The Charities (Northern Ireland) Order 2007

1. Introductory Text

2. PART I INTRODUCTORY

   1. 1. Title and commencement

   2. 2. General interpretation

   3. 3. Meaning of “charity”

   4. 4. Meaning of “charitable purpose”

   5. 5. The “public benefit” test

   6. 6. Guidance as to operation of public benefit requirement

   7. 7. Special provisions about recreational charities, sports clubs, etc.

3. PART II THE CHARITY COMMISSION FOR NORTHERN IRELAND

   1. Establishment of the Commission

      1. 8. The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland

   2. The Commission’s objectives, general functions, etc.

      1. 9. The Commission’s objectives

      2. 10. The Commission’s general functions

      3. 11. The Commission’s general duties

      4. 12. The Commission’s incidental powers

   3. The official custodian for charities in Northern Ireland

      1. 13. The official custodian for charities in Northern Ireland

4. PART III THE CHARITY TRIBUNAL FOR NORTHERN IRELAND

   1. 14. The Charity Tribunal for Northern Ireland

   2. 15. Practice and procedure

   3. 16. Appeal from Tribunal

   4. 17. Intervention by Attorney General

5. PART IV REGISTRATION OF CHARITIES AND CHARITABLE NAMES

   1. 18. Register of charities

   2. 19. Duties of trustees in connection with registration

   3. 20. Effect of, and claims and objections to, registration

   4. 21. Status of registered charity to appear on official publications etc.

   5. Charity names

      1. 22. Power of Commission to require charity’s name to be changed

      2. 23. Effect of direction under Article 22 where charity is a company

6. PART V INFORMATION POWERS

   1. 24. General power to institute inquiries

   2. 25. Power to call for documents and search records

   3. 26. Disclosure of information by and to the Commission

   4. 27. Supply of false or misleading information to Commission, etc.

7. PART VI APPLICATION OF PROPERTY CY-PRÈS AND ASSISTANCE AND SUPERVISION OF CHARITIES BY COURT AND COMMISSION

   1. Extended powers of Court and variation of charters

      1. 28. Occasions for applying property cy-près

      2. 29. Application cy-près of gifts of donors unknown or disclaiming

      3. 30. Application cy-près of gifts made in response to certain solicitations

      4. 31. Cy-près schemes

      5. 32. Charities governed by charter

   2. Powers of Commission to make schemes and act for protection of charities etc.

      1. 33. Concurrent jurisdiction with High Court for certain purposes

      2. 34. Further powers to make schemes or alter application of charitable property

      3. 35. Power to act for protection of charities

      4. 36. Power to suspend or remove trustees etc. from membership of charity

      5. 37. Supplementary provisions relating to interim manager appointed for a charity

      6. 38. Power to give specific directions for protection of charity

      7. 39. Power to direct application of charity property

      8. 40. Copy of order under Article 35, 36, 38 or 39, and Commission’s reasons, to be sent to charity

      9. 41. Publicity relating to schemes

      10. 42. Publicity for orders relating to trustees or other individuals

   3. Property vested in official custodian

      1. 43. Entrusting charity property to official custodian, and termination of trust

      2. 44. Supplementary provisions as to property vested in official custodian

   4. Establishment of common investment or deposit funds

      1. 45. Schemes to establish common investment funds

      2. 46. Schemes to establish common deposit funds

      3. 47. Meaning of “Scottish recognised body” and “England and Wales charity” in Articles 45 and 46

   5. Additional powers of Commission

      1. 48. Power to authorise dealings with charity property, etc.

      2. 49. Power to authorise ex gratia payments, etc.

      3. 50. Power to give directions about dormant bank accounts of charities

      4. 51. Power to give advice and guidance

      5. 52. Power to determine membership of charity

      6. 53. Powers for preservation of charity documents

      7. 54. Power to order taxation of solicitor’s bill

      8. 55. Power to enter premises

   6. Legal proceedings relating to charities

      1. 56. Proceedings by Commission

      2. 57. Proceedings by other persons

      3. 58. Report of Article 24 inquiry to be evidence in certain proceedings

   7. Property held on behalf of English, Welsh and Scottish charities

      1. 59. Powers in relation to certain English, Welsh and Scottish charities

8. PART VII CHARITY LAND

   1. 60. Interpretation of Part VII

   2. 61. Restriction on dispositions

   3. 62. Supplementary provisions relating to dispositions

   4. 63. Release of charity rentcharges

   5. 64. Restrictions on mortgaging

   6. 65. Supplementary provisions relating to mortgaging

9. PART VIII CHARITY ACCOUNTS, REPORTS AND RETURNS

   1. 66. Duty to keep accounting records

   2. 67. Annual statements of accounts

   3. 68. Annual audit or examination of charity accounts

   4. 69. Supplementary provisions relating to audits etc.

