Charitable Collections Regulation 2003

The regulation depends on a small number of organising legal concepts, many of which are defined either in the regulation’s dictionary or signposted to other Acts. Those concepts structure eligibility to be exempt, collector conduct obligations and the financial transparency regime.

• Collection and licence: The regulation is expressly made under the Charitable Collections Act 2003 and repeatedly cross‑refers to licences and the Act’s provisions (for example, s 6 refers to “not to be a collection,Act, s 7(3)(h)” and s 10 refers to licence conditions). The regulation does not itself define “collection” or “licence”; those core terms carry the meanings in the Charitable Collections Act 2003 (Dictionary note, and explicit signpost references).
• Exemptions by activity and threshold: Section 6 lists activities that are declared not to be collections. The notable quantitative thresholds are (a) an entity is exempt where proceeds of its collections are under $15,000 in a financial year (s 6(1)(c)); and (b) licensees whose ACT proceeds exceed $50,000 in any 12‑month period must deliver audited annual accounts (s 15(1)-(2)).
• Authorised receipt and donor rights: Section 11 creates a collector’s obligation to supply an “authorised receipt” when requested by a donor who gives more than $2 in cash. “Authorised receipt” is defined as a printed receipt or anything the person conducting the collection gives to the collector to acknowledge a donation of a particular amount (s 11(4)). Section 11(2) creates an express exception where the donor receives goods or services of substantially the same value.
• Lawful and proper expenses: Section 12 lists what may be deducted as lawful and proper expenses: reasonable operating and administrative expenses incurred in conducting the collection, administering and distributing proceeds, complying with the Act, and any other expenses stated in the licence application (s 12(a)-(b)). That ties what can be deducted for net proceeds directly to expenses disclosed in the licensee’s application.
• Accounting and reporting: Sections 13 and 14 establish the contents of “required accounts” and the “required information” for reports to the director‑general. Required accounts must show proceeds (including amounts realised from benefits), lawful and proper expenses, net proceeds and the amount applied for the purposes of the collection (s 13(1)(a)-(d)). Required reports must state those same four amounts (s 14(1)(a)-(d)) and the regulation clarifies that additional information may be included (s 14(2)).
• Child protection conditions: Schedule 1 sets statutory conditions that can be stated on a licence about children taking part in collections (s 10). These include written consent requirements for children under 12 and for children aged 12 and over (s 1.1), detailed supervision rules for children aged 6 and above (s 1.3) including supervisor-to-child ratios and proximity, obligations to provide parents reasonable opportunity to contact the child (s 1.4), and maximum daily participation periods and rest breaks (s 1.6).
• Application of the Criminal Code and penalty units: Section 5 expressly records that offences against the regulation attract the Criminal Code, ch 2 general principles (including burdens and defences), and the regulation notes the penalty unit values effective at republication date (prelude: $160 per unit for individuals and $810 for corporations). Section 11 also states that the receipt offence is a strict liability offence (s 11(3)).

The regulation repeatedly uses “must” and “must not” to impose duties and prohibitions, and it gives the director‑general specific discretions (for example, to make register material accessible on an approved website (s 16)). It therefore combines prescriptive operational rules (receipts, accounts, supervision) with administrative boundaries (exemptions, director‑general discretion, audit threshold).

The regulation affects a set of distinct actors by imposing obligations, granting exemptions and creating disclosure duties. The primary affected parties are:

