Registrar's Circular No. 3 2020

Extension of Existing Measures

On 21 April 2020, the Ministry of Health issued a press release entitled “Strong National Push to Stem Spread of COVID-19” announcing the extension of the circuit breaker period to further reduce transmission of COVID-19. In view of this press release, the Relevant Period mentioned in Registrar’s Circular No. 2 of 2020 will be extended by 4 weeks until (and inclusive of) 1 June 2020. For the avoidance of doubt, Registrar’s Circular No. 2 of 2020 will continue to apply during the entire extension of the Relevant Period. In particular, parties may request for the urgent hearing of any matter and the Court may, in its discretion, grant such a request if the matter can be conducted by video conferencing and if the preparation, presentation and conduct of the matter will not entail parties breaching safe distancing measures.

2 The Registry will inform parties by 29 April 2020 if their matters scheduled from 5 May to 8 May 2020 are to be adjourned. For matters scheduled from 11 May to 1 June 2020, parties will be informed no later than 5 working days in advance if their matters are to be adjourned.

Interpretation of Court Orders Referring to June School Holidays and the Mid-Term Break in July

3 As a result of the extension of the circuit breaker period, the Ministry of Education (“MOE”) has announced in its press release “Mid-year Holidays Brought Forward as Schools Adjust Academic Calendar; Institutes of Higher Learning to Extend Home-based Learning” that the June school holidays will be brought forward and fall from 5 May 2020 to 1 June 2020 (inclusive) (“the Revised Dates”), and that there will be a one-week mid-term break from 20 to 26 July 2020 (inclusive). These adjustments will apply to all MOE kindergartens, primary, secondary and pre-university students, including those from special education schools.

4 In light of this development, where the Revised Dates are applicable, any reference to the June or mid-year school holidays in any Court order shall, unless the context necessarily requires otherwise, be interpreted to cover the Revised Dates instead of the dates on which the June or mid-year school holidays would have fallen.

5 Any reference to any particular week or alternating week or half of the June or mid-year school holidays shall also be interpreted accordingly in relation to the Revised Dates.

6 In addition, the mid-term break will be classified as school holidays for the purposes of school holiday access.

7 We will continue to monitor the situation. All court users and visitors are advised to refer to the Family Justice Courts website at https://www.familyjusticecourts.gov.sg for the latest information and updates.

Dated this 24^th day of April 2020.