) or (c) shall be evidence of the code, standard, rule, specification or provision so adopted.
56. Any person who is guilty of an offence under this Act for which no penalty is expressly provided shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $500 for every day during which the offence continues after conviction.
57.
—(1) The Commissioner may by notice require any person who appears to the Commissioner to be acquainted with the circumstances of any case which is under investigation to furnish him within such time as may be specified in the notice with information relating to that case in that person’s possession.
(2) Any person who fails to comply with any notice under subsection (1) or who furnishes any information which he knows or has reason to believe is false or misleading shall be guilty of an offence.
58.
—(1) Nothing in this Act shall prevent any person from being prosecuted under any other written law for any act or omission which constitutes an offence under this Act or any regulations made thereunder, or from being liable under that other law to any other or higher punishment or penalty than that provided by this Act or any such regulations.
(2) No person shall be punished twice for the same offence.
59.
—(1) No liability shall lie against the Government or any public officer by reason of the fact that any fire safety works are carried out in accordance with the provisions of this Act or that such works or plans of the building are subject to inspection or approval by the Commissioner or the public officer.
(2) Nothing in this Act shall make it obligatory for the Commissioner to inspect any building or fire safety works or the site of any proposed building to ascertain whether the provisions of this Act or any regulations made thereunder are complied with or whether any plans, certificates, notices or other documents submitted to him are accurate.
(3) No matter or thing done by the Commissioner or by any public officer shall, if it were done bona fide for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act or any regulations made thereunder, subject him or such person personally liable to any action, liability, claim or demand whatsoever.
60. On 8th April 1994, every person who immediately before that date was serving in the Singapore Fire Service constituted under the repealed Fire Service Act (Cap. 110) and in force immediately before that date shall be transferred to the Force on the same terms and rank enjoyed or attained by him immediately prior to his transfer and shall be deemed to be appointed under the Civil Defence Act (Cap. 42), and his service in the Singapore Fire Service shall be deemed to be service under the Civil Defence Act.
61.
—(1) The Minister may make regulations for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act as he considers necessary and for any matter which is required under this Act to be prescribed and, in particular, the Minister may make regulations in respect of all or any of the following matters:
(a)
the establishment, registration and regulation of fire safety managers in any premises or any class of premises as may be prescribed by the Minister;
(b)
the control of the sale, supply, installation, repair, maintenance and inspection of fire safety works;
(c)
the licensing of persons who carry on the trade or business of supplying, selling, maintaining, repairing or inspecting fire safety works;
(d)
the prescribing of the type of fire safety measures to be installed in any premises;
(e)
the prescribing of the requirements of a fire emergency plan in designated premises;
(f)
the control, regulation and supervision by registration, licensing or otherwise of premises used for any trade or purpose specified in the Schedule;
(g)
the control, regulation and supervision by registration, licensing, inspection or otherwise of places to which the public has access;
(h)
the submission of plans and specifications of fire safety works, the authorisation of persons qualified to submit the same and their duties and responsibilities and the nature or classifications of plans or specifications which each such person may submit;
(i)
the time and manner of making an application for temporary fire permits and fire safety certificate;
(j)
the time and manner of making an application for the change of use of premises;
(k)
the prescribing of the type of tests to be applied to any petroleum or flammable material to ascertain its flashpoint and the methods of applying the same;
(l)
the determining of the standard of any class of petroleum;
(m)
the licensing and management of places for storing any class of petroleum ;
(n)
the prescribing of the quantities of any class of petroleum that may be stored in any licensed premises and the method in which it is to be stored including the maximum quantity of any class of petroleum that can be stored without a licence for residential, commercial or industrial use;
(o)
the regulation of the dispensing of any class of petroleum;
(p)
the regulation of the transportation of any class of petroleum including specifying the time periods under which petroleum can be transported and the maximum quantity of any class of petroleum that can be transported without a licence;
(q)
the determining of the quantity of and the receptacles in which any class of petroleum may be carried in any vehicle;
(r)
the prescribing of the standard and specification for the construction of any premises in which any class of petroleum is to be stored;
(s)
the prescribing of the types and standards of materials and appliances to be used for preventing or extinguishing fire in any licensed premises;
(t)
the provisions for the protection of premises adjacent to licensed premises;
(u)
the requiring of receptacles containing petroleum to carry warning labels and to denote the class of petroleum contained therein;
(v)
the prescribing of fees and charges for the purposes of this Act;
(w)
the prescribing of the conditions to be attached to any licence and the prescribing of the requirements and conditions to be observed by persons employed at the premises to which the licence relates;
(x)
the regulation, control and licensing of persons and organisations engaged in the business of petroleumdistribution;
(y)
the prescribing of forms for licencesand for other purposes for use in connection with this Act;
(z)
the duties and responsibilities of registered inspectors and the manner in which such duties and responsibilities are to be discharged;
(za)
the prescribing of the procedure of the Appeal Advisory Board;
(zaa)
the regulation of the proceedings of any Inquiry Committee constituted under section 6A;
(zab)
the prescribing of the code of conduct and ethics for registered inspectors ; and
(zb)
the prescribing of any matter which is required for the purposes of this Act.
[5/2000]
(2) The Minister may, in making any regulations under subsection (1), provide that any contravention or failure to comply with any of the provisions of the regulations shall be an offence punishable with a fine not exceeding $10,000 or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or with both.
62.
—(1) Any scheme, contract, document, licence, permission or resolution prepared, made, granted or approved under the repealed Fire Service Act (Cap. 110) or the repealed section 12, 14, 17, 18 or 19 of the Petroleum Act (Cap. 229) shall, so far as it is not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act and except as otherwise expressly provided in this Act or in any other written law, continue and be deemed to have been prepared, made, granted or approved under the corresponding provisions of this Act.
(2) All moneys belonging to the Fire Service Welfare Fund established under section 12 of the repealed Fire Service Act shall, on 8th April 1994, be transferred to and deemed to be moneys belonging to the Civil Defence Force Fund established under section 101 of the Civil Defence Act (Cap. 42) and shall be used for the purposes stated in that section.
(3) Any subsidiary legislation made under the repealed Fire Service Act or pursuant to the repealed section 12, 14, 17, 18 or 19 of the Petroleum Act and in force immediately before 8th April 1994 shall, so far as it is not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, continue in force as if made under this Act until it is revoked or repealed by subsidiary legislation made under this Act.
(4) The Minister may, by order published in the Gazette, repeal or amend any written law which appears to him to be inconsistent with any of the provisions of this Act.