National Heritage Board Act 1993

National Heritage Board
Act 1993

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 establish the National Heritage Board and for matters connected therewith.

[1 August 1993]

PART 1

PRELIMINARY

Short title

1.  This Act is the National Heritage Board Act 1993.

Interpretation

2.  In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“Board” means the National Heritage Board established under section 3;

“Chairperson” means the Chairperson of the Board and includes any temporary Chairperson of the Board;

“chief executive officer” means the chief executive officer of the Board and includes any person acting in that capacity;

“Deputy Chairperson” means the Deputy Chairperson of the Board and includes any temporary Deputy Chairperson of the Board;

“Fund” means the National Heritage Endowment Fund established under section 35;

“member” means a member of the Board;

“object” includes any work of art and any artefact.

PART 2

ESTABLISHMENT, CONSTITUTION, FUNCTIONS AND POWERS OF BOARD

Establishment of National Heritage Board

3.  A body called the National Heritage Board is established, which is a body corporate with perpetual succession and is by that name capable of —

(a) suing and being sued;

(b) acquiring, owning, holding, developing and disposing of property, both movable and immovable; and

(c) doing and suffering all such acts or things as bodies corporate may lawfully do or suffer.

Common seal

4.—(1)  The Board must have a common seal which must be kept in such custody as the Board thinks fit.

(2)  All deeds and other documents requiring the seal of the Board must be sealed with the common seal of the Board, and every document to which the common seal is affixed must be signed by —

(a) any 2 members of the Board generally or specially authorised by the Board for the purpose; or

(b) one member of the Board generally or specially authorised by the Board for the purpose and the chief executive officer.

(3)  All courts, judges and persons acting judicially are to take judicial notice of the common seal of the Board affixed to any document and presume that it was duly affixed.

Constitution of Board

5.—(1)  The Board consists of —

(a) a Chairperson;

(b) a Deputy Chairperson; and

(c) not less than 10 and not more than 25 other members as the Minister may determine.

(2)  The Schedule applies with respect to the Board, its members and proceedings.

Functions of Board

6.  The functions of the Board are —

(a) to explore and present the heritage and nationhood of the people of Singapore in the context of their ancestral cultures, their links with South-East Asia, Asia and the world through the collection, preservation, interpretation and display of objects and records;

(b) to promote public awareness, appreciation and understanding of the arts, culture and heritage, both by means of the Board’s collections and by such other means as it considers appropriate;

(c) to promote the establishment and development of organisations concerned with the national heritage of Singapore;

(d) to advise the Government in respect of matters relating to the national heritage of Singapore; and

(e) to perform such other functions as are conferred on the Board by any other written law.

Powers of Board

7.—(1)  The Board has power to do all things necessary or convenient to be done for or in connection with the performance of its functions.

(2)  Without limiting subsection (1), the powers of the Board include the following:

(a) to develop and manage museums and other facilities related to its functions;

(b) to collect, classify, preserve and display objects and records relevant to its functions;

(c) to advise and facilitate the preservation of historic sites;

(d) to undertake or sponsor research and investigation relevant to its functions;

(e) to arrange for the acquisition, production or publication and the sale to the public of books, pamphlets, replicas and other materials related to its functions;

(f) to undertake or sponsor programs for the training of persons in the professions and skills involved in the operation of museums;

(g) to establish liaison with other museums, universities and other institutions to secure maximum collaboration of all activities relevant to its functions;

(h) to arrange for or provide professional and technical services, on any terms and conditions that may be approved by the Board;

(i) to raise funds by all lawful means and receive gifts and donations, whether on trust or otherwise;

(j) to extend grants, contributions or loans to any person or organisation connected with the national heritage of Singapore;

(k) to enter into contracts and establish trusts;

(l) to enter into joint ventures with any person or organisation, or form or participate in the formation of a company;

(m) to provide or undertake publicity in any form;

(n) to charge fees, commissions or rent for any objects, services or facilities provided by the Board.

Appointment of committees and delegation of powers

8.—(1)  The Board may appoint any number of committees that it thinks fit consisting of its members or other persons or its members and other persons for purposes which, in the opinion of the Board, would be better regulated and managed by means of those committees.

(2)  The Board may, subject to any conditions or restrictions that it thinks fit, delegate to any such committee or to the Chairperson, all or any of the powers and functions vested in the Board by this Act; and any power or function so delegated may be exercised or performed by the committee or Chairperson in the name and on behalf of the Board.

[5/2018]

(3)  The Board may, subject to any conditions or restrictions that it thinks fit, delegate to any employee of the Board or to any other person all or any of the powers and functions vested in the Board by this Act; and any power or function so delegated may be exercised or performed by the employee or person in the name and on behalf of the Board.