• Licensees and applicants for licences under the Charitable Collections Act 2003: Licensees must comply with the accounting, reporting and expense rules in Part 4 (ss 12-15). Where a licence specifies that Schedule 1 applies, licensees must ensure child participants meet written consent and supervision conditions (s 10 and Schedule 1). Licensees whose ACT proceeds exceed $50,000 in any 12‑month period must deliver audited annual accounts to the director‑general (s 15).
• Collectors and volunteers taking part in collections: Individual collectors are directly affected by the receipt obligation in s 11. A collector who fails to give an “authorised receipt” when a donor gives more than $2 in cash and asks for a receipt commits an offence (s 11(1)), subject to the goods-or-services exception (s 11(2)). Collectors involved in collections that engage children will also be constrained by the supervision and consent rules if those conditions are part of the licence (s 10; Schedule 1).
• Children participating in collections and their parents/carers: Schedule 1 imposes written consent rules (s 1.1), supervision conditions, and limits on hours (s 1.2-1.6). A child under 12 cannot take part unless a person with parental responsibility gives written consent; a child aged 12 or over must provide written consent and parental written consent (Schedule 1, s 1.1). Parents and persons with parental responsibility therefore receive statutory protections (s 1.4).
• Trustee corporations and public trustee and guardian: The regulation exempts collections where proceeds are for a trust fund for a charitable purpose administered by a trustee corporation or the public trustee and guardian (s 6(1)(f)-(g)). That means trustee corporations administering charitable trust funds are not treated as conducting “collections” for licensing purposes where such funds are the destination of proceeds.
• Schools and bodies affiliated with schools: Section 6(1)(a) and (b) declare that soliciting or receiving money by a school (genuine fees for educational purposes or voluntary contributions from parents of enrolled children) and bodies affiliated with schools (parents and citizens associations, alumni associations) are not collections.
• Commercial fundraisers and any person or organisation seeking sponsorship or corporate support: s 6(1)(e) declares the solicitation or receipt of sponsorship from a corporation is not a collection. Section 12(b) expressly contemplates that how a commercial fundraiser’s fee is calculated can be disclosed in the licence application and treated as a lawful and proper expense.
• The director‑general and the Territory: The director‑general is given functions under the regulation, including discretion to indicate that Schedule 1 conditions apply on a licence (s 10) and to make register material accessible on an approved website without charge (s 16). The Territory bears the cost of providing website access without charge (s 16(2)).

Indirectly affected parties include donors, employers of workplace-giving programs (the regulation gives an example in s 6(1)(g)), and organisations that combine ACT collections with State collections because the regulation states audited annual accounts need not separately identify ACT amounts when returns cover both jurisdictions (s 15(3)).

Operational implications for these actors flow from the interaction of threshold tests and formality requirements: small-scale collectors under the $15,000 threshold (s 6(1)(c)) can avoid licensing; larger licensees face stricter accounting and audit duties; and anyone collecting with child participation may be subject to the detailed Schedule 1 controls if the licence so indicates.

The regulation sets out discrete duties and limited rights which licence applicants, licensees, collectors and supervisors must observe. Below are the principal duties and the rights they create or limit, with direct references to the sections establishing them.

Duties on collectors and licensees

• Duty to provide authorised receipts: A collector must give an authorised receipt when a donor gives more than $2 in cash and requests a receipt (s 11(1)). Failure attracts a maximum penalty of 10 penalty units (s 11(1)) and is a strict liability offence (s 11(3)). The regulation defines “authorised receipt” as a printed receipt or anything given to the collector by the person conducting the collection that acknowledges a donation of a particular amount; the regulation gives an example of a non-receipt (coloured badges) (s 11(4)).
• Duty to identify lawful and proper expenses: Licensees may deduct reasonable expenses incurred in conducting, administering and distributing proceeds, and in complying with the Act (s 12(a)). Licensees can also deduct any other expenses specified in the licence application (s 12(b)). This is a duty to ensure expenses claiming are within those bounds and, by implication, to include any non-standard expenses in the application to ensure their deductibility.
• Duty to prepare required accounts and reports: Required accounts must show proceeds (including amounts realised from benefits), lawful and proper expenses, net proceeds and the amount applied for the charitable purposes (s 13(1)(a)-(d)). Reported information to the director‑general must include the same four elements (s 14(1)(a)-(d)), and the report may include further information (s 14(2)).
• Duty to provide audited annual accounts when threshold exceeded: Licensees whose ACT proceeds from collections in any 12‑month period exceed $50,000 must provide audited annual accounts for the year(s) in which collections were carried out (s 15(1)-(2)). If accounts include collections carried out both in the ACT and in a State, the accounts do not have to separately identify the ACT amount (s 15(3)).
• Duties about children where Schedule 1 applies: If licence conditions indicate Schedule 1 applies, the licence-holder must ensure that written consents are obtained (Schedule 1, s 1.1), specified supervision ratios and proximity are observed by adult supervisors (s 1.3(4)), that children do not enter private dwellings or solicit from persons in motor vehicles (s 1.3(4)(e)), and that maximum participation periods and rest breaks are respected (s 1.6).

