Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Act 2012

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Registration of corporate donors.

14.— The Act of 1997 is amended by inserting the following section after section 23C (inserted by section 49(d) of the Act of 2001):

“23D.— (1) The Standards in Public Office Commission shall establish and maintain, in such form as it considers appropriate (including electronic form) a register of corporate donors (in this section referred to as the ‘register’).

(2) A corporate donor which intends to make a donation the value of which exceeds €200 in any particular year, to a person referred to in—

(a) paragraphs (a) to (f) of section 23AA(1), (inserted by section 10 of the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Act 2012),

(b) paragraphs (a) to (c) of section 48AA(1), (inserted by section 22 of the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Act 2012), or

(c) paragraph (a) or subparagraphs (i) to (iii) of paragraph (b) of section 19BB(1) of the Act of 1999 (inserted by section 32 of the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Act 2012),

shall apply in accordance with this section to the Standards in Public Office Commission to be entered on the register.

(3) An application under this section shall be in the form directed by the Standards in Public Office Commission (which may include electronic form) and shall—

(a) be in writing,

(b) state the name and address of the corporate donor,

(c) state the name and address of the person responsible for the organisation, management, or financial affairs of the corporate donor,

(d) contain a statement of the purposes for which the corporate donor was formed,

(e) contain a list of each member, shareholder or trustee of the corporate donor as of the 31st day of December preceding the application under this section,

(f) contain, in the case of a corporate donor which was formed on or before the first day of January of the year preceding the application under this section—

(i) a copy of its statement of accounts for that year, and

(ii) if applicable, a copy of the annual report for that year.

(4) An application under this section shall be accompanied by a statutory declaration that to the best of the knowledge and belief of the person concerned, the information provided under subsection (3) is correct in every material respect and that the person has taken all reasonable action in order to be satisfied as to the accuracy of the information.

(5) An application under this section and statutory declaration under subsection (4) shall be made by one of the following persons (in this section referred to as the ‘applicant’):

(a) in the case of a company, by a director or other officer of the company;

(b) in the case of a body corporate other than a company or an unincorporated body of persons, by any other officer of the body or any person for the time being performing the functions of an officer of the body;

(c) in the case of a trust, by a trustee of the trust.

(6) The chairperson of the Standards in Public Office Commission or a person appointed by the chairperson (either of whom for the purposes of this section shall be known as an ‘appeals officer’) shall hear an appeal under this section and a person appointed under this subsection shall be so appointed for such period as the chairperson may determine.

(7) (a) An application under this section shall be considered by a member of staff of the Standards in Public Office Commission (who for the purposes of this section shall be known as ‘the decision maker’).

(b) Where the decision maker, following consideration by him or her of an application under this section, finds a minor error or omission in the application, he or she shall notify the applicant of details of the error or omission, as the case may be, and shall inform the applicant that he or she may correct the error or make good the omission not later than 14 days from the date of the notification to the applicant and that any further information so furnished will be considered by the decision maker before making a decision in relation to the application.

(c) Where the decision maker, following consideration by him or her of an application under this section and any further information furnished under paragraph (b), decides to register the corporate donor and enter the information referred to at paragraphs (b) to (f) of subsection (3) on the register, he or she shall, as soon as may be thereafter, notify the applicant in writing of the decision and proceed to register the corporate donor and enter the information on the register.

(d) Where the decision maker, following consideration by him or her of an application under this section and any further information furnished under paragraph (b), decides to refuse the application because—

(i) the application, including the statutory declaration under subsection (4), does not comply with this section, or

(ii) the corporate donor is a body within the meaning of section 19B(2)(b) of the Act of 1999 or section 23A(2)(b) or 48A(2)(b), as the case may be,

the decision maker shall notify the applicant in writing of the decision and the reason therefor and shall inform the applicant that he or she may appeal the decision to an appeals officer not later than 14 days from the date on which the notification issued to the applicant.

(8) (a) Where the applicant appeals the decision of the decision maker, he or she shall do so in writing within the period referred to in subsection (7)(d), and an appeals officer shall consider all information furnished with the original application and any additional information furnished with the appeal.

(b) Following consideration under paragraph (a), the appeals officer shall decide to either—

(i) revoke the decision made under subsection (7)(d) and direct the decision maker to register the corporate donor and enter the information referred to at paragraphs (b) to (f) of subsection (3) on the register, or

(ii) affirm the decision of the decision maker under subsection (7)(d).

(c) The appeals officer, as soon as may be after he or she makes a decision under paragraph (b), shall notify the applicant in writing of the decision and the reason therefor.

(9) If it comes to the knowledge of an applicant that a particular entered in the register relating to a corporate donor is not correct or ceases to be correct, the applicant shall, as soon as may be, inform the Standards in Public Office Commission and the Commission shall make such alteration to the register as it considers necessary.

(10) An application under this section may be made by a corporate donor at any time in a particular year and entry in the register following the application shall be valid for the period up to and including the 31st day of December next following the entry.

(11) A corporate donor entered on the register may apply, not more than 8 weeks before the expiration of the period of validity of the entry on the register under subsection (10), to the Standards in Public Office Commission under this section to be entered on the register for a further year immediately following that expiration and this section shall apply to such an application.

(12) The Standards in Public Office Commission shall in relation to an entry on the register—

(a) make a copy of the entry, including a copy of the documents provided under paragraphs (e) and (f) of subsection (3), available for public inspection without charge at its principal office during normal working hours, and

(b) publish on its website the information received from an applicant under paragraph (b), (c) and (d) of subsection (3).

(13) In subsection (3)(b), ‘address of the corporate donor’ means—

(a) in the case of a company, the address of its registered office,

(b) in the case of a body corporate other than a company or an unincorporated body of persons, the address of its principal office or place of business, or

(c) in the case of a trust, the address of the principal office or place of business or residential address of the trustee.”.