Increasing Powers of Public Officers in New Mandatory Mediation Framework to Include Resolving Second-hand Smoke Cases

7 Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Law whether the Ministry will consider expanding the new framework for mandatory mediation and increasing the powers of public officers to include resolving second-hand smoke cases between neighbouring units in HDB estates in addition to noise cases.

Mr K Shanmugam: An inter-agency committee is reviewing the Community Dispute Management Framework. Potential enhancements include mandating mediation for suitable types of cases and piloting a team of personnel vested with investigation and enforcement powers to follow up on serious disputes between neighbours.

For the pilot, the team of dedicated personnel will focus on noise disputes as noise is the primary source of disputes between neighbours, and mandatory mediation will apply. As experience is gained from the pilot, agencies will assess expanding mandatory mediation to other types of neighbour disputes, including disputes involving second-hand smoke.