Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990

1 Information as to recognised charities

(1) No obligation as to secrecy or other restriction upon the disclosure of information imposed by statute or otherwise shall prevent the Commissioners of Inland Revenue (in this section referred to as “the Commissioners”) from disclosing—

(a) to the Lord Advocate, information as regards any recognised body such as is mentioned in subsection (2) below,

(b) to any person who requests it, the name of any recognised body and the address last used by the Commissioners for any communication with the body and the year when such communication occurred.

(2) A recognised body referred to in subsection (1)(a) above is a body—

(a) which appears to the Commissioners to be or to have been carrying on activities which are not charitable or to be or to have been applying any of its funds for purposes which are not charitable;

(b) which is certified by the Lord Advocate as being a body in respect of which information has been provided to the Scottish charities nominee by a relevant institution in pursuance of section 12 of this Act.

(3) Where any information is made available to any person as mentioned in subsection (1)(b) above, the Commissioners shall include in such information any matter noted by them in respect of the body in pursuance of a requirement made by the Lord Advocate under this Part of this Act.

(4) A recognised body shall provide to any person who requests it, on payment of such reasonable charge in respect of copying and postage as the body may stipulate, a copy of its explanatory document.

(5) Where any recognised body, within one month of its being requested to do so by any person, fails to provide to that person a copy of its explanatory document as mentioned in subsection (4) above, the Lord Advocate, on a complaint being made to him by such person, may direct that the fact of such failure shall be noted for the purposes of subsection (3) above.

(6) Where there has been a failure such as is mentioned in subsection (5) above, the court may, on an application being made by the Lord Advocate, interdict the body and any person concerned in its management or control from engaging in any activity specified in the application until the Lord Advocate intimates to the court that he is satisfied that the explanatory document has been provided.

(7) In this Part of this Act “recognised body” means any body to which the Commissioners have given intimation, which has not subsequently been withdrawn, that relief will be due under section 505 of the [1988 c. 1.] Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 in respect of income of the body which is applicable and applied to charitable purposes only, being a body—

(a) which is established under the law of Scotland; or

(b) which is managed or controlled wholly or mainly in or from Scotland,

and a recognised body shall be entitled to describe itself as “a Scottish charity”.

(8) For the purposes of any proceedings under or by virtue of this Part of this Act, a certificate purporting to be signed by a person authorised to do so by the Commissioners and certifying that a body is a recognised body shall be sufficient evidence of that fact and of the authority of that person.

(9) In this section “explanatory document” means—

(a) the trust deed of a body or other document constituting the body; or

(b) such other document as the Lord Advocate may approve,

being a document which describes the nature of the body and of its charitable purposes.