Statute Details
- Title: Children and Young Persons (Saving and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2025
- Act Code: S813-2025
- Legislation Type: Subsidiary legislation (regulations)
- Enacting Authority: Minister for Social and Family Development
- Enabling Power: Section 76(5) of the Children and Young Persons (Amendment) Act 2019
- Commencement: 30 December 2025
- Current Version Status: Current version as at 26 March 2026
- Key Provisions (Extracted): Regulation 1 (Citation and commencement); Regulation 2 (Saving and transitional provisions)
- Related Legislation (as referenced in text): Children and Young Persons Act 1993; Children and Young Persons (Amendment) Act 2019; Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2025
What Is This Legislation About?
The Children and Young Persons (Saving and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2025 (“the Regulations”) are designed to manage the legal transition brought about by amendments to Singapore’s children and young persons framework. In practical terms, the Regulations address a common problem that arises when criminal procedure rules change: what happens to youths who are already arrested, charged, or remanded at the time the new legal regime begins?
Rather than abruptly changing custody and court-processing pathways midstream, the Regulations provide “saving and transitional” relief. They allow certain persons—specifically, those aged 16 but below 18—who are already in custody arrangements before 30 December 2025 to continue under the previous remand and custody approach for a limited period and for specified procedural milestones.
Although the Regulations are short, they are legally significant because they preserve continuity of detention and court processing. They also reduce the risk of procedural irregularity, unlawful disruption of custody, or arguments that a remand is invalid merely because the law changed on a particular date.
What Are the Key Provisions?
Regulation 1: Citation and commencement confirms the identity of the instrument and when it takes effect. The Regulations are cited as the Children and Young Persons (Saving and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2025 and come into operation on 30 December 2025. For practitioners, this commencement date is crucial because the transitional protections in Regulation 2 are expressly tied to what was happening “immediately before 30 December 2025”.
Regulation 2(1): Arrested, not released on bail, not brought before court, remanded in a lock-up is the first transitional pathway. It applies “despite section 45 of the Children and Young Persons (Amendment) Act 2019”. In other words, where the general amended rule would otherwise require a different treatment, the Regulations permit an exception for a defined group.
The group is: a person who is 16 years of age or older but below 18 years of age, and who, immediately before 30 December 2025, satisfies all of the following conditions:
- (a) has been arrested;
- (b) has not been released on bail;
- (c) has not been brought before any court; and
- (d) is remanded in custody in a lock-up.
If those conditions are met, the person may, on or after 30 December 2025, continue to be remanded in custody in the lock-up until the person is brought before a Youth Court or a Magistrate in accordance with section 36 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1993 as in force on 30 December 2025.
Two practical points follow. First, the transitional permission is not indefinite; it lasts only until the person is brought before the appropriate court under the specified section. Second, the Regulations anchor the procedural standard to the version of section 36 “as in force on 30 December 2025”, which matters where amendments may have altered the content of section 36 after that date.
Regulation 2(2): Arrested, not released on bail, charged before a District Court or Magistrate’s Court, remanded in prison provides a second transitional pathway. It applies “despite section 2(2)(b) of the Children and Young Persons (Amendment) Act 2019”, read together with section 80(1) and (2) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1993.
Again, the group is limited to persons aged 16 to below 18. The conditions immediately before 30 December 2025 are:
- (a) has been arrested;
- (b) has not been released on bail;
- (c) has been charged with an offence before a District Court or a Magistrate’s Court; and
- (d) is remanded in custody in a prison.
If these conditions are met, the person may, on or after 30 December 2025, continue to be remanded in custody in any prison until one of two events occurs:
- (e) the person is sentenced or acquitted; or
- (f) if the person’s case is remitted by a District Court or Magistrate’s Court to the Youth Court under section 8 of the Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2025, the District Court or Magistrate’s Court remands the person in custody in a remand home.
This provision is particularly important for practitioners dealing with charging and custody logistics during the transition. It recognises that a youth may already be in the adult-oriented custody pipeline (prison remand) because the charging stage occurred before the new regime took effect. The Regulations allow that custody arrangement to continue until the case reaches a procedural endpoint (sentencing/acquittal) or until the case is remitted to the Youth Court, at which point the remand home mechanism is triggered.
“May” and the scope of discretion: Both Regulation 2(1) and 2(2) use the word “may”. While the practical effect is to permit continuity, the drafting leaves room for authorities to decide how to apply the transitional permission in individual cases. For legal counsel, this means that the transitional regime is not automatically guaranteed in every scenario; rather, it is available where the statutory conditions are met and where the relevant authority chooses to apply it.
How Is This Legislation Structured?
The Regulations are structured in a minimal, two-regulation format:
- Regulation 1 (Citation and commencement) sets out the name of the Regulations and the date they come into force.
- Regulation 2 (Saving and transitional provisions) contains the substantive transitional rules. It is divided into two subsections:
- Regulation 2(1) addresses youths remanded in a lock-up before 30 December 2025.
- Regulation 2(2) addresses youths remanded in a prison after being charged before a District Court or Magistrate’s Court before 30 December 2025.
There are no additional parts or detailed procedural schedules in the extract provided. The Regulations operate as a targeted bridge between the amended provisions and the practical realities of ongoing criminal proceedings.
Who Does This Legislation Apply To?
The Regulations apply to persons aged 16 years or older but below 18 years who fall into specific custody and procedural categories immediately before 30 December 2025. The transitional protections are therefore not universal for all youths; they are conditional on the person’s age and on the precise procedural posture at the relevant time.
In particular, the Regulations cover two custody scenarios: (1) youths remanded in a lock-up without bail and without being brought before any court; and (2) youths remanded in a prison after being charged before a District Court or Magistrate’s Court, again without bail. The transitional rules then continue only until defined procedural milestones—bringing the person before the Youth Court/Magistrate under section 36, or sentencing/acquittal, or remand home remand following remission to the Youth Court.
Why Is This Legislation Important?
Even though the Regulations are brief, they are important because they prevent legal uncertainty during a change in the children and young persons criminal procedure framework. Without such saving and transitional provisions, parties could argue that custody arrangements after 30 December 2025 were inconsistent with the amended law, potentially leading to applications challenging remand legality, procedural fairness, or the validity of subsequent steps in the case.
For practitioners, the Regulations provide a clear checklist for determining whether a youth’s custody can continue under the prior arrangement. This is especially relevant for defence counsel and youth advocates who may need to advise clients on detention conditions, the timing of court appearances, and the implications of charging and remand pathways during the transition period.
From an enforcement and administration perspective, the Regulations also support orderly case management. They recognise that arrests, bail decisions, charging, and remand logistics do not always align neatly with legislative commencement dates. By allowing continuity until the case reaches a specified procedural stage, the Regulations reduce operational disruption and support consistent processing of cases already in motion.
Related Legislation
- Children and Young Persons Act 1993 (including section 36 and section 80 as referenced)
- Children and Young Persons (Amendment) Act 2019 (including section 45 and section 2(2)(b) as referenced)
- Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2025 (including section 8 as referenced)
Source Documents
This article provides an overview of the Children and Young Persons (Saving and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2025 for legal research and educational purposes. It does not constitute legal advice. Readers should consult the official text for authoritative provisions.