Australian Capital Territory Numbered Acts

CHARITABLE COLLECTIONS ACT 2003 (NO. 17 OF 2003) - SECT 17

    (1)     A person commits an offence if—

        (a)     the person takes part in a collection; and

        (b)     the person solicits or receives money or a benefit from someone else for the purposes of the collection; and

        (c)     before soliciting or receiving the money or benefit the person fails to make available, or offer to make available, the required information (if any) in an approved way to the person from whom the money or benefit is solicited or received.

Maximum penalty: 50 penalty units.

    (2)     An offence against this section is a strict liability offence.

    (3)     In this section:

"approved way", for a collection, means—

        (a)     any way required by the conditions of the licence authorising the conduct of the collection; and

        (b)     any way prescribed under the regulations.

"required information", for a collection, means—

        (a)     any information about the collection required by the conditions of the licence authorising the conduct of the collection; and

        (b)     any information prescribed under the regulations.

Examples

1     A charity holds a licence authorising it to conduct collections in conjunction with retail businesses. A fast food company is authorised by the charity to conduct a collection for the charity based on sales over a particular period. The licence conditions require each advertisement for the collection to state the following information (the required information ):

              •     the amount per sale or item sold that will be given to the charity

              •     the period over which the collection will be carried out

              •     the collection is authorised by the charity.

The licence conditions also require the fast food company to display brightly coloured triangular signs of a certain size (the approved way ) containing the information in each outlet for the period of the collection.

2     A charity holds a licence authorising it to conduct a particular collection. The charity engages a commercial fundraiser to conduct the collection for it. The licence conditions provide that if the licensee engages a commercial fundraiser, each advertisement for the collection must state the following information (the required information ):

              •     the licensee has engaged a named commercial fundraiser for the collection

              •     the amount of remuneration payable to the commercial fundraiser or how the remuneration is to be calculated.

The licence conditions also require each person taking part in the collection to display, in addition to (or as part of) a complying identifying tag (the approved way ), a statement to the effect that the collection is being conducted by the named commercial fundraiser.

3     A charity holds a licence to conduct collections through clothing bins located in shopping centres. The licence conditions require the clothing bins to display a statement (the required information ) in a particular form (the approved way ) about who benefits from the collection.

Note     An example is part of the Act, is not exhaustive and may extend, but does not limit, the meaning of the provision in which it appears (see Legislation Act, s 126 and s 132).