Australian Capital Territory

collections act 1959
This consolidation has been prepared by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel’s Office
Reprinted as at 31 January 1995
TABLE OF PROVISIONS
Section
	1.	Short title
	2.	Restriction on certain collections
	3.	Application for licence
	4.	Licences
	5.	Refusal to issue a licence
	5A.	Appeals
	6.	Duties of the holder of a licence
	7.	Collectors
	8.	Statements to be furnished
	9.	Liability for penalties
	10.	Untrue statements
	11.	Regulations

An Act to provide for the regulation of Collections
Short title
1.  This Act may be cited as the Collections Act 1959.1
Restriction on certain collections
2.  A person shall not—

	(a)	in a public street, road or thoroughfare; or
	(b)	at a place of residence in the course of going from door-to-door,
collect from members of the public—
	(c)	any money or goods, other than prescribed goods or goods included in a prescribed class of goods, by way of gifts or contributions; or
	(d)	any money by the sale of discs, badges, tokens, flowers or other devices,
unless he is the holder of a licence issued to him under this Act or the holder of an authority duly issued to him by the holder of a licence under this Act, and the collection is made in accordance with the licence, or the licence and authority, as the case may be.
Penalty:  50 penalty units or imprisonment for 6 months, or both.
Application for licence
3.  (1)  An application for a licence shall—
	(a)	be made in writing to the Minister and signed by or on behalf of the applicant;
	(b)	specify the purposes to which the moneys or goods that are to be collected will be devoted, the day, part of a day or other period or periods for which, and the places in relation to which, the licence is required; and
	(c)	contain particulars of the expenses proposed to be incurred in connexion with the collection or collections.
(2)  The Minister may require an applicant for a licence to furnish such further information in relation to the application as the Minister requires, and in the event of non-compliance with such a requirement the Minister may refuse to consider the application.
(3)  Where the applicant is a society, association or body, the application shall be signed on its behalf by its chairman, secretary or treasurer, or by a person authorized for that purpose by the society, association or body.
Licences
4.  (1)  The Minister may issue to a person, society, association or body a licence authorizing the holder to conduct a collection or collections during the day, part of a day or other period or periods specified in the licence.
(2)  A licence may be issued subject to such conditions as the Minister determines.
(3)  The Minister may at any time cancel a licence issued under this section if the holder of the licence contravenes or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this Act.
(4)  For the purposes of this Act (other than section two) the person, society, association or body to whom or to which a licence has been issued shall be deemed to be the holder of the licence notwithstanding that the period to which the licence relates has expired.
Refusal to issue a licence
5.  (1)  The Minister may refuse to issue a licence under the last preceding section if he is of opinion—
	(a)	that the purposes to which the moneys or goods that are to be collected will be devoted are not such that it is in the public interest that the licence should be issued;
	(b)	that the expenses incurred in connexion with the collection or collections are likely to be unreasonably high in relation to the amount of the moneys, or the value of the goods, that will be collected;
	(c)	that excessive remuneration is likely to be retained or paid out of the proceeds of the collection or collections;
	(d)	where the applicant does not propose to apply the whole or substantially the whole of the money or goods collected for the benefit of residents of the Territory, that there is in the Territory a society, association or body which applies the whole or the greater part of its resources for the benefit of residents of the Territory for purposes that include purposes similar to those for which the moneys or goods are proposed to be collected;
	(e)	that the applicant is not a fit and proper person to hold a licence; or
	(f)	that, for any other reason, it would be contrary to the public interest to issue the licence.
(2) The Minister may refuse to issue a licence under section 4 if the issue of the licence would result in two or more licences being issued for the same day, part of a day or other period or periods and in relation to the same place or places.
(3)  Without prejudice to the provisions of subsections (1) and (2), the Minister may refuse to issue a licence for a door-to-door collection under section 4 if the issue of the licence would result in—
	(a)	more than 6 licences for door-to-door collections being issued in a year to the same person, society, association or body; or
	(b)	two or more different persons, societies, associations or bodies being authorized to conduct separate door-to-door collections in relation to the same place or places during a particular week.
(4)  In subsection (3), “door-to-door collection” means a collection that involves collecting at places of residence by means of going from door-to-door.
Appeals
5A.  (1)  Where the Minister—
	(a)	issues a licence subject to conditions;
	(b)	cancels a licence; or
	(c)	refuses to issue a licence,
the holder or former holder of the licence, or the applicant, as the case may be, may, within 21 days after the date on which notice of the issue, cancellation or refusal, as the case may be, is served on him or it, appeal to the Magistrates Court against the decision of the Minister.
(2)  Jurisdiction to hear and determine appeals under subsection (1) is vested in the Magistrates Court.
(3)  An appeal under this section shall be by way of a re-hearing.
(4)  The Minister shall be the respondent on an appeal under this section.
(5)  On an appeal under this section, the Court may—
	(a)	affirm, set aside or vary the decision of the Minister;
	(b)	give such judgment as to the Court seems proper; and
	(c)	make such other order as justice requires.
Duties of the holder of a licence
6.  (1)  The holder of a licence shall not contravene or fail to comply with a condition specified in the licence.
(2)  The holder of the licence shall issue to each person authorized by the holder to collect goods or money for the purposes of the collection to which the licence relates a written authority signed by or on behalf of the holder indicating—
	(a)	that the person is authorized to collect goods or money for the purposes of that collection; and
	(b)	where the licence is issued subject to conditions to be complied with by a person so authorized, the conditions to be complied with by that person.
(3)  The holder of a licence shall, in addition to the authority referred to in subsection (2), issue to each person authorized to collect otherwise than by way of the sale of discs, badges, tokens, flowers or other devices official forms of receipt or tickets to be given to the donors by the person authorized to collect in exchange for the goods or money collected by him.
(4)  The holder of a licence may at any time revoke an authority issued in accordance with subsection (2) of this section by notice in writing to the holder of the authority, and the person who held the authority shall thereupon forthwith deliver up the authority to the holder of the licence.
(5)  The holder of a licence shall not issue an authority under subsection (2) of this section to a person under the age of 13 years.
(6)  The holder of a licence shall take reasonable measures—
	(a)	to ensure that persons authorized to collect are fit and proper persons;
	(b)	to prevent armlets or badges used in connexion with a collection, or forms of authority to collect, being obtained by unauthorized persons; and
	(c)	to ensure that the money or goods collected by authorized persons are properly and promptly accounted for.
Penalty:  50 penalty units.
Collectors
7.  (1)  A person authorized to collect shall not contravene or fail to comply with a condition specified in his authority as a condition to be complied with by that person.
Penalty: 50 penalty units.
(2)  Where required to do so by a person approached by him for the purposes of the collection or by a member of the Police Force of the Territory, a person authorized to collect shall produce his authority and give his name and address to that person or member.
Penalty: 5 penalty units.
(3)  A person authorized in accordance with subsection 6 (2) to collect otherwise than by way of the sale of discs, badges, tokens, flowers or other devices shall, in respect of all money or goods collected by him, give a written receipt or ticket on an official form issued to him by the holder of the licence.
Penalty: 10 penalty units.
(4)  A person authorized to collect shall not importune any person to the annoyance of that person.
Penalty for an offence against subsection (4): 10 penalty units.
Statements to be furnished
8.  (1)  The holder of a licence shall, within thirty days after the day or other period to which the licence relates or within such other time or times as are specified in the licence, unless exempted by the Minister from so doing, submit to the Minister a statement in writing, verified in accordance with the next succeeding subsection, setting out the money or goods collected, details of the expenses incurred and the manner in which the net proceeds have been dealt with.
(2)  The statement shall be verified by statutory declaration made by the person who is the holder of the licence, or, where the licence is held by a society, association or body, then by the secretary or treasurer of that society, association or body.
(3)  The Minister may, by notice in writing, require the holder of a licence to produce, at a time and place and to a person specified in the notice, any books, documents or vouchers in connexion with the collection.
(4)  A holder of a licence to whom a notice is given under the last preceding subsection shall comply with the requirements contained in the notice.
Penalty:  10 penalty units.
Liability for penalties
9.  Where the holder of a licence being a society, association or body contravenes or fails to comply with a provision of this Act in relation to which a penalty is provided, every member of the committee or governing body of that society, body or association is guilty of an offence against that provision and is liable to a penalty not exceeding the penalty so provided, unless he proves that the contravention or failure was committed without his knowledge or without his consent.
Untrue statements
10.  A person shall not make a false statement in an application or other document under this Act or the regulations.
Penalty:  50 penalty units or imprisonment for 6 months, or both.
Regulations
11.  The Executive may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing all matters which by this Act are required or permitted to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act, and, in particular, prescribing penalties not exceeding a fine of 10 penalty units for offences against the regulations.

