Oral Reply to Parliamentary Question on Whether TraceTogether Data will be Used for Criminal Investigations, by Mr Desmond Tan, Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment

Question:

Mr Christopher De Souza: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs whether TraceTogether data will be used for criminal investigations and, if so, what are the legal provisions and safeguards in using such data.

Answer:

1. The Singapore Police Force is empowered under the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) to obtain any data, including TraceTogether (TT) data, for criminal investigations.

2. The Government is the custodian of the TT data submitted by individuals, and stringent measures are in place to safeguard this personal data. Examples of these measures include only allowing authorized officers to access the data, using such data only for authorised purposes, and storing the data on a secured data platform. Under the Public Sector (Governance) Act, public officers who recklessly or knowingly disclose the data without authorisation or misuse the data may be liable of a fine up to $5,000 or imprisonment of up to two years, or both.