New South Wales Consolidated Acts

APIARIES ACT 1985 - SECT 8

8 Grant or refusal of application for registration

(1) On receipt of an application made in accordance with section 7, the Director-General shall grant the application unless the application is withdrawn or unless:

(a) the Director-General is not satisfied that the applicant is a fit and proper person to be registered, or

(b) it appears to the Director-General that:

(i) the application contains information that is materially false or misleading, or

(ii) information has been omitted from the application and the omission has rendered the application materially misleading,

and in any of the cases mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) the Director-General may refuse the application.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), an applicant under section 7 may be regarded as not being a fit and proper person if:

(a) the applicant, whether a natural person or a corporation:

(i) has during a period beginning 5 years before the date on which the application was made and ending with the date on which the application is determined, been found guilty on 2 or more occasions of offences under a provision, or under different provisions, of this Act, the repealed Act, or a prescribed law of another State, or of a Territory, of the Commonwealth corresponding to this Act, or of a combination of any of the foregoing, or

(ii) is a person who was declared under section 12 (3) or (5) to be a disqualified person and the period for which that person has been disqualified has not expired, or

(b) where the applicant is a corporation, any person who is a director of the corporation:

(i) has, during the period specified in paragraph (a) (i), whether in relation to that corporation or not, been found guilty on 2 or more occasions of an offence, or of different offences, of the kind mentioned in paragraph (a) (i), or

(ii) is a person who was declared under section 12 (3) or (5) to be a disqualified person and the period for which that person has been disqualified has not expired.

(3) As soon as practicable after granting an application made under section 7, the Director-General:

(a) shall register the applicant by causing the particulars required by section 13 (3) to be entered in the register of beekeepers in respect of the applicant and by issuing to the applicant, on payment of such fee as may be prescribed by the regulations, a certificate of registration in an approved form, and

(b) shall allocate to the applicant a registration number which is to be displayed on the broodbox of each beehive kept or proposed to be kept by the applicant.

(4) A registration number allocated under subsection (3) (b) may include numbers only or a combination of letters and numbers.

(5) The registration of a person as a beekeeper shall, unless sooner cancelled under section 12, continue in force for a period of 2 years from and including the date of issue of the certificate of registration and, unless renewed under section 11, shall then expire.

(6) An application made under section 7 shall not be refused under this section unless the Director-General has first afforded the applicant an opportunity to appear and make representations and adduce evidence at a hearing held by the Director-General to determine the application.

(7) When holding a hearing for the purposes of subsection (6), the Director-General:

(a) may conduct the hearing in such manner as the Director-General considers appropriate,

(b) is not bound to observe rules of law governing the admission of evidence but may inform himself or herself of any matter in such manner as the Director-General considers appropriate,

(c) may call and receive evidence as to any matter relevant to the hearing, and

(d) may, from time to time as the Director-General considers appropriate, adjourn the hearing.

(8) If an application made under section 7 is refused, the Director-General must:

(a) give the applicant a notice in accordance with section 48 (Notice of decision and review rights to be given by administrators) of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal Act 1997 , and

(b) immediately refund to the applicant the registration fee that accompanied the application.