Illegal Hawking by Foreigners

Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (a) for each of the years in the last five years, what is the number of foreigners who are caught for illegal hawking in the public in neighbourhood centres; and (b) what action the Ministry takes to control illegal hawking by foreigners.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) works with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to enforce against foreigners engaged in illegal hawking. Over the past five years, the number of foreigners caught for illegal hawking was 1,057 in 2008, 659 in 2009, 549 in 2010, 671 in 2011 and 665 in 2012. Under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act which was recently revised by MOM and which came into effect in November 2012, foreigners convicted of working or being self-employed without a valid work pass will be fined up to $20,000, or imprisoned for up to two years, or both. My Ministry will continue to work closely with MOM to address the issue of illegal hawking through regular checks and inspections.