Rights and discretions

• Right to be treated as not conducting a collection where statutory exemption applies: Entities meeting the s 6 exemptions (for example, schools charging fees, organisations with less than $15,000 in proceeds, trustee-corporation-administered funds) are declared not to be carrying out collections for the purposes of the Act and regulation (s 6(1)(a)-(g)). That status confers relief from licensing, reporting and other obligations under the Act.
• Director‑general discretion to publish register material: The director‑general may arrange for material required by the Act (s 40(2) and (3)) to be accessible via an approved website (s 16(1)). The regulation entitles the public to free access (s 16(2)), and the director‑general therefore has discretion over the medium and arrangement of access, subject to that requirement.
• Applicants’ right to include other expenses in a licence application: Applicants can list “other” expenses they regard as lawful and proper for the purposes of the licence application; once included, those expenses are treated as lawful and proper for the collection (s 12(b)).

Interaction with penal framework

• Strict liability and Criminal Code application: Section 11(3) makes the receipt offence a strict liability offence. Section 5 expressly applies the Criminal Code, ch 2, which sets out the general principles such as burdens of proof and general defences, to offences against the regulation. That combination shapes the available defences and evidentiary burdens for prosecutions under the regulation.

Practical recordkeeping implications arise from the duties: receipts must be authorised and available, accounts must reconcile proceeds and expenses (including benefits realised), reports must present the four identified amounts, and licence applications should disclose non-standard expenses to ensure their legitimacy as lawful and proper expenses.

The regulation establishes direct offences, references the broader criminal framework and links to penalty‑unit valuation. It provides both substantive offences and cross‑references that determine enforcement characteristics.

Offences specified in the regulation

• Failure to issue an authorised receipt: Section 11 creates a specific offence. A collector who receives more than $2 in cash from a donor, is asked for a receipt and does not provide an authorised receipt commits an offence. Maximum penalty: 10 penalty units (s 11(1)). The regulation also records that this offence is strict liability (s 11(3)).
• Other potential offences: While s 11 is the only discrete criminal provision in the text, the regulation’s broader compliance duties feed into enforcement under the Charitable Collections Act 2003 and the Criminal Code for breaches of duties that are penalised under the Act. Section 5 confirms offences against the regulation are subject to the Criminal Code, ch 2 general principles.

Scope of criminal law and evidentiary framework

• Criminal Code application (s 5): The regulation explicitly states that Criminal Code, ch 2 applies to all offences against the regulation and that this chapter “sets out the general principles of criminal responsibility (including burdens of proof and general defences), and defines terms used for offences to which the Code applies (eg conduct, intention, recklessness and strict liability).” That means prosecutions for regulatory offences will be run in the criminal law framework and follow its rules on proof and defences, subject to the characterisation of specific offences (for example, strict liability in s 11(3)).
• Strict liability consequences: Because the receipt offence is strict liability (s 11(3)), prosecution need not prove fault elements such as intention or recklessness for that offence. The Criminal Code chapter referred to in s 5 contains the broader rules about strict liability offences, but the regulation itself does not state which defences under the Criminal Code are available in practice; it only flags the structural point.

Penalty‑unit framework and monetary scale

• Penalty-unit values at republication date: The republication notes the value of a penalty unit for an offence against this law: $160 for an individual and $810 for a corporation (prelude, “Penalties”). Applying that to s 11’s 10 penalty units produces, at the republication date, maximum monetary penalties for s 11 of $1,600 for an individual and $8,100 for a corporation. Those values are subject to adjustment under the Legislation Act 2001, s 133, and the regulation directs readers to that provision for the meaning of penalty units.

Enforcement actors and mechanisms

• Director‑general as recipient of reports and registrar functions: The director‑general is the point for receiving required reports (s 14) and audited accounts (s 15). The director‑general also has the power to arrange publication of register material (s 16). Enforcement of licence conditions, reporting and accounts will therefore be administered through the director‑general’s office under the Act and regulation.
• Administrative remedies implied: The regulation does not itself list administrative sanctions or licence-suspension mechanisms; those are matters in the Charitable Collections Act 2003. The regulation confines itself to procedural duties and specific offences such as s 11.

