Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990

3 Designated religious bodies

(1) The Secretary of State may from time to time, by order, designate for the purposes of this section such recognised bodies as appear to him—

(a) to have as their principal purpose the promotion of a religious objective;

(b) to have as their principal activity the regular holding of acts of public worship; and

(c) to be bodies which satisfy each of the conditions mentioned in subsection (2) below.

(2) The conditions referred to in subsection (1)(c) above are—

(a) subject to subsection (4) below, that the body has been established in Scotland for not less than 10 years;

(b) that the body can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Secretary of State that it has a membership of not less than 3,000 persons resident in Scotland who are 16 years of age or more; and

(c) that the internal organisation of the body is such that one or more authorities in Scotland exercise supervisory and disciplinary functions in respect of the component elements of the body and , in particular, that there are imposed on such component elements requirements as to the keeping of accounting records and the auditing of accounts which appear to the Secretary of State to correspond to those required by sections 4 and 5 of this Act.

(3) Where a body is, for the time being, designated under subsection (1) above the following provisions of this Part of this Act shall not apply to the body nor to any component or structural element of the body which is, itself, a recognised body—

• section 1(6);

• section 4;

• section 5, other than subsections (6) to (8) and subsection (12);

• section 6(2) and (6);

• section 7; and

• section 8.

(4) The Secretary of State may determine that the condition mentioned in subsection (2)(a) above shall not be required to be satisfied in the case of a body—

(a) which has been created by the amalgamation of two or more bodies each of which, immediately before the amalgamation, either was designated under this section or appears to the Secretary of State to have been eligible for such designation; or

(b) which has been constituted by persons who have removed themselves from membership of a body which, immediately before such removal, was so designated or appears to the Secretary of State to have been eligible for such designation.