Debated in Parliament on 4 Jun 2020.
Mr Liang Eng Hwa asked the Minister for Law what is the number of Notifications for Relief applied for since the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act came into effect and what are the numbers for each category.
Mr Speaker, the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act commenced on 20 April 2020. As at 29 May 2020, which is around five weeks since the Act commenced, 3,943 Notifications for Relief (NFRs) have been served using the online system. Parties may also serve the NFRs in hardcopy on the counter-contracting parties. We are unable to track the number of hardcopy NFRs which parties served to the counter-party.
The vast majority of the NFRs served relate to two types of contracts. First, hire-purchase agreements or conditional sale agreements for commercial plant or machinery, or commercial vehicles, as the case may be; and second, for leases or licences for non-residential properties.
The number of NFRs served as at 29 May 2020 for each category of contract is as follows:
(a) Hire-purchase and conditional sale agreements: 2,107
(b) Leases or licences of non-residential properties: 1,254
(d) Construction contracts and supply contracts: 213
(e) Certain secured loans to SMEs: 97
(f) Options to purchase given by housing developers, or sales and purchase agreements between purchasers and housing developers for housing accommodation, which were only added to the scheduled contracts – Members may wish to note – on 13 May 2020. For that, there were 22 NFRs.
We would like to encourage contracting parties as far as possible to be fair and reasonable to each other, considering that the impact of COVID-19 was an event that no one could expect. In doing so, parties should be better able to reach a mutually acceptable solution.
Mr Liang Eng Hwa.
Sir, I thank the Senior Minister of State for his reply and also the Ministry for being proactive in coming up with these very helpful relief measures. Just two quick questions.
Firstly, I am really happy with the number of reliefs being sought. I would like to ask the Senior Minister of State – some of which he mentioned were related to leases – whether further assistance would be rendered to those that are not able to achieve a resolution, for example, referring them to ESG to follow up on other measures that can assist businesses.
Secondly, would the Ministry step up awareness of these relief measures so that more neighbourhood retailers and so on are aware of these reliefs that they can seek?
Sir, I thank Mr Liang for the comments. In terms of the first question, yes, we try as far as possible to find a solution for the parties that come before the assessors, even if the precise scope of the Act might not well relate to or be able to assist the specific problem. To give an example, in some cases we try and make reference to ESG, as the Member has mentioned. In other cases, the assessors try and find a solution between the disputing parties, for example, through referring them to mediation or even, on occasions, the assessors themselves stepping in to find some common ground between the disputing parties and try and bridge the gap where possible.
On the Member's second point, again, a point well taken and we will do that. The Member may know that we have yesterday filed a notice of intention to put in a supplementary to the Bill. This relates to other aspects of the Bill. But no doubt, together with that, we will step up steps to raise consciousness and public awareness and also public education on the operation of both aspects of the (Temporary Measures) Bill.
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