SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Mathiew Christophe Rajoo, Probin Dass and Tan Hui Tsing, DennisMathiew
9.2 Enforcement of the IMO 2020 Rule Limiting the Sulphur Content of Fuel Oil As Singapore is party to MARPOL, the MPA has
• the charter of ships outside the limits of the port of Singapore; • the use outside the limits of the port of Singapore of the ship as a dredger or seismic ship, or for offshore oil or gas activity; • the use outside the limits of the port of Singapore of the ship for offshore renewable energy activity or offshore mineral activity; and • finance leasing of the ship for use outside the limits of the port of Singapore – but only where the income in question is derived from the finance leasing on or after 12 December 2018 and is not derived by the shipping enterprise as part of a business of trading in ships or constructing ships for sale. For foreign vessels, tax exemption applies to income derived from the carriage of passengers, mail, live - stock or goods uplifted from Singapore, except where that carriage arises solely from trans-shipment from Singapore, or is only within the limits of the port of Singapore (Section 13A(1) read with Section 13A(16) of the Income Tax Act 1947). 9. Implications of Non-Performance, IMO 2020, Trade Sanctions and International Conflict 9.1 Force Majeure and Frustration Whether an event constitutes force majeure depends on the contractual definition of force majeure between parties and whether the event falls within such defini - tion. As to whether an event constitutes frustration, it would have to be an external event beyond the control of contracting parties, and without the default of either party, which renders the contractual obligation inca - pable of being performed because the circumstances in which performance if called for would render it a thing radically different from that which was under - taken by the contract: see RDC Concrete Pte Ltd v Sato Kogyo (S) Pte Ltd [2007] 4 SLR(R) 413.
enforced the IMO 2020 regulations. Limit on Sulphur Content of Fuel Oil
The MPA has amended itspre-arrivalnotification (PAN) to reflect the requirements for reporting on the use of compliant fuel in accordance with the IMO 2020 Fuel Oil Sulphur Limit post 1 January 2020. The MARPOL Annex VI Regulation stipulates that, after this date, the sulphur content of any fuel oil used on board ships shall not exceed 0.50% mass by mass (m/m). The revised PAN will require ships calling at the port of Singapore to declare their method of compliance – ie, whether the ship will be using compliant fuel (sulphur content not exceeding 0.50% m/m) or an exhaust gas cleaning system (scrubber). Ships using non-compli - ant fuel (sulphur content exceeding 0.50% m/m) are also required to declare this and provide reasons for using non-compliant fuel. Enforcement Actions The MPA will inspect Singapore-registered ships as well as foreign-registered ships in the port of Singa - pore. Compliance with the IMO 2020 requirements will be part of the MPA’s flag state control and port state control inspections to ensure ships are compliant with the relevant statutory regulations. 9.3 Trade Sanctions Singapore has enacted domestic regulations that implement trade sanctions imposed by UN Security Council resolutions. These domestic regulations are enacted by the Minister of Home Affairs pursuant to the United Nations Act 2001. Singapore currently implements trade sanctions against: • the Central African Republic; • the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; • the Democratic Republic of the Congo;
• Iran; • Iraq; • Lebanon; • Libya; • Somalia; • South Sudan;
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