   5. 70. Duty of auditors etc. to report matters to Commission

   6. 71. Annual reports

   7. 72. Public inspection of annual reports etc.

   8. 73. Annual returns by charities

   9. 74. Offences

   10. 75. Group accounts

10. PART IX CHARITY TRUSTEES

    1. CHAPTER I INCORPORATION OF CHARITY TRUSTEES

       1. 76. Interpretation of Chapter I

       2. 77. Incorporation of trustees of a charity

       3. 78. Estate to vest in body corporate

       4. 79. Applications for incorporation

       5. 80. Nomination of trustees, and filling up vacancies

       6. 81. Liability of trustees and others, notwithstanding incorporation

       7. 82. Certificate to be evidence of compliance with requirements for incorporation

       8. 83. Power of Commission to amend certificate of incorporation

       9. 84. Records of applications and certificates

       10. 85. Enforcement of orders and directions

       11. 86. Gifts to charity before incorporation to have same effect afterwards

       12. 87. Execution of documents by incorporated body

       13. 88. Power of Commission to dissolve incorporated body

    2. CHAPTER II OTHER PROVISIONS RELATING TO CHARITY TRUSTEES

       1. 89. Persons disqualified for being trustees of a charity

       2. 90. Person acting as charity trustee while disqualified

       3. 91. Remuneration of trustees etc. providing services to charity

       4. 92. Supplementary provisions for purposes of Article 91

       5. 93. Disqualification of trustee receiving remuneration under Article 91

       6. 94. Power to relieve trustees, auditors etc. from liability for breach of trust or duty

       7. 95. Court’s power to grant relief to apply to all auditors etc. of charities which are not companies

       8. 96. Trustees' indemnity insurance

       9. 97. Trustees

11. PART X CHARITABLE COMPANIES

    1. 98. Winding up

    2. 99. Alteration of objects clause

    3. 100. Invalidity of certain transactions

    4. 101. Requirement of consent of Commission to certain acts

    5. 102. Name to appear on correspondence, etc.

    6. 103. Status to appear on correspondence etc.

    7. 104. Duty of charity’s auditors etc. to report matters to Commission

    8. 105. Investigation of accounts

    9. 106. Annual audit or examination of accounts of charitable companies

12. PART XI CHARITABLE INCORPORATED ORGANISATIONS

    1. Nature and constitution

       1. 107. Nature and constitution

       2. 108. Constitution

       3. 109. Name and status

       4. 110. Offences connected with name and status

    2. Registration

       1. 111. Application for registration

       2. 112. Effect of registration

    3. Conversion, amalgamation and transfer

       1. 113. Conversion of charitable company or registered industrial and provident society

       2. 114. Conversion: consideration of application

       3. 115. Conversion: supplementary

       4. 116. Conversion of community interest company

       5. 117. Amalgamation of CIOs

       6. 118. Amalgamation: supplementary

       7. 119. Transfer of CIO’s undertaking

    4. Winding up, insolvency and dissolution

       1. 120. Regulations about winding up, insolvency and dissolution

    5. Miscellaneous

       1. 121. Power to transfer all property of unincorporated charity to one or more CIOs

       2. 122. Further provision about CIOs

       3. 123. Regulations

13. PART XII POWERS OF UNINCORPORATED CHARITIES

    1. Transfer of property

       1. 124. Power to transfer all property of unincorporated charity

       2. 125. Resolution not to take effect or to take effect at later date

       3. 126. Transfer where charity has permanent endowment

    2. Modification of purposes, powers or procedure

       1. 127. Power to replace purposes of unincorporated charity

       2. 128. Power to modify powers or procedures of unincorporated charity

    3. Spending of capital

       1. 129. Power of unincorporated charities to spend capital: general

       2. 130. Power of larger unincorporated charities to spend capital given for particular purpose

