Singapore's parliament moved on Wednesday to toughen its anti-haze law with arrest powers, bigger fines and potential restrictions on companies linked to transboundary air pollution from wildfires.
The proposed changes, which are expected to pass easily, come after weeks of air pollution from fires in neighbouring Indonesia angered Singaporeans and sparked calls for action.
"We need better ways to obtain and verify information, trace complex corporate relationships, and impose meaningful consequences on errant entities," Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said.
"We also need to be able to intervene earlier before haze pollution reaches Singapore. We therefore have to strengthen our laws, and we must act quickly."
Singapore enacted a Transboundary Haze Pollution Act in 2014, but enforcement has been stymied by jurisdictional barriers and challenges obtaining evidence from overseas.
Of six cases filed in 2015 under that law, two were closed in 2017 after the companies provided information in response to the legal notices, while investigations into four remain open.
The government has come under pressure to toughen up existing measures after thick haze from fires burning in Indonesia's Sumatra and Borneo in recent weeks drifted across the region.
The proposed changes would make offences under the law arrestable, and allow courts to try defendants in their absence if they are overseas or unreachable.
Fines would increase tenfold to nearly US$800,000 a day for companies deemed non-compliant, with the ceiling on fines rising to over US$15.6 million.
The government would also have powers to force companies to appoint independent assessors at their expense to investigate fires, business operations and corporate relationships.
Assessors would be approved by the government and submit findings to officials for potential further action. Appointing an assessor would not imply wrongdoing, but would be a way to determine possible links to fires.
The changes would also allow authorities to impose restrictions on designated companies, including limiting services provided by Singapore's outsized financial industry.
Companies blaming third parties for fires affecting their land would also have to demonstrate they took reasonable steps to prevent and fight the blazes.
The changes are certified as urgent, allowing them to be debated and voted on quickly, and they are expected to easily pass later on Wednesday by the legislature dominated by the ruling People's Action Party.
Simon Tay, chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, a think-tank, told AFP the law would strengthen Singapore's hand but limitations would remain.
Restricting commercial activities and financing of a firm involved in the fires will make that company "a corporate pariah", he said.
The law "is loaded and now has more bullets. But there is no magic bullet solution", Tay said.
"This alone does not guarantee that the haze will never recur. Cooperation within the ASEAN framework and with Indonesia and neighboring countries will also be essential," he added, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Greenpeace Malaysia interim country representative Heng Kiah Chun said other Southeast Asian countries could learn from Singapore.
But he said that "stronger national laws must be supported by greater ASEAN cooperation, especially in sharing evidence, improving corporate transparency and preventing peatland fires at their source".
Under existing legislation, Singapore has already issued warnings to 10 foreign-based companies telling them to deploy firefighters, stop burning and submit action plans. It also ordered 10 Singapore-registered firms to appoint assessors to examine their operations.
Fires in Indonesia burned through over 1.9 million hectares between January and the end of September, most of it in recent months, according to the Nusantara Atlas monitor.
The fires have been driven in part by drought linked to a strong El Nino phenomenon, but are also caused by longstanding deforestation and drying of peatland, experts say.
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