[5/2018]

9.  [Repealed by Act 5 of 2018]

Directions by Minister

10.—(1)  The Minister may give to the Board any direction under section 5 of the Public Sector (Governance) Act 2018.

[5/2018]

(2)  The Board must give the Minister any information with regard to its property and activities that the Minister may require.

PART 3

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SINGAPORE

Establishment of museums

11.—(1)  The Board may establish any museums that it thinks fit.

(2)  Every museum established by the Board under subsection (1) is to be known by any name that the Board thinks fit.

(3)  All museums established by the Board under subsection (1) and the museum transferred to the Board under section 37 are collectively known as the National Museum of Singapore.

Appointment of directors of museums

12.  The Board may appoint a director for any museum established by the Board under section 11 and the museum transferred to it under section 37 who is responsible to the Board for the general management and control of the museum so established or transferred.

Initial vesting of objects in Board

13.—(1)  Where the property in an object was vested in the Government immediately before 1 August 1993, and the object —

(a) then formed part of the collections of the National Museum; or

(b) was then in use in respect of the collections or solely for the purposes of the administration of the National Museum,

then the property is on that date to be vested instead in the Board.

(2)  In the case of an object mentioned in subsection (1)(a), it is immaterial that, immediately before 1 August 1993, it was situated elsewhere than at premises managed for the purposes of the National Museum.

(3)  On 1 August 1993, any right, power, duty or liability which was immediately before that date exercisable by or incumbent on the Government in relation to any object mentioned in subsection (1) is instead to be exercisable by or incumbent on the Board.

(4)  Subsections (1) and (3) do not apply as regards such object excepted from those provisions as the Minister may specify.

Certain gifts vesting on or after 1 August 1993

14.—(1)  Subsection (2) applies to a gift (by will or otherwise) —

(a) which is contained in an instrument made or executed before 1 August 1993 but coming into effect on or after that date; and

(b) which would, apart from this Act, have vested an interest in property (of any nature) in the Government for the purposes of the National Museum.

(2)  The gift is to, in the absence of any contrary intention expressed in that or another instrument made by the testator or donor, have effect so as to vest the interest in the Board in place of the Government.

Acquisition and disposal of objects

15.—(1)  The Board may acquire (whether by purchase, exchange or gift) any object which in its opinion is desirable to add to its collections.

(2)  Without affecting any power apart from this subsection, the Minister may transfer to the Board any object (whether or not the Minister acquired it before the Board’s establishment) if in the Minister’s opinion it would appropriately form part of its collections.

(3)  The Board may not dispose of an object of significant national or historical value, the property in which is vested in the Board and which is comprised in its collections, unless the object is —

(a) a duplicate of another object the property in which is so vested and which is so comprised; or

(b) in the Board’s opinion unsuitable for retention in its collections,

and the disposal is done with the prior approval of the Minister and by way of sale, exchange or gift.

(4)  The Board may dispose of (by whatever means, including destruction) any object which the Board is satisfied has become useless for the purposes of its collections by reason of damage, physical deterioration or infestation by destructive organisms.

(5)  An object may be disposed of as mentioned in subsection (4) despite a trust or condition (express or implied) prohibiting or restricting the disposal of the object.

(6)  Money accruing to the Board by virtue of a disposal mentioned in this section must be applied by the Board in the acquisition of objects to be added to its collections.

Lending and borrowing of objects

16.—(1)  Subject to subsection (2), the Board may lend any object the property in which is vested in the Board and which is comprised in its collections (whether or not the loan is for the purposes of public exhibition, and whether or not under the terms of the loan the object is to remain in Singapore).

(2)  In deciding whether or not to lend an object, and in determining the time for which and the conditions subject to which an object is to be lent, the Board —

(a) must give special consideration to a request for the loan of an object for public exhibition; and

(b) subject to paragraph (a), must have regard to the interests of students and other persons visiting the Board’s collections, the suitability of the prospective borrower, the purpose of the loan, the physical condition and degree of rarity of the object and any risks to which it is likely to be exposed.

(3)  Where the property in an object has become vested in the Board subject to a condition, the power conferred by subsection (1) is exercisable in a manner inconsistent with the condition if either —

(a) 25 years have elapsed since the date on which the property became vested in the Board; or

(b) the person who first imposed the condition or his or her personal representatives have consented in writing to the exercise of the power in that manner.

(4)  The Board may accept loans of objects for the purpose, subject to the terms of the loan, of exhibiting them, or of study or research by the Board or by persons seeking to inspect them.