Free Trade Zones Act 1966

Source: Singapore Statutes Online | Archived by Legal Wires


Free Trade Zones Act 1966
2020 REVISED EDITION
This revised edition incorporates all amendments up to and including 1 December 2021 and comes into operation on 31 December 2021
An Act to provide for the establishment of free trade zones in Singapore and the regulation of activities in those free trade zones, and for matters incidental thereto.
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
[1 September 1969]
PART 1
PRELIMINARY
Short title
1.  This Act is the Free Trade Zones Act 1966.
Interpretation
2.  In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —
“air cargo agent” means a person who carries on a business that includes handling goods, to be passed to or received from an operator of an aircraft or its representative, for carriage in the aircraft;
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
“aircraft” means an aircraft of any description which may be used for the conveyance of persons or goods by air;
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
[Deleted by Act 33 of 2023 wef 25/11/2024]
[Deleted by Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
“conveyance” includes any vessel, train, vehicle or aircraft in which persons or goods can be carried;
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
“customs duty” means any customs duty or excise duty imposed under the Customs Act 1960;
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
“customs territory” means Singapore and the territorial waters of Singapore but excluding any free trade zone;
“Director-General” means the Director‑General of Customs appointed under section 4(1) of the Customs Act 1960;
“dutiable goods” means any goods subject to the payment of customs duty on entry into customs territory or manufactured in Singapore including any free trade zone and on which customs duty has not been paid and includes goods manufactured in a free trade zone from materials of a class dutiable on entry into customs territory for consumption within the customs territory;
“free trade zone” means any area declared to be a free trade zone under section 3(1);
“free trade zone cargo handler” or “FTZ cargo handler”, in relation to a free trade zone —
(a)means a person providing any service or facility for the storing, processing or handling of goods at the free trade zone, for any goods being brought into or out of Singapore; and
(b)includes an FTZ operator of the free trade zone that provides any such service or facility;
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
“free trade zone operator” or “FTZ operator”, in relation to a free trade zone, means the person who administers, maintains and operates the free trade zone;
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
“free trade zone operator licence” or “FTZ operator licence” means a free trade zone operator licence granted under section 14C to administer, maintain and operate a free trade zone specified in the licence;
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
“goods” includes animals, birds, fish, plants and all kinds of movable property;
“licensed FTZ operator” means an FTZ operator holding a valid free trade zone operator licence;
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
“manufacture”, with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means the process of converting materials into a new product or article, whether or not by power-operated machinery, whereby a change in tariff classification has been effected; except that the Director-General may, in his discretion, determine that the result of any manufacture is not a new product or article and a change in tariff classification has not been effected;
“officer of customs”, “proper officer of customs” and “senior officer of customs” have the same meanings as in the Customs Act 1960;
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
“shipping agent” means a person who carries on a business that includes handling goods, to be passed to or received from an operator of a vessel or its representative, for carriage in the vessel;
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
“tax” means goods and services tax under section 8(4) of the Goods and Services Tax Act 1993;
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
“taxable goods” means any goods (including any goods manufactured in a free trade zone) subject to the payment of tax on entry into customs territory pursuant to section 8(4) of the Goods and Services Tax Act 1993, and on which such tax has not been paid;
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
“vessel” includes any ship or boat or other description of vessel used in navigation by sea.
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
Declaration of free trade zones
3.—(1)  The Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, declare any area in Singapore to be a free trade zone and every such notification shall define the limits of that free trade zone.
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 25/11/2024]
(2)  [Deleted by Act 33 of 2023 wef 25/11/2024]
Power of Director-General to administer Act, etc.
4.—(1)  The Director-General is responsible for the administration of this Act, subject to the general or special directions of the Minister.
(2)  Subject to the general direction and supervision of the Director-General, the Deputy Directors-General of Customs and Assistant Directors-General of Customs appointed under section 4(2) of the Customs Act 1960 have and may exercise all the powers conferred on the Director-General by this Act.
(3)  The Director-General may confer on any senior officer of customs appointed under section 4(4) of the Customs Act 1960 all or any of the powers conferred on the Director-General by this Act (except under this subsection), subject to any conditions or restrictions that the Director-General thinks fit.
(4)  The Director-General may confer on any officer of customs all or any of the powers of a senior officer of customs under this Act.
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
PART 2
OPERATIONS PERMITTED WITHIN FREE TRADE ZONE
Dealing with or disposal of goods in free trade zone
5.—(1)  Goods of any description, except such as are specifically and absolutely prohibited by any written law, may be brought into a free trade zone.
(2)  Goods in a free trade zone may —
(a)be removed from the free trade zone, destroyed, or sent into customs territory or into another free trade zone in the original package or otherwise; and
(b)unless otherwise directed by the licensed FTZ operator of the free trade zone, be stored, sold, exhibited, broken up, repacked, assembled, distributed, sorted, graded, cleaned, mixed, or otherwise manipulated, or be manufactured in accordance with the provisions of this Act,