Practical enforcement notes

• Evidence and proof: For s 11 prosecutions, the strict liability characterisation means the prosecutor will focus on proof that a donor gave more than $2, asked for a receipt and that the collector failed to provide an authorised receipt; proof of mens rea is not required under s 11(3), subject to any Code-prescribed defences.
• Corporate scale: Because penalty-unit values differ for corporations at the republication date, corporate non-compliance (such as a corporate collector or an organisation which may be charged) may attract substantially larger monetary consequences than an individual collector.

The regulation therefore combines a small set of criminal offences with administrative reporting obligations and an audit threshold; enforcement will proceed via the director‑general’s administrative regime and, where criminal offences are charged, under the Criminal Code framework referenced in s 5.

The regulation repeatedly cross-references other legislation and relies on external definitions and administrative frameworks, so its practical effect depends on a small network of related statutes and administrative instruments.

Key cross-referenced statutes

• Charitable Collections Act 2003: The regulation is made under that Act and repeatedly refers to Act provisions (for example, s 6 is captioned “What are not collections,Act, s 7(3)(h)”; s 10 refers to licences and the Act’s Part 3; ss 11-15 operationalise obligations that the Act requires). The regulation therefore functions as subordinate detail for the Act’s licensing, reporting, accounting and child-protection requirements. Definitions used in the regulation (for example, “collection”, “licence”, “proceeds”) are the same as in the Charitable Collections Act 2003 unless the regulation provides otherwise (Dictionary note).
• Criminal Code: Section 5 explicitly applies Criminal Code, ch 2 to offences against the regulation. The Code sets out the general principles of criminal responsibility, including burdens of proof and general defences (s 5 and its notes).
• Legislation Act 2001: The regulation relies on the Legislation Act for drafting conventions, definition of penalty units and the authority for editorial amendments (see the republication notes and dictionary notes). Penalty-unit values for offences are governed by Legislation Act, s 133 (prefatory note).
• Children and Young People Act 2008: The regulation uses “parental responsibility” as defined by the Children and Young People Act 2008 (Schedule 1, s 1.1 and Dictionary note). Section 10 also invites readers to the Children and Young People Act, ch 21, for provisions about employment of children.
• Trustee Companies Act 1947: The term “trustee company” is signposted to that Act (s 6(2) and Dictionary).
• Road Transport (General) Act 1999: The schedule prohibits soliciting or receiving money from a person in a motor vehicle (Schedule 1, s 1.3(4)(e)), and “motor vehicle” is signposted to that Act’s dictionary (Dictionary).
• Other Acts with administrative or definitional relevance: The regulation also references the Public Trustee and Guardian (Legislation Act dict reference) and uses the Legislation Act’s dictionary terms such as “director-general,” “adult,” “writing,” and “financial year.”

Operational cross-effects and implications

• Dual-jurisdiction collections: Section 15(3) permits audited annual accounts that include proceeds of collections carried out both in the ACT and a State without separately identifying the ACT amount. That relaxes cross-border accounting obligations but means that State-level requirements (in a State where collections also occur) must be checked separately because the regulation removes the need for territorial separation in audited accounts but does not displace distinct State regulatory requirements.
• Child-labour and employment laws: The regulation’s Schedule 1 addresses children participating in collections but expressly points to the Children and Young People Act 2008, ch 21 for employment-of-children provisions (s 10 note). That indicates collectors and licensees must ensure compliance not only with Schedule 1 but also with employment and child-welfare law in that Act.
• Trustee and workplace giving structures: Section 6(1)(g) exempts workplace giving programs where funds are solicited for a charitable fund administered by a trustee corporation. That means the regulation treats certain payroll- or workplace-initiated giving as outside the licensing regime if a trustee corporation administers the fund. The effect is to shift regulatory focus away from activities that channel donations through trustee-administered funds and onto those collecting directly for charitable purposes.
• Information access and privacy: Section 16 permits the director‑general to arrange for register material to be accessible on an approved website and requires access be free. That creates an intersection with public access and potentially with privacy law and records-management obligations; the regulation does not spell out privacy protections or redactions, so those will be governed by administrative practice and other relevant legislation.

