Is there a limit to the number of CD / DVD / Blu-ray disc you can bring to Singapore?

[Infoholic]

Hi All,

My wife (EP) and I (DP) are relocating to Singapore in a couple of months.

We have a large-ish (I think) collection of CD (~300), DVD and Blu-Ray discs (~200). All of the discs are legitimate (i.e. not copies, not downloaded, not purchased in shady markets, etc.) and none on them would, based on what I have read on this forum, be classified by the Singapore government offensive or objectionable.

The relocation agent being used by my wife's company has provided us inconsistent advice about limits on the quantity of music / video discs we can bring in. Initially we were told that we could not bring in any (which I knew to wrong based on the relevant government web sites). After pushing back on this information we are now told that we can import "up to 300 DVD’s/ CD’s but they will need a list (in Excel format) of all of the titles".

While it will be annoying and time consuming to compile the list of titles the limit of "300" appears to be arbitrary. Moreover, I cannot seem to find any reference on a government web site that refers to this limit.

Is there such an arbitrary limit on the quantity of music / video discs that can be brought into Singapore as part of personal belongings?

Thanks in advance to all who reply.

[rajagainstthemachine]

Why on earth would you want to bring all those cds and blu rays?
Protip- make ISO images of them and out them on a hard drive and bring the hard drive.
Edit, wont work considering you don't even want to make an excel sheet, nah too time consuming to make 600 ISO images.
What are you other choices?

[Infoholic]

rajagainstthemachine,

Thanks for your reply.

Would not your primary suggestion of ripping ISOs, bringing the hard disk and leaving the physical media behind be the same as having illegitimate copies (albeit harder to detect)?

PS: I'm happy to compile the list if that is required. As I said it will just be annoying and time consuming.

[x9200]

Hi All,

My wife (EP) and I (DP) are relocating to Singapore in a couple of months.

We have a large-ish (I think) collection of CD (~300), DVD and Blu-Ray discs (~200). All of the discs are legitimate (i.e. not copies, not downloaded, not purchased in shady markets, etc.) and none on them would, based on what I have read on this forum, be classified by the Singapore government offensive or objectionable.

The relocation agent being used by my wife's company has provided us inconsistent advice about limits on the quantity of music / video discs we can bring in. Initially we were told that we could not bring in any (which I knew to wrong based on the relevant government web sites). After pushing back on this information we are now told that we can import "up to 300 DVD’s/ CD’s but they will need a list (in Excel format) of all of the titles".

While it will be annoying and time consuming to compile the list of titles the limit of "300" appears to be arbitrary. Moreover, I cannot seem to find any reference on a government web site that refers to this limit.

Is there such an arbitrary limit on the quantity of music / video discs that can be brought into Singapore as part of personal belongings?

Thanks in advance to all who reply.

I've never heard about any limits*. The list, yes. And unlikely anybody will be bothered to even look at it.
Ultimately, If you want to be very sure just contact the customs via their website or e-mail if you manage to find one. They will respond.

*) but I've heard more scary stories about the customs/MDA needing to watch the movies (at your expense of course) to let them enter the local market - no, don't worry, while probably true on the legal ground I've never heard this happened to anybody. As long as your collection does not include hard porn titles (and such) and all are standard editions (bought from regular stores) you should be fine.

[rajagainstthemachine]

rajagainstthemachine,

Thanks for your reply.

Would not your primary suggestion of ripping ISOs, bringing the hard disk and leaving the physical media behind be the same as having illegitimate copies (albeit harder to detect)?

PS: I'm happy to compile the list if that is required. As I said it will just be annoying and time consuming.

apparently making a copy by ripping it ( for personal consumption) is not considered as an illegitimate copy, distributing that over a torrent/fileshare network however is illegal/illegitimate.
but that's a total grey area isn't it?
and yeah i was just taking a lil dig at you for having a whinge to compile a list together

[Strong Eagle]

I ripped about 400 CD's to my laptop when I came over. Nothing declared, nobody asked, and really, I just couldn't see the point of dragging a bunch of CD's all over the place.

[ecureilx]

I've never heard about any limits*. The list, yes. And unlikely anybody will be bothered to even look at it. .

Years ago when I used to travel to KL via Changi, I used to bring demo CDs.

Once, in their extremely randomly selected secondary screening of arrival passengers, I was asked to put my luggage through the X Ray and was asked to open .. and .. then was told I have to pay 30$ or something per CD to screen them (Can't remember the amount)

I cheerfully said I can throw them into the rubbish bin in that case, or they can screen it at their cost, as I dont' need them so badly.

I had taken them from SG to MY ..so getting more copies no big deal

The officer just looked and said next time I must go through red channel

I suspect it was a extremely random test, to pick a single guy arriving in SIN, with the bag tags showing MH .. or simply a check for Cigarettes. Or the threat of screening etc maybe their way of a test to see how you react.

By the way, per Singapore law, they can inspect your laptop for porn and stuff, and the Police Computer Crime Branch is fully equipped for it. Though I never heard of them doing that on any travellers.

[x9200]

I've never heard about any limits*. The list, yes. And unlikely anybody will be bothered to even look at it. .

Years ago when I used to travel to KL via Changi, I used to bring demo CDs.

Once, in their extremely randomly selected secondary screening of arrival passengers, I was asked to put my luggage through the X Ray and was asked to open .. and .. then was told I have to pay 30$ or something per CD to screen them (Can't remember the amount)

I cheerfully said I can throw them into the rubbish bin in that case, or they can screen it at their cost, as I dont' need them so badly.

