2025年1月8日，新加坡國會三讀通過了《海關（修正）法案》，旨在加強對逃稅及相關違法行為的監管與處罰力度。新加坡交通部長兼財政部第二部長徐芳達在國會為法案提出二讀時強調，此次修法將提高關稅局的監管和執法行動效率，並增強對相關犯罪的威懾力。
以下內容為新加坡眼根據國會英文資料翻譯整理：
第二讀動議已經宣讀。
議長：請財政部第二部長陳述。
財政部第二部長徐芳達先生：議長先生，我提議，「該法案現在進行二讀。」
議長先生，財政部和新加坡關稅局會定期審查《海關法》，以確保其內容保持最新，並符合政策意圖。《海關法》上次修訂是在2018年。自那時起，我們又進行了一次審查，並建議在以下兩方面對該法案進行進一步修訂。
第一類修訂旨在提高新加坡關稅局監管和執法工作的效率。第二類修訂將引入新的犯罪條款，並加強對特定違法行為的處罰。這些修訂將使新加坡關稅局能夠更有效地履行其促進貿易和保護收入的職責，同時確保對違法者具有震懾作用。
議長先生，第一類修訂將提升新加坡關稅局的執法效能。首先，授權輔警行使搜查、逮捕和扣押權力。
目前，只有直接受僱於新加坡關稅局的官員可以行使這些權力。然而，新加坡關稅局也聘請了輔助警察（APOs）來協助其執法工作。修訂後，將允許新加坡關稅局局長授權APOs行使這些權力，以便更高效地履行職責。
這一做法與其他公共機構（如衛生科學局、陸路交通管理局和國家環境局）一致，這些機構均可根據相關法律授權APOs行使類似權力。
第二，加強對保稅倉庫的管理。修訂將賦予新加坡關稅局法律權力，要求許可證持有人在許可證到期或被吊銷前清空保稅倉庫中的所有應稅商品。
目前，保稅倉庫計劃允許持證公司將進口的應稅商品存儲在指定倉庫中，並暫緩繳納消費稅（GST）。但現行法律並未賦予新加坡關稅局強制執行清空倉庫的權力。修訂後，如果持證公司未能清空倉庫，新加坡關稅局將有權移除並處理倉庫中的所有應稅商品，並收回因此產生的費用。
第三，擴展搜查權力。修訂後，海關官員將被授權對涉嫌違反《海關法》的個人隨身物品進行搜查。現行法律僅允許官員在以下三種情況搜查個人：當事人抵達新加坡時、涉嫌行賄時，或已因違反《海關法》被逮捕時。然而，這些限制無法滿足在內陸執法行動中的實際需要。例如，官員可能接到舉報稱有人在某地出售未繳稅香菸，但現行條件無法授權搜查此類嫌疑人。修訂後，官員將能在必要時進行搜查，以確認是否存在違法行為，而無需立即進行逮捕。
第四，授權扣押相關設備和資金。修訂將賦予海關官員扣押與違法行為相關的電子設備（如電腦、手機）和現金的權力，這些物品可能成為起訴違法者的重要證據。
議長先生，第二類修訂將引入新犯罪條款及加強處罰。首先，引入協助違法行為的罪行。修訂將新增罪行，對那些允許其場所或車輛被用於協助《海關法》違法行為的人進行處罰。此舉旨在更有效地遏制個人協助違法行為，例如允許犯罪團伙利用其場所或車輛存儲或運輸未繳稅商品。除非這些個人能夠證明已採取合理注意義務，否則新加坡關稅局將能夠對其採取法律行動。
第二，新增妨礙調查的罪行。修訂後，任何篡改、隱藏、掩蓋或銷毀帳簿、文件或其他記錄以妨礙調查的行為將成為《海關法》下的犯罪行為。此前，這類行為屬於《刑法》的管轄範圍，新加坡關稅局需要將案件轉交給警方處理。修訂後，新加坡關稅局將能夠直接調查並處理此類案件。
第三，加重處罰。修訂將提高某些罪行的罰款金額，例如，對於無法確定稅額的逃稅案件，最高罰款將從5000新元提高到1萬新元。此外，對於涉及欺詐性逃稅或非法持有未繳稅商品等罪行，法院將可在現有罰款的基礎上追加監禁處罰。
議長先生，總而言之，這些修訂將提高新加坡關稅局的執法能力和效率，同時加強對違法行為的震懾力，從而進一步鞏固新加坡作為可信賴貿易樞紐的地位。
議長：是否有任何問題？（無人提出問題。）
問題提出並獲得一致通過。法案隨即進入委員會審議階段，並獲得通過。法案經修訂後進行了三讀，並最終通過。
議長：議案通過。
法律
以下是英文質詢內容：
CUSTOMS (AMENDMENT) BILL
Order for Second Reading read.
Mr Speaker: Second Minister for Finance.
9.41 pm
The Second Minister for Finance (Mr Chee Hong Tat): Mr Speaker, I move, 「that the Bill be now read a Second time.」
Sir, the Ministry of Finance and Singapore Customs regularly review the Customs Act to ensure that it remains up to date and in line with policy intent. The Customs Act was last amended in 2018. Since then, we have carried out another review and propose further amendments to the Act in two areas.
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{nextpage}The first set of amendments seeks to improve the effectiveness of Singapore Customs』 regulatory and enforcement operations. The second will introduce new offence provisions and enhance the penalties for specified offences. These amendments will enable Singapore Customs to more effectively carry out its mandate of trade facilitation and revenue protection and ensure that bad actors are deterred from committing offences under the Customs Act.