Amendments and removals of earlier regulatory provisions

• Recent amendment history has removed some definitions and provisions from the regulation (see endnotes and Amendment history). For example, the definition of licensee and certain other clauses were removed by A2024‑29 (amendment history, endnote 4). Those removals mean that practitioners must read the regulation alongside the Charitable Collections Act and recent amending Acts to understand the current legal architecture.

In short, the regulation is interconnected with the Act that authorises it, the Criminal Code for offences, the Children and Young People Act for child-related issues, trustee law for exemptions, road transport law for motor-vehicle-related prohibitions in Schedule 1, and the Legislation Act for drafting and penalty-unit valuation. Practical compliance therefore requires checking all those instruments for overlapping duties and standards.

The regulation’s own endnotes and the amendment history contained in the republication provide the authoritative timeline of changes and the instruments responsible. The regulation was first made in 2003 and has been amended several times since. Key moments in its legislative history are:

• Creation and commencement (2003): The Charitable Collections Regulation 2003 (SL2003‑33) was notified on 22 September 2003. Sections 1 and 2 commenced on 22 September 2003 and the remainder commenced on 9 October 2003, pursuant to the Charitable Collections Act 2003 and the Legislation Act mechanisms (endnotes 3 and the legislation history).
• 2008 Children and Young People amendments (A2008‑20): Amendment to Schedule 1 and the definition of parental responsibility were made by the Children and Young People (Consequential Amendments) Act 2008. The notification and commencement dates for the parts are set out in the legislation history: notified 17 July 2008; parts commenced on 18 July 2008, 27 October 2008 and 27 February 2009 depending on the specific provisions (endnote 3).
• 2009 amendments (SL2009‑36 and A2009‑19): The Charitable Collections Amendment Regulation 2009 (No 1) (SL2009‑36) and the Justice and Community Safety Legislation Amendment Act 2009 (No 2) A2009‑19 made further amendments. SL2009‑36 was notified on 13 July 2009 and commenced 14 July 2009; A2009‑19 was notified 1 September 2009 with relevant parts commencing 29 September 2009 (endnote 3).
• 2011 administrative amendments (A2011‑22): The Administrative (One ACT Public Service Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2011 (A2011‑22) effected amendments, notified 30 June 2011 with parts commencing 1 July 2011 (endnote 3).
• 2016 amendments (A2016‑13): The Protection of Rights (Services) Legislation Amendment Act 2016 (No 2) A2016‑13 made amendments, notified 16 March 2016 and commencing on 1 April 2016 for the relevant part (endnote 3).
• 2024 amendments (A2024‑29): The Housing and Consumer Affairs Legislation Amendment Act 2024 A2024‑29 amended the regulation, notified 9 July 2024; sections 1 and 2 were taken to have commenced 1 July 2024 and the relevant part commenced 16 July 2024 (endnote 3). The amendment history table (endnote 4) records multiple textual changes under A2024‑29 including omissions of several sections (for example, definitions such as “licensee” and certain provisions were omitted by A2024‑29 s 29-31). The amendment history shows s 6 was amended across several instruments (SL2009‑36 s 4-5; A2009‑19 s 8; A2016‑13 amdt 1.9) and that Schedule 1 subsections were renumbered and amended by A2024‑29 s 30.

The republication endnotes contain a consolidated list of republications (endnote 5) and a detailed amendment table (endnote 4) that identifies which sections were amended, omitted or renumbered and identifies the amending instruments and commencement dates. The public republication date for the version provided is 16 July 2024 and it includes amendments up to that date (prefatory republication information).

For practitioners reviewing the regulation, the amendment history indicates which provisions have been modernised, which definitions have been removed and where to look for consequential changes in definitions and administrative practice. The endnotes are the authoritative pointer to the legislative lineage for each substantive change.

The regulation itself contains no case law references and the republication does not list any judicial decisions applying or construing the Charitable Collections Regulation 2003. The instrument’s endnotes and main text contain references only to amending Acts and subordinate instruments; no litigation or court decisions are named or summarised in the republication.

