3.—(1) A trade union shall compile and maintain a register of the names and addresses of its members, and shall secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the entries in the register are accurate and are kept up-to-date.
(2) The register may be kept by means of a computer.
(3) A trade union shall—
(a)allow any member, upon reasonable notice, to ascertain from the register, free of charge and at any reasonable time, whether there is an entry on it relating to him; and
(b)if requested to do so by any member, supply him as soon as reasonably practicable, either free of charge or on payment of a reasonable fee, with a copy of any entry on the register relating to him.
(4) Any duty falling upon a branch or section under this Article by reason of its being a trade union shall be treated as having been discharged to the extent to which the union of which it is a branch or section has discharged the duty instead.
(5) For the purposes of this Article a member’s address means either his home address or another address which he has requested the union in writing to treat as his postal address.
(6) The remedy for failure to comply with the requirements of this Article is by way of application under Article 5 (to the Certification Officer) or Article 6 (to the High Court). The making of an application to the Certification Officer does not prevent the applicant, or any other person, from making an application to the High Court in respect of the same matter.
(7) Subject to paragraph (8), this Article and Articles 4 to 6 apply to every trade union which has its head or main office in Northern Ireland.
(8) This Article and Articles 4 to 6 do not apply to a trade union—
(a)which falls within Article 3(1)(b) of the 1992 Order (unions consisting wholly or mainly of, or of representatives of, constituent or affiliated organisations), if it has no individual members other than representatives of constituent or affiliated organisations; or
(b)until more than one year has elapsed since its formation (by amalgamation or otherwise).
For this purpose the date of formation of a trade union formed otherwise than by amalgamation shall be taken to be the date on which the first members of the executive of the union are first appointed or elected.