Statute Details
- Title: Criminal Procedure (Saving and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2024
- Act/Instrument Code: S629-2024
- Legislative Type: Subsidiary legislation (Regulations)
- Enacting Formula: Made by the Minister for Law under section 48(2) of the Criminal Procedure (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2024
- Commencement: 1 August 2024
- Made Date: 29 July 2024
- Current Status: Current version as at 27 March 2026
- Key Provisions:
- Regulation 1: Citation and commencement
- Regulation 2: Transitional “saving” for orders for payment of compensation
- Related Legislation (as referenced in the text):
- Criminal Procedure (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2024
- Criminal Procedure Code 2010 (including section 359 as in force immediately before 1 August 2024)
What Is This Legislation About?
The Criminal Procedure (Saving and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2024 (“the Regulations”) is a short, targeted piece of subsidiary legislation. Its primary purpose is to manage the legal transition when amendments are introduced to Singapore’s criminal procedure framework—specifically, to ensure that certain consequences for offences committed before a specified date continue to be governed by the earlier law.
In practical terms, this Regulations addresses a common problem that arises when legislation changes: what happens to cases where the alleged offence occurred before the new rules took effect? Without a saving or transitional provision, courts and practitioners could face uncertainty about whether the amended provisions apply retroactively to offences committed before commencement. The Regulations resolves that uncertainty for one specific issue: the payment of compensation by a convicted person.
Although the Regulations contains only two provisions, its effect is significant for sentencing and post-conviction orders. It preserves the continued applicability of the former compensation regime under section 359 of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010 (“CPC”) for offences committed before 1 August 2024. This ensures continuity and fairness by preventing convicted persons from being subject to a potentially different compensation framework solely because the conviction or proceedings occur after the amendments commence.
What Are the Key Provisions?
Regulation 1 (Citation and commencement) is straightforward. It provides the name of the Regulations and states that they come into operation on 1 August 2024. For practitioners, this commencement date is crucial because Regulation 2’s saving operates by reference to whether the offence was committed before or after that date.
Regulation 2 (Order for payment of compensation) is the operative transitional provision. It begins with the phrase “Despite section 40 of the Criminal Procedure (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2024…”. This indicates that the Regulations is intended to carve out an exception to the general effect of section 40 of the 2024 Act. Where section 40 might otherwise alter or replace the operation of the CPC provisions, Regulation 2 ensures that a particular part of the earlier law remains applicable for a defined class of cases.
The Regulation then states that section 359 of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010 as in force immediately before 1 August 2024 continues to apply for the payment of compensation by a person convicted of any offence if the person committed the offence before that date. In other words, the law governing compensation orders for pre-1 August 2024 offences is “saved” and continues to apply, notwithstanding the amendments introduced by the Criminal Procedure (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2024.
From a practitioner’s perspective, the key elements to extract from Regulation 2 are:
- Subject matter: “payment of compensation” ordered against a convicted person.
- Continuing provision: section 359 CPC as it stood immediately before 1 August 2024.
- Trigger date: the date the offence was committed, not the date of conviction, charge, or sentencing.
- Effect of amendments: even if the 2024 Act changes the CPC’s operation (via section 40), Regulation 2 overrides that change for the specified category of offences.
Although the extract does not reproduce the text of section 359 itself, the saving provision makes clear that section 359 contains the relevant legal mechanism for compensation orders. Practitioners should therefore treat section 359 (pre-1 August 2024 version) as the governing authority when advising on compensation outcomes for offences committed before the commencement date.
Finally, the Regulations is “Made on 29 July 2024” and signed by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Law, Singapore. This is relevant for formal validity and confirms that the instrument was properly promulgated before commencement.
How Is This Legislation Structured?
The Regulations is structured as a compact instrument with two regulations:
- Regulation 1: sets out the citation and commencement date (1 August 2024).
- Regulation 2: provides the transitional saving for compensation orders, preserving the pre-commencement version of section 359 CPC for offences committed before 1 August 2024.
There are no additional parts, schedules, or detailed procedural rules in the extract. The legislative design is therefore “surgical”: it does not attempt to comprehensively restate the amended criminal procedure framework; it only ensures continuity for a specific post-conviction consequence.
Who Does This Legislation Apply To?
The Regulations applies to criminal cases in which a person is convicted of an offence and the court considers or orders payment of compensation under the CPC. Its scope is determined by the date the offence was committed.
Specifically, Regulation 2 applies to convicted persons where the offence was committed before 1 August 2024. In those cases, the court should apply section 359 CPC as in force immediately before 1 August 2024 when determining the compensation payment regime. For offences committed on or after 1 August 2024, the saving does not apply; instead, the amended legal framework introduced by the Criminal Procedure (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2024 would govern compensation (subject to the details of the amendments).
Practitioners should therefore treat the Regulations as a case-management and legal research tool: it dictates which version of section 359 CPC is relevant based on the offence date. This is particularly important when advising clients on potential financial exposure, negotiating outcomes, or preparing submissions on sentencing and compensation.
Why Is This Legislation Important?
Even though the Regulations is brief, it has real consequences for criminal litigation strategy and outcomes. Compensation orders can be material to a convicted person’s financial position and may also affect settlement discussions, plea decisions, and sentencing submissions. By preserving the pre-commencement version of section 359 CPC for pre-1 August 2024 offences, the Regulations promotes legal certainty and fairness.
From an enforcement and administration perspective, the saving provision reduces the risk of inconsistent decisions across cases. Without it, courts might debate whether amended compensation provisions apply to offences committed before the amendments took effect. Regulation 2 provides a clear rule: the earlier section 359 CPC continues to apply for pre-commencement offences.
For lawyers, the most practical impact is on research and submissions. When preparing arguments on compensation, counsel must identify the correct version of section 359 CPC. The Regulations explicitly ties the applicable version to the time immediately before 1 August 2024. This means that practitioners should not assume that the current consolidated CPC text automatically governs compensation for older offences. Instead, they should verify the historical version of section 359 and apply it to the relevant offence date.
Additionally, Regulation 2’s “despite section 40” language signals that there is a broader transitional scheme in the Criminal Procedure (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2024. While this Regulations addresses compensation specifically, it also alerts practitioners to read the 2024 Act’s transitional provisions carefully. The Regulations may operate as an exception to the general transitional rule in section 40, and understanding that relationship can be essential when dealing with other procedural or substantive changes introduced by the 2024 Act.
Related Legislation
- Criminal Procedure (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2024 (including section 40 and the enabling power in section 48(2))
- Criminal Procedure Code 2010 (including section 359 as in force immediately before 1 August 2024)
Source Documents
This article provides an overview of the Criminal Procedure (Saving and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2024 for legal research and educational purposes. It does not constitute legal advice. Readers should consult the official text for authoritative provisions.