Phase 3 Commencement of the Criminal Procedure (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2024

Source: MinLaw
Article Date: 18 Jan 2025

The Criminal Procedure (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2024 was passed in Parliament on 5 February 2024, with amendments rolled out in phases. The third phase of amendments, which comprises the amendments relating to criminal disclosure and the unsoundness of mind regime, will come into effect on 14 February 2025.

The Criminal Procedure (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2024 was passed in Parliament on 5 February 2024.

The Act advances our criminal justice system and contains amendments aimed at:

protecting the public by strengthening our levers to tackle crime, including serious sexual crime, and
enhancing transparency, fairness and coherence in our criminal court processes.

The amendments are being rolled out in phases. Several sets of amendments have already come into effect, in May and August 2024 respectively. The next phase, which comprises the amendments relating to criminal disclosure and the unsoundness of mind regime, will come into effect on 14 February 2025.

As mentioned during the Parliamentary speeches when the amendments were introduced, the amendments on criminal disclosure were arrived at after extensive consultations with criminal justice stakeholders, including the Defence Bar, the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Courts. In particular, MinLaw held multiple consultation sessions with criminal practitioners and members of the Law Society from 2021 – 2023, where we had candid and robust discussions about the proposed amendments. We made significant revisions to the proposals, following the feedback we received. Some of the feedback provided by members of the Defence Bar was also specifically addressed during the Second Reading speech by then-Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Law) Rahayu Mahzam.

Criminal practitioners may also wish to note the Criminal Procedure (Saving and Transitional Provisions — Disclosure) Regulations 2025 (https://go.gov.sg/criminal-procedure-reg-2025), which will cater for ongoing criminal cases and certain situations, e.g. a joint trial involving multiple accused persons, who were respectively charged before and after the commencement of the disclosure amendments.

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