Postal Services Act 1999

Postal Services Act 1999 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 operation and provision of postal systems and services in Singapore and for matters connected therewith. [1 December 1999] PART 1 PRELIMINARY Short title 1. This Act is the Postal Services Act 1999. Interpretation 2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires — “addressee”, in relation to a postal article, means the person to whom the communication is addressed; “code of practice” means a code of practice issued or approved under section 23M or 24; “common property” and “limited common property” have the meanings given by section 2(1) of the Building (Strata Management) Act 2004; [Act 15 of 2026 wef 01/07/2026] “correspondent”, in relation to a postal article, means the sender or person to whom it is addressed; “delivery service provider”, in relation to an article or a thing mentioned in paragraph (a) of the definition of “parcel”, means a person that — (a) conveys any such article or thing from any place to a public parcel locker or vice versa; and (b) performs all incidental services of collecting, sorting, sending, despatching and placing in or collecting from a public parcel locker any such article or thing; “direct mail” means a letter consisting solely of advertising, marketing or publicity material and comprising an identical message (except for the addressee’s name, address and identifying number and other modifications which do not alter the nature of the message) which is sent to more than one addressee, to be conveyed and delivered at the address indicated by the sender on the letter itself or on its wrapping; “equipment” — (a) in relation to a public parcel locker — includes any appliance, apparatus or accessory used or intended to be used with the public parcel locker; or (b) in any other case — includes any appliance, apparatus or accessory used or intended to be used for postal purposes; “Housing and Development Board” means the Housing and Development Board established by section 3 of the Housing and Development Act 1959; “installation or plant used for posts” includes all buildings, lands, structures, machinery, equipment, boxes and receptacles used or intended for use in connection with the transmission of postal articles by post; “letter box” means any box or receptacle which the owner or occupier of any premises has provided or agreed to be used for the receipt of postal articles addressed to those premises; “mail bag” means any form of container or covering in which postal articles in the course of transmission by post are enclosed by a postal licensee in Singapore or a foreign postal administration for the purpose of conveyance by post, whether or not it contains any such articles; “parcel” means — (a) an article or a thing that is placed in a parcel locker for collection by an intended recipient, a person authorised by the intended recipient or a delivery service provider, as the case may be; or (b) a postal article which is posted at a post office in Singapore as a parcel in accordance with the provisions of this Act or is received at a post office in Singapore by parcel post; “parcel locker” means a box or receptacle that is provided or used for the receipt of parcels addressed to any person, but does not include a letter box or a posting box; “post” means any system for the collection, despatch, conveyance, sorting, handling and delivery of postal articles by or through a postal licensee; “post office” includes any building, house, room, vehicle or place used for the provision of any postal services; “postage” means the fee chargeable for the transmission by post of postal articles; “postage stamp” means any label or stamp for denoting any postage or other sum payable in respect of a postal article, and includes any adhesive postage stamp or stamp printed, impressed or otherwise indicated on a postal article, whether the postage stamp is issued under this Act or by the government of any other country; “postal article” means any article or thing transmissible by post but does not include any article or thing that the Postal Authority may prescribe to be not transmissible by post; “Postal Authority” means the person appointed under section 3 to be responsible for the administration of this Act; “postal licensee” means a person to whom a licence has been granted under section 6; “postal service” means any service for the conveyance of postal articles from one place to another by post, and includes the incidental services of receiving, collecting, sorting, sending, despatching and delivering any postal articles and any other services which relates to any of those services and is provided in conjunction with any of them; “posting box” includes any pillar box, wall box or other box or receptacle provided by or under the authority of a postal licensee for the purpose of receiving postal articles for transmission by post; “public parcel locker” means a parcel locker mentioned in section 23B(a); “public parcel locker network” has the meaning given by section 23B; “public parcel locker network operator” means a person appointed by the Postal Authority under section 23C(1); “public postal licensee” means a person designated by the Postal Authority under section 7; “public postal licensee’s installation or plant” means any installation or plant used for posts belonging to or used by a public postal licensee; “related installation”, in relation to a public parcel locker, includes any structure, equipment or cable used or intended for use with the public parcel locker; “related software”, in relation to a public parcel locker or a public parcel locker network, means any software used or intended to be used to operate the public parcel locker or public parcel locker network; “repealed Act” means the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore Act (Cap. 323, 1993 Revised Edition) repealed by the Info‑communications Development Authority of Singapore Act (Cap. 137A, 2000 Revised Edition); “sender”, in relation to a postal article, means a person whose communication it originates from; “standard of performance” means a standard of performance issued or approved under section 24; “TAS” means the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore reconstituted under the repealed Act; “Town Council” means a Town Council established by section 4 of the Town Councils Act 1988; “vessel” includes any ship, boat, air-cushioned vehicle or floating rig or platform used in any form of operations at sea or any other description of vessel. [34/2007; 10/2021] (2) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, “letter” means any communication in written form on any kind of physical medium (not exceeding 500 grams in weight) to be conveyed and delivered (otherwise than electronically) to a particular addressee or address indicated by the sender on the letter itself or on its wrapping, and includes a postal article containing such communication, but does not include any book, catalogue, newspaper or periodical. [34/2007; 10/2021] (3) For the purposes of subsection (2), any reference to communication to be conveyed or delivered otherwise than electronically is a reference to a communication to be conveyed or delivered otherwise than — (a) by means of a telecommunication system within the meaning of the Telecommunications Act 1999; or (b) by any other means but while in electronic form. [34/2007] (4) For the purposes of this Act — (a) the deposit of a postal article into any posting box of a postal licensee, or its delivery to any employee of a postal licensee or any agent authorised by the postal licensee to receive postal articles of that description on its behalf, is a delivery to the postal licensee; (b) the delivery of a postal article — (i) by leaving it at the premises to which it is addressed or redirected, unless the premises are a post office from which the postal article is to be collected; (ii) by depositing it into the letter box of the premises to which it is addressed or redirected; or (iii) to the addressee’s agent or to any other person considered to be authorised to receive the postal article, is a delivery to the addressee; and (c) a postal article is regarded to be in the course of transmission by post from the time of its being delivered to a postal licensee to the time of it being delivered to the addressee, or it being returned to the sender or otherwise disposed of under this Act. [34/2007]