JTC imposes Environmental Baseline Study (EBS) requirements on industrial land, prototype factory and standard factory sites with pollutive activities. These requirements help to:
- Establish the baseline level of potential contaminants in the soil and groundwater beneath the site
- Assess the extent of contamination (if present) of the site and decontaminate the site depending on the EBS results.
If any of your activities (including those of sublessees and subtenants) fall under any of these definitions, they are considered pollutive:
- belong to any of the Singapore Standard Industrial Classification (SSIC) codes in this list; or
- use, store, generate hazardous substances * during site operation or maintenance process.
* These include:
i) Hazardous substances regulated under NEA Environmental Protection and Management Act SECOND SCHEDULE- Control of Hazardous Substances (excluding gaseous materials);
ii) Toxic industrial wastes regulated under NEA Environmental Public Health (Toxic Industrial Waste) Regulations THE SCHEDULE- List of Toxic Industrial Wastes (excluding gaseous materials); and
iii)Petroleum regulated under SCDF Fire Safety (Petroleum and Flammable Materials) Regulations 2013 (excluding gaseous materials).
Please note that these serve as guidelines for companies, and JTC reserves the right of assessing whether the activities are pollutive.
Sites with pollutive activities, are required to carry out an entry EBS to establish the baseline condition of the site. For sites without an existing baseline, an EBS will be imposed when you:
- Obtain, renew or extend your tenancy, lease or license;
- Transfer or assign^ your tenancy, lease or license;
- Change the usage of your premises to include pollutive activities
- Seek landowner consent for installation of new diesel/P&FM storage or renewal of existing diesel/P&FM storage; or
- Sublet your premises to pollutive business activities (including renewal of an existing sublet).
^Includes transfer of ownership of firm and corporate restructuring. You are strongly encouraged to alert your cluster officer early of your intention to assign the site so that we can advise you accordingly on the EBS requirements and timelines.
An exit EBS is required at the point of exit from the site (whether via termination, transfer of tenancy or assignment of lease).
An EBS typically takes four months to complete (including the time required to engage an NEA-accredited consultant). The process could be longer, depending on the complexity of the decontamination works and also if decontamination is required.
The table below shows the various scenarios where EBS will be imposed.
| Scenario | Type |
Pollutive (Lessee/Tenant/Assignor) |
|
| Entry and exit EBS will be imposed for companies without existing First Baseline | Entry and exit EBS will not be imposed | ||
| New Allocation | Lease | ✓ | |
| Tenancy | ✓ | ||
| License (i.e. TOL) | ✓ | ||
| Existing Allocation | |||
| STLE/STTE | - |
✓ |
|
| Renewal | Lease | ✓ (for ≥ 2 years from the end of the original term) |
|
| Tenancy | ✓ (for ≥ 2 years from the end of the original term) |
||
| License (i.e. TOL) | ✓ (for ≥ 2 years from the end of the original term) |
||
| Change of use (including granting landowner consent, such as for installation or renewal of P&FM storage) | To pollutive activity | ✓ | |
| To non-pollutive activity | ✓ | ||
| New Subletting | To pollutive sublessee | ✓ | |
| To non-pollutive sublessee | ✓ |
||
| Sublet Renewal | To pollutive sublessee |
✓ |
|
| To non-pollutive sublessee | ✓ |
||
| Assignment (Lease) | To pollutive assignee |
✓ |
|
| To non-pollutive assignee | ✓ |
||
|
Transfer of Tenancy |
To pollutive incoming tenant | ✓ |
|
| To non-pollutive incoming tenant |
✓ |
||
EBS requirements
- If you are required to conduct an EBS, you must engage an NEA-accredited EBS consultant. You may refer to NEA’s list of certified EBS consultants here.
- The EBS must also be conducted in accordance with JTC’s EBS technical guidelines. Please also ensure the data submitted for soil and groundwater samples adhere to the EBS Dutch Standard template