(1)The Registrar of Friendly Societies (in this Act referred to as the Registrar) shall maintain a list of trade unions and a list of employers' associations containing the names of those organisations which are entitled to have their names entered therein under the following provisions of this section.
(2)The Registrar shall enter in the list of trade unions or employers' associations, as the case may be, the name of every organisation of workers or of employers which—
(a)was on 30th September 1971 registered (whether by that or any other name) as a trade union under the Trade Union Acts 1871 to 1964 ; or
(b)has since that date been formed by the amalgamation of a number of such organisations each of which was so registered; or
(c)was immediately before the commencement of this section affiliated to the Trades Union Congress; or
(d)was immediately before that commencement registered as a trade union under section 68(4) of the 1971 Act or as an employers' association under section 72(4) of that Act;
except an organisation which appears to him not to be a trade union or, as the case may be, employers' association within the meaning of this Act.
(3)Any organisation of workers or of employers, whenever formed, whose name is not entered in the relevant list may apply to the Registrar to have its name so entered and, subject to subsection (5) below, the Registrar shall, if satisfied that the organisation is a trade union or employers' association and that subsection (4) below has been complied with, enter the name of that organisation in the relevant list.
(4)An application under subsection (3) above shall be made in such form and manner as the Registrar may require and be accompanied by a fee of £10 or such other fee as may be prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State and also by—
(a)a copy of the rules of the organisation ;
(b)a list of its officers ;
(c)the address of its head or main office ; and
(d)the name under which it is or is to be known.
(5)The Registrar shall not under subsection (3) above enter the name of an organisation in the relevant list if that name is—
(a)the same as a name under which another organisation was registered as a trade union under the Trade Union Acts 1871 to 1964 on 30th September 1971 or was registered at any time as a trade union or employers' association under the 1971 Act or is for the time being entered in either list; or
(b)a name so nearly resembling any such name as to be likely to deceive the public.
(6)If it appears to the Registrar, whether on application made to him or otherwise, that an organisation whose name is entered in the relevant list is not a trade union or employers' association or that its rules do not comply with the provisions of this Act, he may remove its name from the relevant list, but shall not do so without giving the organisation notice of his intention to do so and without considering any representations made to him by the organisation during a period specified in the notice (being not less than twenty-eight days beginning with the date of the notice).
(7)Any organisation aggrieved by the refusal of the Registrar to enter its name in the relevant list or by a decision of his to remove its name from that list may appeal to the High Court, or in Scotland the Court of Session, within the time and in the manner directed by rules of court; and on any such appeal the Court, if satisfied that that name should be or remain so entered, shall declare that fact and give directions to the Registrar accordingly.
(8)Rules of court may provide for excluding, in the case of appeals under subsection (7) above, so much of section 63(1) of the [1925 c. 49.] Supreme Court of Judicature (Consolidation) Act 1925 as requires appeals to the High Court to be heard and determined by a divisional court; but no appeal to the Court of Appeal shall be brought against a decision of the High Court on an appeal under that subsection except with the leave of the High Court or the Court of Appeal.
(9)The Registrar shall at all reasonable hours keep available for public inspection (free of charge) copies of the lists of trade unions and employers' associations, as for the time being in force, and a copy of each list shall be included in the annual report made by the Chief Registrar of Friendly Societies under section 6 of the [1896 c. 25.] Friendly Societies Act 1896.
(10)On the application of any organisation whose name is included in the list of trade unions or employers' associations the Registrar shall issue it with a certificate that its name is included in the relevant list; and any document purporting to be such a certificate shall be evidence (and in Scotland sufficient evidence) that the name of the organisation is entered in the relevant list and that the organisation is a trade union or employers' association, as the case may be.