Commencement of the Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2025

1. The Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2025 (“the Act”) was passed by Parliament on 4 November 2025. The Act introduced amendments to the Penal Code and other legislation to ensure that our criminal laws remain effective, fair, and responsive to emerging challenges. The first tranche of amendments came into effect on 30 December 2025.

2. The following amendments will come into effect on 17 August 2026.

Amendments to sexual offences

Offences Relating to Obscene Objects

3. Today, section 292 of the Penal Code criminalises a range of acts relating to obscene objects, including sale and distribution. The offence is punishable with imprisonment of up to three months, or a fine, or both. If the obscene objects depict minors below the age of 16, there are enhanced penalties of imprisonment of up to two years, or a fine, or both.

4. With the amendments:

(a) The enhanced penalties currently applicable to obscene objects depicting minors below the age of 16 will be extended to cover minors below the age of 18. This will better protect minors and align with international conventions on child pornography.

(b) Enhanced penalties will apply to the electronic circulation of obscene objects to 10 or more persons (“large-scale electronic circulation”), with even higher penalties if the obscene object depicts a minor below the age of 18.

(c) There will be a new offence targeting those who set up or manage online locations ¹ with the intent of facilitating such large-scale electronic circulation.

5. These amendments address the large-scale electronic circulation of such objects, facilitated by technological advancements that enable them to be transmitted more quickly and to large groups of people at minimal cost. Given the harm that can be caused, the enhanced penalties, as well as the penalty for the new offence, are set out as follows:

Sexual Grooming

6. Today, the offences of sexual grooming in sections 376E and 376EA of the Penal Code generally do not apply if the offender and victim intend to meet overseas to carry out the sexual act. With the amendments, such conduct will be an offence if the offender and victim meet or intend to meet overseas to carry out the sexual act, as long as the travel of either party commenced in Singapore and the intended sexual act would be an offence if committed in Singapore.

7. The penalties for these offences will also be amended as follows:

Intimate Images and Child Abuse Material

8. The Act also amends provisions relating to offences concerning intimate images and child abuse material to:

(a) Extend the definition of intimate images in section 377BE of the Penal Code to include synthetic AI-generated materials, that is, materials that are generated to depict a person without altering an original image or recording.

(b) Introduce a new offence of producing intimate images, including AI-generated materials, without consent, punishable with imprisonment of up to two years, or a fine, or both. If the material depicts a minor below 14 years of age, the offence is punishable with mandatory imprisonment of up to two years, and the offender shall also be liable to a fine or caning.²

(c) Clarify that the definition of child abuse material in section 377C of the Penal Code covers computer-generated child abuse material, even without proof that an image of a real child has been used in the production of that material.

Fatal Abuse of Vulnerable Victims

9. Sections 304B and 304C of the Penal Code criminalise causing or allowing the death of a child below 14 years of age, a domestic worker, or a vulnerable person, through abuse. These offences are currently punishable with imprisonment of up to 20 years, with liability for a fine or caning. With the amendments, offences under sections 304B or 304C committed on or after 17 August 2026 will be punishable with life imprisonment or imprisonment of up to 30 years, with liability for a fine or caning. This will ensure that adequate punishments can be imposed for egregious forms of abuse leading to death.

Protecting Public Servants from Doxxing and False Allegations

10. The Act also amends the offence of doxxing a public servant or public service worker under the Protection from Harassment Act. With the amendments, it will no longer be necessary to prove that the victim suffered harassment, alarm, or distress, so long as the offender had the intention to harass.

11. In addition, a new offence in the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act (“MOA”) will come into force, to criminalise the doxxing of a public servant when accompanied by a falsehood about the public servant that the offender knows or has reason to believe is false. The act must also be done with the intent to prevent or deter the public servant from discharging their duty, or in consequence of anything done by the public servant in discharge of their duty. The new offence is punishable with imprisonment of up to three years, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.

Revised Caning Penalties

12. The Act amends the caning penalties for certain offences, to remove caning or to make caning discretionary. The full list of revised penalties that will come into effect on 17 August 2026 is in Annex A.

Updating Regulatory Requirements for Workers and Dealers in Precious Metals

13. The following amendments to the regulatory requirements on workers and dealers in precious metals under the MOA will come into effect on 17 August 2026:

(a) Waiting period changed from three to five days. Today, the MOA mandates a waiting period before workers or dealers may melt, alter and/or deface precious metals or articles received from customers. The Act amends the MOA to increase the waiting time from three to five days;

(b) Waiting period changed to also apply to the selling or disposing of such goods or articles but only to the dealer who is first to receive the good or article from a customer and not if the same good or article is subsequently sold or transacted to the next dealer; and

(c) Requirements to register dealers and workers with the Police under the MOA are repealed.

Conclusion

14. The remaining provisions in the Act will come into force subsequently. For more information on the Act, please refer to Annex B.

Annex A – Revised Caning Penalties [PDF, 169.45 KB] ↗ (opens in new tab)
Annex B – Information on the Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2025 [PDF, 133.87 KB] ↗ (opens in new tab)

[1] This will cover digital platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram group chats and channels, websites and blogs, and channels on video-sharing platforms such as YouTube.
[2] For the avoidance of doubt, prior to the amendments, non-consensual production of intimate images, such as deepfakes, could still constitute other offences in the Penal Code, such as s 377BD of the Penal Code (Possession of or gaining access to voyeuristic or intimate image or recording).