NOTE
1.	The Collections Act 1959 as shown in this reprint comprises Act No. 17, 1959 amended as indicated in the Tables below.
	Citation of Laws—The Self-Government (Citation of Laws) Act 1989  (No. 21, 1989) altered the citation of most Ordinances so that after Self-Government day they are to be cited as Acts.  That Act also affects references in ACT laws to Commonwealth Acts.
Table 1
Table of Ordinances
Ordinance	Number  
and year	Date of 
notification 
in Gazette	Date of 
commencement	Application, saving or transitional provisions	

Street Collections Ordinance 1959	17, 1959	17 Dec 1959	17 Dec 1959		
Ordinances Revision (Decimal Currency) Ordinance 1966	19, 1966	23 Dec 1966	23 Dec 1966	—	
Collections Ordinance 1976	5, 1976	24 Feb 1976	24 Feb 1976	—	
Magistrates Court Ordinance 1985	67, 1985	19 Dec 1985	1 Feb 1986 (see Gazette 1986, No. G3, p. 265)	—	
Self-Government (Consequential Amendments) Ordinance 1989	38, 1989	10 May 1989	Ss. 1 and 2: 10 May 1989
Remainder: 11 May 1989 (see s. 2 (2) and Gazette 1989, No. S164)
	—	

Self-Government day 11 May 1989

Table 2
Table of Acts
Act	Number  
and year	Date of 
notification 
in Gazette	Date of 
commencement	Application, saving or transitional provisions	

Statute Law Revision (Penalties) Act 1994	81, 1994	29 Nov 1994	Ss. 1 and 2:  29 Nov 1994
Remainder:  29 Nov 1994 (see Gazette 1994, No. S269, p. 2)
	—	

Table of Amendments
ad. = added or inserted      am. = amended     rep. = repealed      rs. = repealed and substituted

Provision	How affected

Title	am. No. 5, 1976
S. 1	am. No. 5, 1976
S. 2	am. No. 19, 1966
	rs. No. 5, 1976
	am. Act No. 81, 1994
Ss. 4, 5	am. No. 5, 1976
S. 5A	ad. No. 5, 1976
	am. No. 67, 1985
Ss. 6, 7	am. No. 19, 1966; No. 5, 1976; Act No. 81, 1994
S. 8	am. No. 19, 1966; Act No. 81, 1994
S. 10	am. No. 19, 1966; Act No. 81, 1994
S. 11	am. No. 19, 1966; No. 38, 1989; Act No. 81, 1994