except that when any goods of a class dutiable on entry into customs territory whether in their original condition or after manufacture or as part or ingredient of any goods manufactured in a free trade zone are sent from a free trade zone into the customs territory, the goods shall be subject to the provisions of the Customs Act 1960.
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 25/11/2024]
(3)  Goods, except such as are prescribed under subsection (4), which have been brought into a free trade zone from customs territory shall be deemed to be exported for the purpose of drawback under the Customs Act 1960.
(4)  Subsection (2)(b) shall not apply to such goods as may be prescribed from time to time by the Minister by notification in the Gazette, save that such prescribed goods may be stored in a free trade zone for the purpose of transhipment or survey and repacking before removal into customs territory, and that such survey and repacking shall not be carried out except with the prior permission of a senior officer of customs and shall be subject to such conditions as he may think fit to impose.
Manipulation or manufacture in free trade zone
6.—(1)  Any person who intends to do any of the following in a free trade zone must give the Director-General written notice of the intention and obtain the Director-General’s prior written permission to do so:
(a)assemble, mix or otherwise manipulate any goods for entry into customs territory, where any goods or materials used in the assembly, mixing or manipulation are dutiable goods;
(b)manufacture any goods.
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
(2)  Permission under subsection (1) shall be granted or withheld as the Director‑General in his discretion shall think fit.
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
(3)  Subject to subsection (4), any manipulation or manufacture permitted under this section shall be subject to the regulations made under this Act and to such conditions as the Director‑General may think fit to impose.
(4)  The Director-General may, in his discretion, give an allowance for recoverable and irrecoverable waste, but if recoverable waste is sent into customs territory, the recoverable waste is subject to the payment of customs duty and payment of tax in its condition and quantity and at its weight at the time of entry.
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
Calculation of duty
7.—(1)  The rate of customs duty and the valuation, if any, applicable to any goods subject to customs duty shall be —
(a)in the case of goods lawfully brought into or manufactured in a free trade zone —
(i)if there has been no manipulation or manufacture effecting a change in tariff classification, the rate and valuation in force on the day on which the goods are sent into customs territory;
(ii)if the goods are used in the manufacture of any product which is not of a class dutiable on entry into customs territory, the rate and valuation in force on the day on which the goods are removed for manufacture; and
(iii)if the goods are manufactured from materials which are not subject to customs duty, the rate and valuation in force on the day on which the entry of the manufactured goods into customs territory is authorised by the proper officer of customs; and
(b)in the case of uncustomed goods, the rate and valuation in force on the day on which the goods became uncustomed goods, if known, or the rate and valuation in force on the day of seizure, whichever is the higher.
(2)  [Deleted by Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
(3)  [Deleted by Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
Retail trade
8.—(1)  No retail trade shall be conducted within a free trade zone unless authorised in writing by the licensed FTZ operator of the free trade zone and subject to such conditions as the licensed FTZ operator of the free trade zone may impose.
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 25/11/2024]
(2)  The licensed FTZ operator must, within the prescribed period after each authorisation of any retail trade under subsection (1), submit to the Director-General the prescribed information and documents in respect of the authorisation.
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 25/11/2024]
Use and consumption of dutiable goods and taxable goods
9.  Subject to sections 5, 6 and 8, a person who knows or has reason to believe that any customs duty or tax on any dutiable goods or taxable goods in a free trade zone has not been paid to the Director-General, must not use or consume the goods, unless the customs duty and tax on the goods are paid to the Director-General before the use or consumption.
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
Authorisation to enter or reside in free trade zone
10.—(1)  A person must not enter or reside in a free trade zone without the permission of the licensed FTZ operator of the free trade zone.
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 25/11/2024]
(2)  Despite any permission granted by the licensed FTZ operator under subsection (1), the Director-General may, by written order to any person, prohibit the person from entering or residing in the free trade zone.
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 25/11/2024]
Offences and penalties under this Part
10A.—(1)  Any person who fails to comply with a direction given by a licensed FTZ operator under section 5(2), or who fails to comply with section 6(1), shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to —
(a)a fine not exceeding the greater of the following:
(i)$10,000;
(ii)the sum total of the customs duty and tax on the goods to which the non-compliance relates; or
(b)imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months,
or to both.
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 25/11/2024]
(2)  Any person who contravenes section 8 shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000.
(3)  Any person who contravenes section 9 shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to —
(a)a fine not exceeding the greater of the following:
(i)$10,000;
(ii)the sum total of the customs duty and tax on the goods to which the contravention relates; or
(b)imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months,
or to both.
(4)  Any person who contravenes section 10(1) or a written order of the Director-General under section 10(2) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000.
[Act 33 of 2023 wef 01/03/2024]
PART 3
[Repealed by Act 33 of 2023 wef 25/11/2024]
11.  [Repealed by Act 33 of 2023 wef 25/11/2024]
12.  [Repealed by Act 33 of 2023 wef 25/11/2024]
13.  [Repealed by Act 33 of 2023 wef 25/11/2024]
14.  [Repealed by Act 33 of 2023 wef 25/11/2024]
 

Archived for legal research. Authoritative version at sso.agc.gov.sg.