That absence of named cases in the instrument means there are no precedent citations contained in the text for interpretation of particular clauses. However, the regulation creates legal issues that might be litigated or litigable in practice and that are manifest from the text:

• Strict liability offence under s 11(3): The regulation designates the receipt-offence a strict liability offence. Where that provision is enforced, interpretive disputes may arise concerning what constitutes an “authorised receipt” (s 11(4)) and whether the goods-or-services exception in s 11(2) applies. Litigation on those points would involve application of Criminal Code principles referenced in s 5 regarding strict liability and potential defences; the regulation does not itself set out evidentiary standards beyond the Criminal Code’s general rules (s 5).
• Accounting and audit obligations: Sections 13-15 create duties about required accounts, required reports and audited accounts where ACT proceeds exceed $50,000 in any 12‑month period. Disputes could arise about whether accounts satisfy the “required accounts” test (s 13(1)(a)-(d)), how “amounts realised from benefits” should be valued, or what constitutes “lawful and proper expenses” (s 12). The regulation defines these items but leaves valuation and reasonableness questions to factual enquiry; those questions are typical subjects of litigation or administrative review in disputes about licence compliance.
• Child‑participation rules: If a licence states Schedule 1 applies (s 10), questions could arise about what constitutes “written consent” for the purposes of s 1.1, what constitutes being “in close proximity” (Schedule 1 s 1.3(4)(c)), or whether supervisors took “all reasonable steps” to prevent prohibited conduct by children (s 1.3(4)(e)). Such matters involve factual assessment and could be litigated where harm or breach allegations are made.
• Exemption thresholds and characterisation of activities: Section 6 declares particular activities not to be collections, for example where proceeds are less than $15,000 or where sponsorship is received. Litigation might engage the characterisation of receipts (are certain funds “sponsorship” or “proceeds of collections”?) and whether an entity’s activities fall squarely within an exemption.

Although the republication itself does not record litigation, the regulatory provisions and their interfaces with the Criminal Code, the Charitable Collections Act and child-welfare law create areas where disputes could be anticipated. Practitioners should therefore expect that construal of terms such as “authorised receipt”, “lawful and proper expenses”, “amounts realised from benefits” and the Schedule 1 supervision standards are the likely focal points were litigation to arise.

The regulation contains several provisions that are easy to misread or where small operational choices can trigger compliance consequences. Below are the main practical traps and points that commonly trip up licence‑holders and collectors, with explicit pointers to the relevant sections.

Receipt obligations and strict liability (s 11)

• Small cash donations trigger an obligation: If a donor gives more than $2 in cash and asks for a receipt, the collector must provide an “authorised receipt” or the collector commits an offence (s 11(1)). The $2 threshold is low: many casual street collections or event collections involve donations above that amount.
• Strict liability risks collectors: The offence is strict liability (s 11(3)), meaning the collector’s state of mind is not required to be proved. A well‑intentioned volunteer who simply forgets to give a receipt can be prosecuted unless an applicable defence under the Criminal Code applies.
• What counts as an authorised receipt: The regulation defines an authorised receipt as a printed receipt or “anything else given to the collector by a person conducting the collection for the purpose of acknowledging a donation of a particular amount” (s 11(4)). The regulation expressly gives an example of something that is not a printed receipt , coloured badges , signalling that informal tokens may not be treated as compliant.

Exemptions that may be narrower than they first appear (s 6)

• $15,000 yearly threshold: Section 6(1)(c) exempts entities whose proceeds from collections are less than $15,000 in a financial year. That is a per-entity threshold and must be monitored cumulatively by financial year. Failure to track cumulative proceeds could inadvertently push an entity into the licensing regime.
• Sponsorship and trustee-administered funds: Section 6(1)(e) and (f) exclude sponsorship receipts and trustee-corporation-administered trust funds. Organisations that accept corporate sponsorships but also solicit public donations should check whether the sponsor funds are treated as “sponsorship” under the Act; ambiguous arrangements may not be sheltered.
• School exceptions have specific scope: Section 6(1)(a) exempts school fees and voluntary contributions solicited from persons with parental responsibility for enrolled children. Fundraising targeted at the broader public by school-affiliated groups may fall outside this exemption.

