Consumer Protection Act 2007

Membership of Agency.

10.— (1) The Agency shall consist of the following members:

(a) a chairperson; and

(b) 12 ordinary members.

(2) The chief executive shall, for the duration of his or her appointment, be an ex officio member of the Agency.

(3) The members of the Agency (other than the chief executive) shall, as soon as practicable after the establishment day, be appointed by the Minister, and shall be persons who, in the opinion of the Minister, have experience of or shown capacity in matters relevant to the functions of the Agency.

(4) The Minister shall, in so far as is practicable and having regard to the relevant experience of the persons concerned, ensure an equitable balance between men and women in the composition of the Agency.

(5) A member of the Agency shall be paid by the Agency, out of monies at its disposal, such remuneration (if any) and allowances for expenses incurred by him or her as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may from time to time determine.

(6) Subject to subsection (5), a member of the Agency shall hold office on such terms and conditions as the Minister may determine.

(7) On the anniversary of the establishment day and on each subsequent anniversary of the establishment day, 2 members of the Agency (other than the chairperson and the chief executive) shall retire from office.

(8) The members to retire under subsection (7) in any year shall be those who have been longest in office since their last appointment, and where there are members whose appointment was made on the same day and who are obliged to retire under subsection (7), the members to retire shall, unless those members otherwise agree, be determined by lot.

(9) A member of the Agency (other than the chief executive) shall not serve for more than 10 consecutive years.

(10) A person shall be disqualified for holding and shall cease to hold office as a member of the Agency if he or she—

(a) is adjudicated bankrupt,

(b) makes a composition or arrangement with his or her creditors,

(c) is convicted of an indictable offence in relation to a company,

(d) is convicted of an offence involving fraud or dishonesty, whether or not in connection with a company,

(e) has a declaration under section 150 of the Companies Act 1990 made against him or her or is subject or is deemed to be subject to a disqualification order by virtue of Part VII of that Act, or

(f) has a conflict of interest of such significance that, in the opinion of the Minister requires that he or she should not hold or should cease to hold such office.

(11) A member of the Agency may at any time resign from office by letter addressed to the Minister and the resignation shall take effect on the date specified in the letter or the date the letter is received by the Minister whichever is later.

(12) The Minister may at any time remove a member of the Agency from office if, in the Minister’s opinion—

(a) the member has become incapable through ill-health of effectively performing the duties of the office,

(b) the member has committed stated misbehaviour, or

(c) the removal appears to the Minister to be necessary for the effective performance of the functions of the Agency.

(13) Subject to subsection (9), a member of the Agency whose period of membership expires by the passage of time shall be eligible for re-appointment as a member of the Agency.

(14) Subject to section 12 (3), the Agency may act notwithstanding any vacancy or vacancies in its membership.

(15) If a member of the Agency dies, resigns, retires, becomes disqualified or otherwise ceases to hold office or is removed from office, the Minister may appoint a person to be a member of the Agency to fill the vacancy so occasioned and the person so appointed shall be appointed in the same manner as the member who occasioned the vacancy.

(16) Where a vacancy occurs, the Minister shall take steps to fill it as soon as practicable.