Legislation

The Strategic Goods (Control) Act (SGCA) controls the transfer and brokering of strategic goods, as defined in the legislation, and related software and technology, as well as any other goods and technology capable of being used to develop, produce, operate, stockpile or acquire weapons capable of causing mass destruction, and missiles capable of delivering such weapons.

The SGCA enhances other existing domestic legislations already enacted to regulate certain categories of strategic goods such as: the Arms and Explosives Act, the Chemical Weapons (Prohibition) Act and the Radiation Protection Act, and related controls under the Regulation of Imports and Exports Act.

The SGCA, incorporating the SGC (Amendment) Act 2007 can be downloaded via this link.

Subsidiary Legislation

The Strategic Goods (Control) Regulations (SGCR) was gazetted on 5 January 2004 to put in place a set of procedural guidelines for the administration of the SGCA. Specifically, the SGCR enables Singapore Customs officers to impose composition fines for technical offences, provides for facilitative permit declaration procedures for certain legitimate transactions, and spells out conditions of approval, revocation or suspension for strategic goods permits.

The SGCR, incorporating the SGC (Amendment) Regulations 2007 can be downloaded via this link.

Changes to the Legislation

As part of our continuous efforts to review and enhance our strategic goods control system, and in line with Singapore's commitment to our international obligations to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) or their delivery systems, Singapore announced (PDF 288KB) the expansion of the strategic goods control list for export, transhipment and transit with effect from 1 January 2008. To give effect to the changes, the Strategic Goods (Control) (Amendment) Act (PDF 247KB) was passed by Parliament on 19 September 2007, and the following subsidiary legislation were gazetted on 29 November 2007.

The Strategic Goods (Control) Order 2007 (PDF 620KB) contained the expanded and comprehensive listing of controlled items, with effect from 1 January 2008. This Order has been rescinded and replaced with the Strategic Goods (Control) Order 2009 (PDF 774KB) since 1 April 2009. The new Order incorporates changes to the control list of the multilateral export control regimes and our key trading partners like the EU, US and Hong Kong. Highlights of these changes can be obtained here (PDF 28.6KB). They include some new entries to the existing categories, some deletions as well as editorial changes for consistency and clarity of controls.
The Strategic Goods (Control) (Brokering) Order 2007 (PDF 197KB) lists the categories of items and goods, which require a brokering registration. Brokering refers to any act to facilitate the arrangement or negotiation of a contract resulting in the movement of goods from one foreign country to another.
The Strategic Goods (Control) (Amendment) Regulations 2007 stipulates the exemption of a permit requirement for certain strategic goods in the new list, for transhipments and transit goods, if they remain/store in the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) within a specified period. However, when necessary, the authorities still have the powers to ask for shipping details and documents on these shipments. These took effect from 1 January 2008.

In addition, under the amended regulations, mixtures containing chemicals controlled under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) are exempted from control if the controlled chemical is below a certain percentage of the mixture, as specified in the Chemical Weapons (Prohibition) Act.

(Note: Legislation is reproduced on this website with the permission of the Government of Singapore. Acts of Parliament are available without charge and updated monthly, at the Singapore Government Statutes Online website. To purchase Singapore Legal Publications, please click here for more information.)