Unit Trusts Act, 1972

Registration of unit trust schemes.

3.—(1) Upon application to the registrar in accordance with this Act by the manager and trustee under a unit trust scheme, the registrar shall register the scheme in the register if, but only if—

(a) the Minister is satisfied, after consultation with the Central Bank of Ireland and after consideration with that Bank of the relevant information in the application, that the competence in respect of matters of the kind with which they would be concerned in relation to a unit trust scheme and probity of the manager and trustee are such as to render them suitable to act as manager and trustee, respectively, under the scheme,

(b) the manager under the scheme is a body corporate that is incorporated in and has a place of business in the State, the amount of the capital of which that is paid up in cash is not less than £25,000 and the assets of which are sufficient to meet its liabilities (including liabilities in respect of its paid up capital),

(c) the trustee under the scheme is a body corporate that is incorporated in and has a place of business in the State, and—

(i) has assets that are sufficient to meet its liabilities (including liabilities in respect of the repayment of its paid up capital) and has a capital (in stock or shares) for the time being issued of not less than £500,000 of which an amount of not less than £250,000 has been paid up in cash, or

(ii) (I) is wholly owned by a body corporate (in this paragraph referred to as the parent body) in relation to which the conditions as to capital and assets specified in subparagraph (i) of this paragraph are complied with, and

(II) the discharge of the liabilities of which is guaranteed by the parent body,

(d) the Minister is satisfied that the scheme is such that the effective control over the affairs of the manager and of the trustee under the scheme will be exercised independently of one another,

(e) the Minister is satisfied that the scheme is such as to secure that every trust created in pursuance of the scheme is expressed in a deed which complies with the provisions of this Act and any orders for the time being in force under section 10 of this Act and applying in relation to the deed and that the deed contains a covenant providing that the scheme will be carried on in compliance with the provisions of this Act and any orders for the time being in force thereunder,

(f) a copy of the deed aforesaid is deposited with the registrar, and

(g) the name of the scheme is not, in the opinion of the Minister, undesirable.

(2) Whenever the registrar proposes to refuse to register a unit trust scheme in the register—

(a) he shall notify the manager and the trustee under the scheme that he so proposes and of the reasons therefor and that the manager or the trustee may, within 30 days after the date of the giving of the notification, make representations in writing to the Minister in relation to the proposed refusal,

(b) the manager or the trustee may make such representations in writing to the Minister within the time aforesaid,

(c) the Minister shall before deciding to uphold or overrule the proposal of the registrar consider any representations duly made to him under this section in relation to the proposal, and he shall then direct the registrar (who shall comply with the direction) to register or refuse to register (as the case may be) the scheme in the register.

(3) Upon registration of a unit trust scheme in the register, the registrar shall certify under his hand that the scheme is registered in the register and the certificate shall be admissible in evidence in all legal proceedings and shall be conclusive evidence that the scheme is registered in the register.

(4) Where an application to register a unit trust scheme in the register is refused, the registrar shall forthwith notify the manager and the trustee under the scheme of the refusal and the manager or the trustee may, within 30 days after the date on which the notification is given to the manager or the trustee, as the case may be, appeal against the refusal to the High Court whose decision shall be final and unappealable.

(5) An application under this section shall be in writing and shall contain such information in relation to such matters and be accompanied by such documents as may be specified from time to time by the Minister.