Cap. 492 Art. 12GRight to appeal.

(1) Should a voluntary organisation consider that circumstances exist which create doubt as to whether it is subject to mandatory enrolment or notification under this Act and it is of the view that it is not required to enrol or to notify for any reason, it shall be entitled to formally advise the Commissioner of its position and state the relevant reasons and, until such time as the Commissioner does not order otherwise, the organisation shall not be considered to be in breach of article 12B or article 12D.

(2) Once the Commissioner rules that an organisation is required to enrol or to notify in accordance with the preceding articles, the Commissioner shall order, in writing, such organisation to do so and set a time limit for such action.

(3) The organisation may appeal against such order in accordance with article 25.

(4) Until the Commissioner determines any matter under sub-article (1) or until the Tribunal determines any appeal, such organisation shall not be considered to be in breach of article 12B or article 12D but may not carry out the acts in article 12B(1)(a) to

(d) pending final determination. of the organisation and any amendments thereto authenticated by a Notary Public in the case of a public deed and by a Notary Public or one administrator in other cases, and a statement signed by the same person authenticating the deed or statute and any amendments thereto as aforesaid. Where the dates do not appear on the face of the documents submitted, establishing the date or the approximate date, where this is not available from other records, a document showing the date when the constitutive deed or statute was drawn up and the dates when any amendments were made thereto;

(b) an explanation of how the public benefit shall be achieved through the activities and purposes of the organisation;

(c) the written consent of all the administrators that shall hold office after enrolment;

(d) the enrolment fees; and

(e) any other document as required by this Act or by any regulations made thereunder or as may be required by the Commissioner.

(2) In considering an application and at any time thereafter, the Commissioner may request the voluntary organisation to provide further information about or make representations on:

(a) the promoters, founders, administrators, donors and beneficiaries;

(b) the assets and liabilities;

(c) the past, if any, present and intended activities of the organisation;

(d) the purposes of the organisation and the intended activities through which they are to be achieved; and

(e) any other matter on which the Commissioner may have reservations or concerns in relation to the application.

(3) The Commissioner may accept or refuse any application for enrolment on the basis of:

(a) observance or otherwise of all formalities required by this Act and any regulations made thereunder;

(b) presence or otherwise of any factors which bar enrolment under a provision of this Act including any of the qualifying elements as stated in article 3;

(c) the legality or otherwise of the proposed purposes of the organisation having regard to the stated purposes of the organisation and the stated intentions of the promoters relating to its activities. to make representations the Commissioner shall proceed with the determination of the application for enrolment on the basis of the information available to him;

(b) determine whether the organisation is eligible for enrolment and if the organisation is eligible for enrolment, the classification of the organisation’s purposes;

(c) notify the applicant, in writing, of his determination, and in case of a decision not to accept an application, the reasons for such determination and when the reasons relate to the absence or insufficiency of the public benefit element of the purposes of an organisation, to provide a reasoned analysis of his considerations in which case the organisation shall be granted a reasonable opportunity to make representations to the Commissioner on such matter prior to the final decision being taken by the Commissioner.

(5) The Commissioner shall seek to determine all applications by not later than three (3) months from the date of the application and failure to so determine and notify the applicant in accordance with sub-article (4) within such time shall be deemed to mean that enrolment has been accepted and the Commissioner shall process the enrolment without any further delay:

Provided that in the event that the applicant is a foundation which has not yet been registered with the Registrar of Legal Persons as required by law the duty of the Commissioner under this sub-article to proceed with enrolment shall be suspended until the date when the foundation is so registered:

Provided further in the case of an enrolment taking place in default of a determination as above stated, the Commissioner may request in writing the enrolled voluntary organisation to comply with legal requirements under this Act which may be applicable and which have not been complied with. The enrolled voluntary organisation shall be bound to fulfil such conditions within six (6) months so as to retain its enrolment: Provided also that if the requirements are not fulfilled within the aforementioned time period, the Commissioner shall order the cancellation of the enrolment of the voluntary organisation by the issue of a Cancellation Order after giving the organisation thirty (30) days notice in writing: Provided further that if, however, the Commissioner determines, after enrolment under this article, that the element of a public purpose or public benefit in terms of these provisions is absent in the relevant organisation, he may by notice in writing, order the suspension or the cancellation of the enrolment of the voluntary organisation by the issue of a Suspension Order or a Cancellation qualify to be an administrator of an organisation or a trustee of a trust in terms of applicable law.