Accounting and audit nuances (ss 12-15)

• Expenses must be lawful and proper and might need to be included in the application: Section 12(b) allows “any other expenses stated in the application for the licence” to be treated as lawful and proper. If an organisation intends to claim an unusual expense (for example, a particular commercial fundraiser fee structure), it should state that expense in the licence application to avoid challenge later.
• Proceeds include realisations from benefits: Required accounts must show “proceeds (including any amounts realised from benefits received for the purposes of the collection)” (s 13(1)(a)). That means in‑kind benefits that are sold or otherwise monetised become part of the proceeds and must be recorded and reported.
• Audit threshold and cross‑jurisdiction aggregation: Section 15 requires audited annual accounts if the licensee’s ACT proceeds exceed $50,000 in any 12‑month period. However, where annual accounts include both ACT and State collections the accounts need not separately identify ACT amounts (s 15(3)). That may create a compliance risk where different jurisdictions impose different audit or disclosure rules; the regulator has waived the need for territorial separation in the audited statement but not State-level regulatory or audit requirements.

Children’s participation , detailed operational constraints (Schedule 1)

• Written consent requirements vary by age: For under‑12s, only parental written consent is required (Schedule 1 s 1.1(1)). For children aged 12 or older, both the child’s written consent and parental written consent are required (s 1.1(2)). Misunderstanding this could lead to unauthorised participation.
• Supervisor ratios and responsibilities: An adult supervisor must supervise no more than six children and ensure each child is accompanied by another child at least six years old or by an adult (s 1.3(4)(a)-(b)). Supervisors must be in “close proximity”, know the whereabouts of each child, and contact each child at intervals not longer than 30 minutes (s 1.3(4)(c)-(f)). These precise obligations can be administratively heavy for community groups and require active rostering and monitoring.
• Prohibitions on dwelling entry and motor vehicle solicitation: Supervisors must take all reasonable steps to ensure children do not enter private dwellings or solicit from persons in motor vehicles (s 1.3(4)(e)). Those specific prohibitions are operationally detailed and must be communicated to volunteers and supervisors.

Director‑general publication and public access (s 16)

• Public access without charge: Section 16 allows the director‑general to arrange that register material be accessible on an approved website without charge. Organisations should assume certain licence-related material may become publicly available and plan for reputational and privacy consequences.

Drafting and definitional caveats

• Signposted definitions and removed provisions: The regulation relies on definitions in other Acts (Charitable Collections Act, Children and Young People Act, Trustee Companies Act, Road Transport Act). Recent amendments in 2024 omitted certain definitions from the regulation (Amendment history). Practitioners must read the relevant Acts for current definitions, not assume all terms are defined in the regulation.
• “Anything else given” is broad but litigable: The authorised‑receipt definition includes “anything else” given for acknowledging a donation. That breadth creates flexibility but also ambiguity; whether a token, wristband or digital acknowledgement qualifies may be contested.

These are practical compliance pitfalls. Addressing them requires active recordkeeping, clear policies on receipts, careful drafting of licence applications to capture intended expenses, and robust systems for supervising child participants.

Compliance with the regulation requires administering licences, bookkeeping, reporting and operational practices that align with the specified duties. Below are concrete, source‑grounded steps that a licensee, applicant or organiser should implement, linked to the specific sections.

1. Determine whether your activity is a “collection” or exempt (s 6)

• Check s 6 carefully before applying for a licence. If your organisation is a school collecting genuine fees, or soliciting voluntary contributions exclusively from parents of enrolled children, the activity is not a collection (s 6(1)(a)). Likewise check whether proceeds for a financial year are under $15,000 (s 6(1)(c)), or where funds are administered by a trustee corporation for a charitable purpose (s 6(1)(f)-(g)). If sponsorship from a corporation is the only receipt, s 6(1)(e) suggests the activity is not a collection.
• Document the basis for any exemption: maintain contemporaneous records demonstrating that proceeds were below thresholds or that funds were trustee-administered, because these facts determine exemption status.

