Cases of Disputes Between Neighbours over Second-hand Smoke and Enforcement Orders Sought and Successful

10 Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Law (a) whether the Ministry tracks the number of cases in the past five years involving disputes between neighbours over second-hand smoke where a party has sought to enforce a Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals order by (i) applying for a special direction, (ii) applying for a person to enter into a compliance bond or, (iii) applying for an exclusion order; and (b) for each of these applications, how many and what percentage of applicants have been successful in each year.

Mr K Shanmugam: The Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals (CDRT) recorded 79 cases of “causing excessive smoke” from 1 January 2018 to 30 June 2023. This covers second-hand smoke and other smoke-related activities. CDRT does not track second-hand smoke cases specifically.

Out of these 79 cases, as at 30 June 2023: (a) 31 CDRT orders were made; (b) 37 cases were withdrawn; (c) seven cases were dismissed; and (d) four cases are ongoing. From the 31 CDRT orders that were made, seven applications for a Special Direction were filed. CDRT granted the Special Direction in two cases. Out of the two Special Direction applications that succeeded: (a) a Compliance Bond was concurrently sought and granted in one application; and (b) a subsequent application which was filed for an Exclusion Order was withdrawn.