Charities Act 2009

PART 5

Charity Appeals Tribunal

Charity Appeals Tribunal.

75.— (1) There shall stand established a tribunal to be known as the Charity Appeals Tribunal and in this Act referred to as the “Tribunal” to determine the appeals provided for in this Act.

(2) The Tribunal shall consist of 5 members, of whom—

(a) 2 shall be persons, each of whom—

(i) hold or formerly held judicial office in the Superior Courts, or

(ii) are barristers or solicitors of not less than 10 years’ standing,

and

(b) 2 shall be persons who, in the opinion of the Minister, have experience in areas of expertise relating to charities.

(3) (a) The members of the Tribunal shall be appointed by the Minister.

(b) The chairperson of the Tribunal shall be appointed by the Minister from among the members of the Tribunal.

(4) A member of the Tribunal shall hold office for such period, not exceeding 5 years from the date of his or her appointment, as the Minister shall determine.

(5) A member of the Tribunal whose term of membership of the Tribunal expires shall be eligible for reappointment as a member of the Tribunal.

(6) The members of the Tribunal (including the chairperson) may be paid such remuneration as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may determine.

(7) A member of the Tribunal may resign from office by giving notice in writing to the Minister of his or her resignation and the resignation shall take effect on the day on which the Minister receives the notice.

(8) The Minister may at any time remove from office a member of the Tribunal if, in the Minister’s opinion, the member has become incapable through ill-health of performing his or her functions, or has committed stated misbehaviour, or his or her removal appears to the Minister to be necessary for the effective performance by the Tribunal of its functions.

(9) A member of the Tribunal shall cease to be qualified for office and shall cease to hold office if he or she—

(a) is adjudicated bankrupt,

(b) makes a composition or arrangement with creditors,

(c) is sentenced by a court of competent jurisdiction to a term of imprisonment,

(d) is convicted of any indictable offence in relation to a company,

(e) is convicted of any indictable offence in relation to a charitable organisation or charitable trust,

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

(g) is the subject of an order under section 160 of the Companies Act 1990.

(10) If a member of the Tribunal dies, resigns, ceases to be qualified for office and ceases to hold office or is removed from office, the Minister may appoint a person to be a member of the Tribunal to fill the casual vacancy so occasioned in the same manner as the member of the Tribunal who occasioned the casual vacancy was appointed.

(11) A person appointed to be a member of the Tribunal pursuant to subsection (10) shall hold office for that period of the term of office of the member who occasioned the casual vacancy concerned that remains unexpired at the date of his or her appointment and shall, be eligible for reappointment as a member of the Tribunal on the expiry of the said period.

(12) The Tribunal shall be independent in the performance of its functions.

(13) Paragraph 8 of Schedule 1 shall apply in respect of a member of the Tribunal, subject to the modification that references in that paragraph to the Authority shall be construed as including references to the Tribunal.