Mr Speaker, the first set of amendments will grant additional powers to Singapore Customs to improve their operational effectiveness. First, we will give the Director-General of Singapore Customs the power to authorise auxiliary police officers, or APOs, to exercise powers of search, arrest and seizure.
Today, only officers who are directly employed by Singapore Customs can exercise these powers. However, Singapore Customs also engages APOs to support its enforcement operations, and APOs will need to be granted these powers to perform their duties effectively.
And this is in line with the practice in other public agencies, such as the Health Sciences Authority, the Land Transport Authority, and the National Environment Agency, who are able to appoint APOs as authorised officers under their respective legislation to exercise similar powers.
Second, we will grant Singapore Customs the legal power to require licensees to remove all dutiable goods from licensed warehouses before the expiry or withdrawal of their licences.
Today, the Licensed Warehouse scheme allows licensed companies to store imported dutiable goods in a designated premise known as a Licensed Warehouse, with duty and the Goods and Services Tax on these goods suspended. To qualify for this scheme, companies must meet requirements including having good compliance records and ensuring the security of the dutiable goods.
In the absence of any legislative lever today, Singapore Customs has no legal powers to compel these companies to remove their goods when the company’s license expires or is withdrawn. Hence, the amendment will make it a requirement for licensees to remove all dutiable goods from the warehouse even before the expiry or the withdrawal of their licence, failing which, Singapore Customs will have the legal powers to remove and dispose of all dutiable goods from the warehouse, and recover any costs incurred for the removal and disposal of these goods.
Third, we will provide officers of customs with the power to stop and conduct searches on the belongings of a person that is committing or is reasonably suspected to have committed an offence under the Customs Act.
Today, officers of customs can only exercise the power of search on persons under three narrowly prescribed conditions: one, when a person is arriving in Singapore; two, when a person is suspected to be in possession of a bribe; and three, when a person has been arrested for an offence under the Customs Act.
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{nextpage}However, these conditions are too restrictive for situations when officers of customs conduct inland operations. For instance, officers of customs may receive tip-offs of persons suspected to be in possession of and illegally selling duty unpaid cigarettes in a particular part of Singapore.
These suspects are not arriving in Singapore, so they do not meet Condition 1 to invoke search; and they are not suspected to be in possession of a bribe, so they do not meet Condition 2. As for Condition 3, while an officer of customs can arrest an individual to invoke the power of search, an arrest would be a high signature move which can have a significant impact on the person involved.
In some cases, arresting the individual may not be necessary if the officer wants to first verify whether an offence has been committed. Hence, it is more effective to amend the law to give officers of customs the legal powers to conduct searches before assessing whether an arrest should be made. All in all, this amendment will allow Singapore Customs to conduct their inland enforcement operations more effectively.
Fourth, we will grant Singapore Customs the legal power to seize computers or associated devices, mobile communication devices and cash that are reasonably believed to be connected to offences under the Customs Act. In the course of enforcement operations and investigations, it may be necessary for officers of customs to seize such devices and cash proceeds as these may be used as evidence to prosecute the offender under the Customs Act.
Sir, let me now move on to the second set of amendments, which seeks to introduce two new offence provisions and enhance the penalties for specified offences.
First, we will introduce a new offence provision to penalise individuals who allow their premises or vehicles to be used to commit an offence under the Customs Act. This will more effectively deter individuals from committing an offence or taking actions that assist others in the commission of an offence.
For example, there have been cases where individuals repeatedly allowed their premises or vehicles to be used by criminal syndicates to store or transport duty unpaid goods. These individuals then claim innocence by saying that they did not know their actions had helped to facilitate the commission of offences. With this amendment, Singapore Customs will be able to take action against such individuals, unless they are able to show that they had exercised due care in respect of the actions in question.
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{nextpage}Second, we will also introduce a new offence provision for acts of altering, suppressing, concealing or destroying any books, documents or other records with the intent of obstructing investigations under the Customs Act.
Today, such acts are considered offences under the Penal Code, but not the Customs Act. This means that when officers of Customs encounter such acts, Singapore Customs will need to refer offenders to the Singapore Police Force (SPF) for investigation. The proposed amendment to include this offence under the Customs Act will allow Singapore Customs to investigate these cases directly and decide on the necessary follow-up actions without referring these cases to the SPF.
Third, we will enhance the penalties for some offences, to strengthen their deterrent effect. For offences involving the evasion of duties, where the amount of duty cannot be ascertained, we will increase the maximum fine from $5,000 to $10,000. This aligns the maximum fine with that of other similar offences under the Customs Act.
For specified offences under section 128 of the Customs Act, such as those related to fraudulent evasion and possession or storage of uncustomed or prohibited goods, we will provide for the option for the Courts to impose an imprisonment term in addition to the current penalty of a fine.
Mr Speaker, in sum, the amendments in this Bill will enable Singapore Customs to carry out their regulatory and enforcement operations more effectively and strengthen the deterrent effect for offences under the Customs Act. These efforts will ultimately strengthen Singapore's status as a trusted and thriving trade hub. Mr Speaker, I seek to move.
9.50 pm
Mr Speaker: Are there any clarifications? No.
Question put, and agreed to.
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. – [Mr Chee Hong Tat].
Bill considered in Committee.
[Mr Speaker in the Chair]
The Chairman: The citation year "2024" will be changed to "2025" as indicated in the Order Paper Supplement.
Clauses 1 to 16 inclusive ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Bill reported with amendment; read a Third time and passed.
Mr Speaker: Leader.
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