I had taken them from SG to MY ..so getting more copies no big deal

The officer just looked and said next time I must go through red channel

I suspect it was a extremely random test, to pick a single guy arriving in SIN, with the bag tags showing MH .. or simply a check for Cigarettes. Or the threat of screening etc maybe their way of a test to see how you react.

By the way, per Singapore law, they can inspect your laptop for porn and stuff, and the Police Computer Crime Branch is fully equipped for it. Though I never heard of them doing that on any travellers.

Yes, you can even google out that you have to go through red channel if you have DVDs or CDs. On the other hand I bought hundreds of BDs/DVDs/CDs from amazon and such and never had any troubles with it. I assume they x-ray every parcel.

The only time the customs stepped in was when my wife ordered some very uncommon or specific DVD for her company. That's why I said earlier, if something is a standard edition unlikely anybody will care but seems they do some checks at least from time to time. Back to my wife, they informed her that the content of the DVD had to be screened but after she responded with explanation what sort of content it was (therapeutic stuff) they released the parcel with no further problems.

[JR8]

I’ll give you my experience:
There was a time when you had to list every CD/DVD/other media, and I recall what an absolute pain it was. Even with only perhaps 100-200 discs. That was c20 years ago. That also came with the advice that MDAS had a right to screen any or all of them, and charge you for doing so.

Since then I’ve relo’d the household back into SG on two further occasions. I do not recall having to write lists of media discs for those moves, and I certainly would if we (then/now married) had to, as between my wife and I we have something like, 400-500 CDs, and perhaps 200+/++ DVDs. I would remember if I had had to list them all! I suspect what with how data/media can be moved around over the internet these days, writing out physical lists no longer achieves anything, except perhaps irritating new arrivals.

From the above, my impression is that the relo agent is likely giving advice based upon data that is 7+ years out of date. The government here tend to flex rules in quite a dynamic way, for example re: customs, and visa requirements, so some rules change quite regularly. There are a lot of relo advice websites and books out there, and hence almost by definition what they state is at risk of being out-of-date, sometimes woefully.

So, given your finding an absence of evidence to confirm her assertion re: limits, I’d ask her to provide some, from a SGn government website. [And I bet you a pint she isn’t able to].

- You could also e-mail ICA yourself, and ask them if they could kindly send you the page-link to the current importation rules/regs, and/or
- Look at the websites of a couple of the big international removals companies. My nationality-ometer suggests you’re a Brit; and if so check out the likes of Pickfords, Crown ( https://www.crownrelo.com/intl/en-gb/page/home ), others?, and see what their sites say. Some of these cos. have country-specific FAQs, and my impression is they’ll be pretty reliable. Here’s the one from Pickfords for Singapore -> http://www.pickfords.co.uk/Moving-Advic ... 0FINAL.pdf . As you’ll see it refers to the possibility of customs screening media, but mentions no limits of any kind. They even indicate an e-mail address for questions re: customs –>
‘Questions on customs?
E-mail our experts at [email protected] ‘

You could e-mail them and ask them what the SGn government www/link is that lists current media importation rules/limits, ‘since I’ve been receiving conflicting advice’.


p.s. Welcome to the forum!

[MikeJones]

I arrived here from the UK in November last year with my belongings following in January, there were around 100-150 DVDs, Blu-Rays and CDs included and I was never told of any limits, nor did I have to provide an itemised list.

Mike

[ecureilx]

I arrived here from the UK in November last year with my belongings following in January, there were around 100-150 DVDs, Blu-Rays and CDs included and I was never told of any limits, nor did I have to provide an itemised list.

Mike

Singapore has strict laws regarding intellectual property (pirate DVD/VCD), as well as strict software piracy measures, as well as anti porn laws, hence the strict rules to ensure compliance. Possession of porn is punishable, and that's not a new law.

If you had been randomly asked to put your luggage in the X ray machine, you would have found out how many laws you broke. Lucky you escaped. As explained you may have got away without a scratch, or made to pay a fine

Your shipping agent was ignorant or couldn't care less based on past success.

And ignorance of the law is rarely accepted as a defence.

Many many years ago Sim Lim was the center of anything pirate, from OS, Office to even tools like HP Open view, and movies. They were shutdown and then the next choice was JB, Holiday Plaza specially, till ICA enforced compulsory scanning of every passenger bags entering Singapore.

[JR8]

Hold your horses Ecu/old chap .... he didn't say any of it was counterfeit/pirate.

[side-thought: porn is illegal whilst prostitution is legal but controlled -> go figure]

[ecureilx]

Hold your horses Ecu/old chap .... he didn't say any of it was counterfeit/pirate.

[side-thought: porn is illegal whilst prostitution is legal but controlled -> go figure]

My point is not whether it's legal or not

That you bring in stuff that need screening is what matters, for customs to check one by one if it's legal or not.

He may have got away, with everything intact, if he looked like a nice guy or forced to fork out the screening charges.

I was just also explaining how tolerant Singapore was, regarding pirated stuff, and then they cracked down very hard.


Idle thought, how about pornographic thoughts ?

[x9200]

Re: porn. Possessing and distributing is illegal. Accessing and watching is legal.

[MikeJones]

Quite right JR8, I'm not daft enough to try starting a new job in a new country by importing contraband. And scanned my luggage? When I said my belongings followed in January I meant via a shipping company, Pickfords btw, who were careful to point out the "list of things you can't bring to Singapore" provided as part of their relocation information pack. So any DVDs of less than kosher provenance (only a couple I seem to recall) are now in landfill in the UK. The shipping manifest did have to provide the number of CDs, DVDs etc but nothing itemised.

Mike