New South Wales Consolidated Acts

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT 1996 - SECT 218

218 Criteria for registration

(1) The Industrial Registrar is to grant the application for registration if, and only if--

(a) the organisation is a genuine organisation of a kind that is capable of registration under this Chapter, and

(b) the organisation is an organisation for furthering or protecting the interests of its members, and

(c) the organisation is capable of representing its members in connection with industrial matters, and

(d) in the case of an organisation of employees--the organisation has, at the time of registration, at least 50 members who are employees, and

(e) in the case of an organisation of employers--the organisation has, at the time of registration, at least 2 members who are employers and those members employ between them at least 50 employees, and

(f) the rules of the organisation make provision as required by this Chapter to be made by the rules of such an organisation, and

(g) in the case of an organisation consisting of the members of a branch of an organisation--the branch is of sufficient importance to be registered separately, and

(h) the organisation does not have the same name as that of an organisation registered under this Chapter and does not have a name that is so similar to such a name as to be likely to cause confusion, and

(i) the name of the association is not, in the opinion of the Industrial Registrar, unsuitable to be the name of a registered organisation, and

(j) in the case of a State organisation--a majority of the members present at a general meeting of the organisation or an absolute majority of the committee of management of the organisation has passed, under the rules of the organisation, a resolution in favour of registration of the organisation, and

(k) in the case of a federal organisation--the rules of the organisation (including any parent body) confer on the organisation applying for registration a reasonable degree of autonomy in the administration and control of New South Wales assets and in the determination of questions affecting solely or principally members resident in New South Wales, and

(l) in the case of a federal organisation of employees--the application for registration of the organisation is made with the consent of each registered State organisation whose constitutional coverage extends to all or any of the class of members proposed to be covered by the federal organisation, and

(m) in the case of an organisation of employees (other than an organisation referred to in paragraph (o) during the period referred to in that paragraph)--there is no other industrial organisation of employees to which the members of the organisation might conveniently belong, and

(n) in the case of an organisation of employees--the organisation is free from control by, or improper influence from, an employer or by an organisation or other association of employers, and

(o) in the case of an organisation of employees to which Schedule 5 applies that made an application for registration before, or makes such an application within 12 months after, the date of assent to the Industrial Relations Amendment (Industrial Representation) Act 2012 --the organisation satisfies the requirements of subsection (1A).

(1A) An organisation satisfies the requirements of this subsection if--

(a) there is no other industrial organisation of employees to which members of the organisation might belong or, if there is such an organisation, it is not an organisation--

(i) to which the members of the organisation could more conveniently belong, and

(ii) that would more effectively represent those members, or

(b) the Industrial Registrar accepts an undertaking from the organisation that the Industrial Registrar considers appropriate to avoid disputes as to the demarcation of the industrial interests of the organisation and any other organisation that might otherwise arise from an overlap between eligibility for membership of the organisation and membership of the other organisation.

(1B) In determining under subsection (1A) (a) whether an existing organisation would more effectively represent members than the applicant organisation, the Industrial Registrar must have regard to the resources and representative infrastructure of the applicant.

(2) An organisation may be registered even if its members include--

(a) officers of the organisation, or

(b) in the case of an organisation of employers--persons other than employees who carry on business but who do not have any employees, or

(c) in the case of an organisation of employers--persons admitted to membership who have ceased to be employers, or

(d) in the case of an organisation of employees--independent contractors who would be eligible for membership if their work were done as an employee.

However, an organisation with any such members may be registered only if it is effectively representative of the members who are employees or employers, as the case requires.