House to House and Street Collections Regulations 1976

House to House and Street
Collections Act 1947

(Section 5)

House to House and Street
Collections Regulations 1976

2025 REVISED EDITION

(2 June 2025)

[1 October 1976]

Citation

1.  These Regulations are the House to House and Street Collections Regulations 1976.

Definitions

2.—(1)  In these Regulations —

“certificate of authority” means a certificate issued under regulation 5(2)(a);

“chief promoter”, in relation to a collection, means the person to whom a licence, authorising the person to promote the collection, has been granted;

“collecting box” means a box or other receptacle for monetary contributions, securely closed and sealed in such a way as to prevent the box or receptacle from being opened without the seal being broken;

“public accountant” means a person who is registered or deemed to be registered under the Accountants Act 2004 as a public accountant;

“receipt book” means a book of detachable forms of receipt stipulating the purpose of a collection and consecutively numbered with the counterfoils or duplicates of those forms correspondingly numbered.

(2)  A distinguishing number is, for the purposes of regulation 5(2)(b), to be regarded as having been printed on a collecting box if it is printed on a seal of the collecting box.

Application and licence

3.—(1)  An application for a licence to promote a collection must be in the form set out in the First Schedule.

(2)  Subject to paragraph (3), an application under paragraph (1) must be made using the electronic application service provided not later than 14 days before the date on which the collection is proposed to commence, or before any other date that the Commissioner of Police may allow.

(3)  In the event of a malfunction or failure of the electronic application service, the application must be made in the written form to the Commissioner of Police.

(4)  The Commissioner of Police may reject any application which is not made in accordance with this regulation.

(5)  The licence must be in the form set out in the Second Schedule.

Duties of promoter

4.  Every promoter of a collection must exercise due diligence to ensure —

(a) that every person whom the promoter has caused to act as a collector and authorised under these Regulations to act as such for the purposes of the collection is a fit and proper person;

(b) compliance with the provisions of the Act and these Regulations on the part of such collector;

(c) that for the purposes of the collection, no certificate of authority, collecting box or receipt book is issued to the collector under regulation 5(2) unless the name and address of the collector is recorded in a book in the custody of the promoter, against a distinguishing number allotted to the collecting box or receipt book by the promoter; and

(d) that any certificate of authority and collecting box or receipt book issued to the collector under regulation 5(2) is returned when the collection is completed or when for any other reason the collector ceases to act as such.

Certificate of authority

5.—(1)  If a licence is issued to the chief promoter of a collection, every form of a certificate of authority to be issued by a promoter of the collection under paragraph (2) must be obtained from the Commissioner of Police by the chief promoter.

(2)  A promoter of a collection must not cause or permit a person to act as a collector for the purposes of the collection, unless the promoter has issued or caused to be issued to that person —

(a) a certificate of authority which —

(i) is in the form set out in the Third Schedule;

(ii) except for the signature of the collector, is duly completed and authenticated by or on behalf of the chief promoter of the collection; and

(iii) includes a statement indicating the purposes of the collection inserted in the certificate or annexed to the certificate; and

(b) if money is to be collected, a collecting box or a receipt book which has the distinguishing number, allotted to the collecting box or receipt book under regulation 4(c), printed on the collecting box or on every form of receipt, and counterfoil or duplicate thereof, contained in the receipt book, as the case may be.

Duties of collector

6.  Every collector must —

(a) sign his or her name on the certificate of authority issued to the collector for the purposes of a collection by a promoter of the collection under regulation 5(2)(a) and produce it on a demand being made for the certificate by —

(i) a police officer;

(ii) a member of the public who is being approached by the collector to make a donation; or

(iii) an occupant of any premises visited by the collector for those purposes;

(b) keep the certificate of authority in his or her possession and return the certificate to the promoter on a replacement of the certificate or at any other time on a demand therefor by the promoter; and

(c) return the certificate of authority to the promoter when the collection is completed.

Age limit of collector or promoter

7.—(1)  A person below 16 years of age must not act as a collector of money or as a promoter of a collection without the permission of the Commissioner of Police.

(2)  A person or chief promoter of a collection must not cause or allow another person below 16 years of age to act as a collector of money or as a promoter of the collection, unless the other person has obtained permission under paragraph (1) to act as the collector or promoter, as the case may be.

Behaviour of collector

8.  A collector must not, for the purposes of a collection, importune any person to the annoyance of that person, or remain at the door of or in any premises, if requested by an occupant of the premises to leave the premises or the place where the premises are situated.

Collecting boxes and receipts

9.—(1)  If a collector is collecting money by means of a collecting box issued under regulation 5(2)(b), the collector must not receive any money collected except by allowing the person from whom the money is received to place it in the collecting box.

