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Expiration of declaration of eligibility and suitability.
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41.— (1) A declaration of eligibility and suitability expires after—
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(a) 24 months from the date of issuance of the declaration, or
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(b) a further period of not more than 12 months that the Authority may specify on application made to the Authority by the person or married couple concerned within those 24 months.
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(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), if—
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(a) during the 24 months referred to in that subsection, together with the further period, if any, specified by the Authority under that subsection, and
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(b) before the making of an adoption order, or the recognition of an intercountry adoption, for which the declaration referred to in that subsection was issued,
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new information about the applicant’s or applicants’ eligibility and suitability to adopt has become available or there has been a change in the relevant circumstances, the Authority, after—
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(i) reconsidering the declaration of eligibility and suitability, and
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(ii) giving the person or married couple concerned, an opportunity to be heard,
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may either—
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(I) amend the declaration of eligibility and suitability by attaching specified conditions to it, including but not limited to a condition that the eligibility and suitability of the person or married couple be reconsidered at a hearing before the Authority, or
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(II) withdraw the declaration if the Authority considers that it would not be proper, having regard to this Act, to make the adoption order or recognise the intercountry adoption.
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