INCOME TAX ASSESSMENT ACT 1936 (ARCHIVE)

PART III - LIABILITY TO TAXATION  

Division 3 - Deductions  

Subdivision A - General  

SECTION 78AB   REGISTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANISATIONS  

78AB(1)   Certification by Environment Minister.  

If the Environment Minister is satisfied that a body meets all of the eligibility criteria for registration as an environmental organisation set out in subsection (2), the Environment Minister must give a written certificate to the Treasurer stating that the body is eligible for registration under this section.

78AB(2)   Eligibility criteria for registration.  

The eligibility criteria for registration of a body as an environmental organisation are as follows:

(a) its principal purpose, or each of its principal purposes, must be an environmental purpose;

(b) it must not pay any of its profits or financial surplus, or give any of its property, to its shareholders, members, beneficiaries, controllers or owners, as the case requires;

(c) it must have a public fund (the ``gift fund'' ):

(i) to which gifts of money or property for its environmental purpose or purposes are to be made; and

(ii) to which any interest on money in the fund is to be credited; and

(iii) to which money derived from the property given to the fund is to be paid; and

(iv) that does not receive any other money or property; and

(v) that is used only to support the body's environmental purpose or purposes;

(d) it must have rules relating to its gift fund which provide that, in the event of the winding up of that fund, any surplus assets are to be transferred to another fund that is on the Register of Environmental Organisations;

(e) it must agree to give to the Environment Department, within a reasonable period after the end of each financial year, statistical data about gifts to its gift fund during the financial year;

(f) it must agree to comply with any rules made from time to time by the Environment Minister and the Treasurer to ensure that gifts to its gift fund are used only to support its environmental purpose or purposes;

(g) it must have a policy of not acting as a mere conduit for the donation of money or property to other organisations, bodies or persons;

(h) if the body is a body corporate (other than a statutory authority) or a co-operative society:

(i) the membership of the body must consist wholly or principally of bodies corporate; or

(ii) there must be at least 50 members of the body who are:

(A) natural persons; and

(B) regarded as financial members; and

(C) entitled to vote at a general meeting of the body; or

(iii) the Environment Minister determines that, because of special circumstances, the body does not have to meet either of the criteria set out in subparagraph (i) or (ii).

78AB(3)   Environment Minister and Treasurer may direct registration of certified body.  

If the Environment Minister has given a certificate to the Treasurer stating that a body is eligible for registration under this section, the Environment Minister and the Treasurer may direct the Environment Department in writing to enter the body and its gift fund on the Register of Environmental Organisations on a specified day on or after the day on which the direction is given.

78AB(4)   Government policies and budgetary priorities to be taken into account.  

In considering whether to give a direction, the Environment Minister and the Treasurer are to take into account the policies and budgetary priorities of the Commonwealth Government.

78AB(5)   Register of Environmental Organisations to be kept.  

The Environment Department must keep a register, to be known as the Register of Environmental Organisations, listing such bodies and their gift funds as are required to be on the register because of this section.

78AB(6)   Removal from Register of Environmental Organisations.  

The Environment Minister and the Treasurer may direct the Environment Department in writing to remove a body and its gift fund from the Register of Environmental Organisations on a specified day on or after the day on which the direction is given.

78AB(7)   Definitions.  

In this section:

"body"
means:

(a) a body corporate; or

(b) a co-operative society; or

(c) a trust established by a deed or will; or

(d) an unincorporated body established for a public purpose by the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory;

"environment"
means natural environment, and includes all aspects of the natural surroundings of humans, whether affecting them as individuals or in social groupings;

"environmental purpose"
means:

(a) the protection and enhancement of the environment or of a significant aspect of the environment; or

(b) a purpose relating to the dissemination of information, the provision of education, or the carrying on of research, about the environment or about a significant aspect of the environment;

whether the environment concerned is in Australia or elsewhere;

"Environment Department"
means the Department of the Arts, Sport, the Environment and Territories;

"Environment Minister"
means the Minister for the Arts, Sport, the Environment and Territories;

"gift fund"
has the meaning given by paragraph (2)(c);

"Register of Environmental Organisations"
means the Register of Environmental Organisations required by subsection (5).