(2)  If a collector is collecting money other than by means of a collecting box, or is collecting property other than money, the collector must, upon receiving the money or other property from a person, forthwith and in the presence of that person —

(a) enter in a form of receipt contained in a receipt book issued to the collector under regulation 5(2)(b) and on the corresponding counterfoil or duplicate of the form of receipt —

(i) the date;

(ii) the name and address of the person;

(iii) the amount of money, or the amount and type of property, received; and

(iv) the collector’s signature in ink or indelible pencil; and

(b) issue that form as a receipt to the person.

Return of collecting box and receipt book by collector

10.—(1)  Every collector who has been issued with a collecting box by a promoter of a collection pursuant to regulation 5(2)(b) must return or deliver the collecting box with its seal unbroken to the promoter or a bank appointed by the chief promoter of the collection —

(a) when the collecting box is full;

(b) upon a demand being made for the collecting box by the promoter or the bank, as the case may be;

(c) when the collector does not desire to act as such; or

(d) upon completion of the collection.

(2)  Every collector who has been issued with a receipt book by a promoter of a collection pursuant to regulation 5(2)(b) must return the receipt book with any property, and, if money has been collected, a sum equal to the total amount of the contributions (if any) entered in the receipt book pursuant to regulation 9(2) as having been collected —

(a) where every form of receipt in the receipt book has been issued under regulation 9(2);

(b) upon a demand being made for the receipt book by the promoter;

(c) when the collector does not desire to act as such; or

(d) upon completion of the collection.

Examination of collecting boxes and receipt books

11.—(1)  If a collecting box is returned to the promoter of a collection pursuant to regulation 10(1), the collecting box must —

(a) be examined by the promoter and another person appointed by the chief promoter of the collection to examine the collecting box and its contents; and

(b) if the collecting box contains money, be opened in the presence of the promoter and that other person.

(2)  As soon as the collecting box is opened, the sum contained in the collecting box must be —

(a) counted;

(b) recorded in the book which is in the custody of the promoter under regulation 4(c), against the distinguishing number mentioned in that regulation; and

(c) certified by the promoter and the other person mentioned in paragraph (1)(a).

(3)  If a collecting box is delivered to a bank pursuant to regulation 10(1), the collecting box may, in the absence of the promoter of the collection, be examined and opened, and the sum contained in the collecting box or the contents of the collecting box may be counted and certified by one or more officers of the bank acting on its behalf.

(4)  Every receipt book returned to the promoter of a collection pursuant to regulation 10(2) must be examined by the promoter and any other person appointed by the chief promoter of the collection to examine the receipt book and any collected property and sum returned with the receipt book pursuant to regulation 10(2).

(5)  In examining a receipt book under paragraph (4), the promoter of a collection and the other person, mentioned in that paragraph as the person whom the chief promoter has appointed to examine the receipt book must —

(a) if money has been collected, check the total amount entered in the receipt book as having been collected with the sum returned with the receipt book under regulation 10(2) and record and certify that sum; and

(b) if other property has been collected, check all the properties entered in the receipt book as having been collected together with those returned with the receipt book under regulation 10(2) and record and certify those properties which have been so returned,

in the book which is in the custody of the promoter under regulation 4(c), against the distinguishing number mentioned in that provision.

Chief promoter to furnish account to Commissioner of Police

12.  The chief promoter of a collection must, within 60 days after the expiry of the licence authorising the promotion of the collection or within any further period that may be allowed by the Commissioner of Police, furnish an account of the collection to the Commissioner of Police.

Form of account

13.  Any account furnished under regulation 12 must —

(a) where money or property has been collected or property has been sold, be in the form set out in the Fourth Schedule, and in either case must —

(i) if the total amount of money collected, including the proceeds derived from the sale of property exceed $10,000, be certified by the chief promoter of the collection and by a public accountant who is appointed by the organisation of the chief promoter to be the auditor of the account; or

(ii) if the total amount of money collected, including the proceeds derived from the sale of property does not exceed $10,000, be certified by an independent person who is from among persons whom the Commissioner of Police determines to have the requisite ability and practical experience to carry out a competent examination, and who is appointed by the organisation of the chief promoter to be the auditor of the account; and

(b) where other property has been collected and given away, be in the form set out in the Fourth Schedule, and be certified by the chief promoter and every person responsible for giving away the property.

Chief promoter to return certificate of authority

14.  The chief promoter of a collection must return to the Commissioner of Police every certificate of authority when the certificate is no longer required for the purposes of the collection or when the collection is completed.