       3. 131. Power to spend capital subject to special trusts

14. PART XIII FUNDING OF CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS

    1. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY

       1. 132. Interpretation of Part XIII

    2. CHAPTER II PUBLIC CHARITABLE COLLECTIONS

       1. Preliminary

          1. 133. Regulation of public charitable collections

          2. 134. Charitable appeals that are not public charitable collections

          3. 135. Other definitions for purposes of this Chapter

       2. Restrictions on conducting collections

          1. 136. Restrictions on conducting collections in a public place

          2. 137. Restrictions on conducting door to door collections

          3. 138. Exemption for local, short-term collections

       3. Public collections certificates

          1. 139. Applications for certificates

          2. 140. Determination of applications and issue of certificates

          3. 141. Grounds for refusing to issue a certificate

          4. 142. Power to call for information and documents

          5. 143. Transfer of certificate between trustees of unincorporated charity

          6. 144. Withdrawal or variation etc. of certificates

       4. Permits

          1. 145. Applications for permits to conduct public charitable collections

          2. 146. Determination of applications and issue of permits

          3. 147. Refusal of permits

          4. 148. Withdrawal or variation etc. of permits

          5. 149. Appeals against decisions of Commission

       5. Supplementary

          1. 150. Regulations

          2. 151. Offences

    3. CHAPTER III CONTROL OF FUND-RAISING FOR CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS

       1. Preliminary

          1. 152. Interpretation of Chapter III

       2. Control of fund-raising

          1. 153. Prohibition on professional fund-raiser etc. raising funds for charitable institution without an agreement in prescribed form

          2. 154. Professional fund-raisers etc. required to indicate institutions benefiting and arrangements for remuneration

          3. 155. Other persons making appeals required to indicate institutions benefiting and arrangements for remuneration

          4. 156. Exclusion of lower-paid collectors from provisions of Article 155

          5. 157. Cancellation of payments and agreements made in response to appeals

          6. 158. Right of charitable institution to prevent unauthorised fund-raising

          7. 159. False statements relating to institutions which are not registered charities

       3. Supplementary

          1. 160. Regulations about fund-raising

          2. 161. Reserve power to control fund-raising by charitable institutions

    4. CHAPTER IV FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

       1. 162. Power of Department to give financial assistance to charitable, benevolent or philanthropic institutions

15. PART XIV MISCELLANEOUS AND SUPPLEMENTARY

    1. Merger of charities

       1. 163. Register of charity mergers

       2. 164. Register of charity mergers: supplementary

       3. 165. Pre-merger vesting declarations

       4. 166. Effect of registering charity merger on gifts to transferor

    2. Institutions established outside Northern Ireland

       1. 167. Application of Order in relation to institutions established outside Northern Ireland

    3. Other matters

       1. 168. Manner of giving notice of charity meetings, etc.

       2. 169. Manner of executing instruments

       3. 170. Transfer and evidence of title to property vested in trustees

       4. 171. Supply by Commission of copies of documents open to public inspection

       5. 172. Fees and other amounts payable to Commission

       6. 173. Enforcement of requirements by order of Commission

       7. 174. Enforcement of orders of Commission

       8. 175. Other provisions as to orders of Commission

       9. 176. Directions of the Commission

       10. 177. Miscellaneous provisions as to evidence

       11. 178. Restriction on institution of proceedings for certain offences

    4. Supplementary

       1. 179. Orders and regulations

       2. 180. Amendments reflecting changes in company law

       3. 181. Further provision

       4. 182. Minor and consequential amendments

       5. 183. Repeals

16. Signature

17. SCHEDULES:

    1. Schedule 1

       The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland

    2. Schedule 2

       The Charity Tribunal

    3. Schedule 3

       Appeals and applications to Tribunal

    4. Schedule 4

       References to the Tribunal

    5. Schedule 5

       Meaning of “connected persons” for purposes of Article 61(2)

    6. Schedule 6

       Group accounts

    7. Schedule 7

       Further provision about Charitable Incorporated Organisations

    8. Schedule 8

       Minor and consequential amendments

    9. Schedule 9

       Repeals

18. Explanatory Note