In this Act—

• “Act” means an Act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland or of the Parliament of the United Kingdom;

• “Act of 1893” means the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1893 [1893 c.39] ;

• “amendment”, in relation to the rules of a registered society, includes a new rule, and a resolution rescinding a rule, of the society;

• “annual return” means the annual return which a registered society is required by section 48 to send to the registrar;

• F4...

• Definition rep. by 1986 c. 53

• “committee”, in relation to a society, means the committee of management or other directing body of the society;

• F1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• Definition rep. by 1985 NI 12

• F5 "the Department" means the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment;

• F8“electronic form” means a document or information sent by electronic means (for example, by email or fax), or by any other means while in electronic form (for example, sending a disc in the post);

• F8“electronic means” means a document or information sent initially and received at its destination by means of electronic equipment for the processing (which expression includes digital compression) or storage of data, and entirely transmitted, conveyed and received by wire, by radio, by optical means or by other electromagnetic means;

• “exempt society” has the meaning assigned to it by section 38(3);

• “group accounts” has the meaning assigned to it by section 45;

• “meeting”, in relation to a society, includes, where the rules of that society so allow, a meeting of delegates appointed by members;

• “member of the family” means father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, step-father, step-mother, father-in-law, mother-in-law,F2 spouse, civil partner, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, step-son, step-daughter, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, first cousin, son-in-law or daughter-in-law, and in deducing any relationship for the purposes of this definition a person adopted under the Adoption Act (Northern Ireland) 1967 [1967 c.35] or any enactment repealed by that Act or by any enactment so repealed or under an order authorising an adoption made anywhere in Great Britain, the Isle of Man or any of the Channel Islands shall be treated as the legitimate offspring of the adopter or adopters;

• F6“the Minister” means the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment;

• “officer”, in relation to a registered society, includes any treasurer, secretary, member of the committee, manager or servant of the society other than a servant appointed by the society's committee, but does not include an auditor appointed by the society in accordance with the requirements of this Act;

• “persons claiming through a member”, in relation to a registered society, includes the heirs, executors or administrators and assignees of a member and, where nomination is allowed, his nominee;

• F9“pre-2016 Act society” has the meaning given by section 1A;

• “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations under this Act;

• “property” includes all real, personal or heritable and moveable estate, including books and papers;

• “registered”, in relation to the name or an office of a society, means for the time being registered under this Act;

• “registered rules”, in relation to a registered society, means the rules of the society registered or deemed to be registered under this Act as for the time being in force after any amendment thereof so registered;

• F10“registered society” has the meaning given by section 1A;

• F7“registrar” means the Financial Conduct Authority;

  “registrar’s seal” means the seal provided for in regulations made under section 109(1)(b) of the Friendly Societies Act 1974;

• “subsidiary” has the meaning assigned to it by section 47;

• F3“year of account” is to be read in accordance with sections 36A and 36B.

In this Act “the current year of account” , in relation to the appointment of an auditor or auditors, means the year of account in which the question of that appointment arises, and “the preceding year of account” means the year of account immediately preceding the current year of account.