Australian Capital Territory Current Acts Australian Capital Territory Current Acts(1) A licensee commits an offence if—
(a) the licensee conducts a collection; and
(b) the collection is carried out over a period of 1 year or less; and
(c) the licensee fails to ensure that the required accounts are finalised within 90 days after the earlier of the following events:
(i) the day the collection ends;
(ii) the day the licence ends.
Maximum penalty: 50 penalty units.
(2) A licensee commits an offence if—
(a) the licensee conducts a collection; and
(b) the collection is carried out over a period of longer than 1 year; and
(c) the licensee fails to ensure that the required accounts are finalised within 90 days after the end of each 12-month period for which the collection is carried out.
Maximum penalty: 50 penalty units.
(3) A licensee commits an offence if—
(a) the licensee conducts a collection; and
(b) the collection is carried out over a period of longer than 1 year; and
(c) the licensee fails to ensure that the required accounts are finalised within 90 days after the earlier of the following events:
(i) the day the collection ends;
(ii) the day the licence ends.
Maximum penalty: 50 penalty units.
Examples
1 Charity Inc is issued with a licence for 1 year. The licence authorises 2 collections: a doorknock appeal to be carried out over a weekend shortly after the licence is issued and an ongoing collection to be carried out over the period of the licence by donation tins placed on selected shop counters.
Under section 47, the required accounts for the doorknock must be finalised within 90 days after the day the doorknock appeal ends and the required accounts for the donation tins must be finalised within 90 days after the day the licence ends.
Under section 48, a report about both collections must be given to the director-general within 120 days after the day the licence ends.
2 Charity Corp is issued with a licence for a period of 18 months to conduct a collection over that period. However, the collection is actually carried out only over the first 16 months of the period of the licence.
Under section 47, the required accounts for the first 12-month period the collection is carried out must be finalised within 90 days after the end of the 12-month period. The required accounts for the remaining period for which the collection is carried out must be finalised within 90 days after the day the collection ends (rather than within 90 days after the day the licence ends because the ending of the collection is the earlier of the 2 events mentioned in section 47 (3) (c)).
Under section 48, a report about the collection must be given to the director-general within 120 days after the end of the first 12-month period the collection is carried out. A report about the collection for the remaining period of the collection must be given to the director-general within 120 days after the licence ends.
3 If Charity Corp's 18 month licence is surrendered 3 months after it is issued, the required accounts under section 47 must be finalised within 90 days after the day the licence ends and the report under section 48 must be given to the director-general within 120 days after the day the licence ends.
(4) To remove any doubt, the accounts required by subsection (2) are annual accounts.
(5) An offence against this section is a strict liability offence.
(6) In this section:
"required accounts", for a collection, means—
(a) any accounts required by the conditions of the licence authorising the conduct of the collection; and
(b) any accounts required under the regulations.