LTA can retrieve ERP 2 vehicle location data for law enforcement, police investigations

SINGAPORE: The authorities can retrieve location data from sensors and systems through the new Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) 2 for law enforcement, Senior Minister of State for Transport Sun Xueling said in parliament on Tuesday (Nov 3).As with the existing ERP system, ERP 2 is designed primarily for road pricing purposes, but supports other motoring-related functions, including the enforcement of laws and regulations, said Ms Sun.She added that data collected on individual vehicles is aggregated and anonymised when transferred to LTA's backend system for traffic planning and management.“However, when specific vehicles need to be identified for enforcement purposes, LTA is able to retrieve location data from sensors and systems,” she said, adding that LTA has done so for enforcement against serious offences, such as illegal cross-border taxi services and for detecting deregistered vehicles. The senior minister of state was responding to a question by Member of Parliament (MP) Tin Pei Ling (PAP-Marine Parade–Braddell Heights) on how ERP 2 will enhance enforcement capabilities compared with the existing ERP system.Ms Sun noted that ERP 2 data will be subject to existing statutory obligations. For example, under the Criminal Procedure Code, the police can require data to be produced for a criminal investigation.For other authorised purposes, the use and sharing of ERP 2 data will be governed by the applicable public sector data governance requirements, with safeguards to ensure data protection and data security, and to prevent unauthorised access, she said. In response to a supplementary question from Ms Tin on what other crimes or offences the data can be used for, Ms Tin said some of the offences against which LTA already takes enforcement action today under ERP 1 will similarly be taken action against under ERP 2.This includes off-peak cars driving outside their permitted hours, the use of vehicles that should not be driven on roads, such as vehicles on laid-up and keeping schemes. Ms Sun said data stored in the ERP 2 on-board unit (OBU) fitted in cars cannot be directly accessed by motorists. "Any data transmitted by the OBU can only be accessed by the government and is stored in a secure environment," she said. In a separate parliamentary question, Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs Goh Pei Ming said the Home Team agencies are authorised by law to obtain information from all available sources.In 2016, then-Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam said in Parliament that Home Team would use all investigation and intelligence tools available, and make better use of available data, including data from the ERP system.“The Home Team expects to use ERP 2 data from January 2027 to prevent, detect, and deter crime, and to solve crimes. ERP 2 data will be subjected to safeguards on its access and use, as with other users of other data obtained by the Home Team,” he said.In response to a supplementary question by MP Jackson Lam (PAP-Nee Soon) on safeguards applied to the data, including how long vehicle-specific data can be retained, Mr Goh said the police will retain the data for as long as necessary to complete an investigation or to complete court proceedings.Mr Goh reiterated that the access and use of ERP 2 data will be subject to the same legal and data governance safeguards that apply to all other census and information that the Home Team obtains through the Criminal Procedure Code.Singapore is preparing to move away from physical ERP gantries, with new road markings and signs rolled out progressively ahead of the launch of the ERP 2 system in January next year.The ERP 2 system uses global navigation satellite system technology. All Singapore-registered vehicles must be fitted with the ERP 2 OBU to travel on public roads.The OBU will detect when a vehicle passes an ERP charging location and calculate the applicable charges.The new road markings and signs will complement OBU notifications to alert motorists before they enter an ERP charging location, provide information on prevailing ERP charges, and indicate the amount charged when motorists pass through a charging location.