2. Receipt procedures (s 11)

• Train collectors to issue “authorised receipts” on request for cash donations above $2. An authorised receipt is a printed receipt or any item the collector is given by the person conducting the collection that acknowledges a donation of a particular amount (s 11(4)). Avoid relying on tokens, badges or colour codes alone as these may not qualify.
• Implement a simple receipt system: pre-printed receipt books or a printed digital receipt that can be produced on the spot. Ensure collectors are supplied with receipts and trained to produce them upon request to avoid strict liability exposure (s 11(1)-(3)).
• Where goods or services of substantially the same value are supplied, document the transaction to demonstrate the s 11(2) exception applies.

3. Expense disclosure and accounting (ss 12-14)

• Include non-standard expenses in your licence application. Section 12(b) treats “any other expenses stated in the application for the licence” as lawful and proper. If you expect to claim commercial fundraiser fees or other unusual expenses, state them explicitly in the application.
• Maintain accounts consistent with required accounts: ensure ledgers and reconciliations identify (a) proceeds (including amounts realised from benefits), (b) lawful and proper expenses, (c) net proceeds, and (d) amounts applied for the charitable purpose (s 13(1)(a)-(d) and s 14(1)(a)-(d)). Track in-kind benefits and any monetisation as part of proceeds (s 13(1)(a)).
• Prepare reports with the four required figures and additional information where helpful; the regulation permits supplementary data (s 14(2)).

4. Audit readiness (s 15)

• Monitor ACT proceeds: if your collections in the ACT exceed $50,000 in any rolling 12‑month period you must supply audited annual accounts for the relevant year(s) to the director‑general (s 15(1)-(2)). Maintain accounting systems that can produce audited financial statements and segregate ACT collections where feasible even though the regulation does not require separate identification in audited accounts that include State receipts (s 15(3)).
• Engage an auditor early if approaching the threshold so audits can be scheduled and financial controls reviewed.

5. Child participation compliance (s 10; Schedule 1)

• If your licence specifies that Schedule 1 applies (s 10), implement consent forms and supervision rosters: obtain written parental consent for under-12s and written consent from both the child and a parent for 12+ children (Schedule 1, s 1.1). Retain copies of these consents.
• Set up supervision ratios and protocols: an adult supervisor must supervise no more than six children and remain in close proximity, know each child’s whereabouts, check on each child at no more than 30‑minute intervals and ensure children are not entering private dwellings or soliciting from motor vehicles (Schedule 1, s 1.3(4)(a)-(f)). Where a child is accompanied by an adult, some of the supervisor rules do not apply (s 1.3(5)).
• Limit participation times and provide breaks consistent with s 1.6: under-12s no more than three hours on any one day; 12+ no more than seven hours on any one day and not more than three hours without a 30‑minute break.

6. Reporting and register material (s 14; s 16)

• Ensure periodic reporting to the director‑general includes the four required figures and any additional information the director‑general may require (s 14(1)-(2)). Keep records that allow prompt production of these figures on request.
• Be aware that the director‑general may arrange for licence-register material to be published on an approved website and that the Territory must provide access without charge (s 16). Plan for public disclosure of licence particulars and reports when preparing submissions and internal communications.

7. Governance and training

• Assign responsibilities: designate a compliance officer or responsible person to monitor thresholds (s 6(c); s 15), manage audit engagement, approve licence-application expense disclosures and supervise child-participation compliance.
• Volunteer training: train collectors and supervisors about receipt obligations (s 11), the limits on soliciting (Schedule 1), and the requirement to avoid soliciting from people in motor vehicles or asking children to enter private dwellings (Schedule 1, s 1.3(4)(e)).
• Retain documentation: keep copies of licence applications, authorised receipts, consent forms, ledgers showing proceeds and expenses, and audited accounts where required. Although the regulation does not specify retention periods, these documents are necessary to respond to inquiries from the director‑general or in enforcement proceedings under the Criminal Code framework (s 5).

8. Legal review and cross‑jurisdictional considerations

• Check definitions in the Charitable Collections Act, Children and Young People Act and other cross-referenced Acts: the regulation signposts these definitions and some provisions (Dictionary note). For multi-jurisdictional collections, confirm State rules and whether separate State licences or registrations are needed despite s 15(3) allowing combined audited accounts.
• Update policies after legislative amendments: the amendment history shows periodic changes, including 2024 omissions of some definitional provisions (Amendment history). Review changes and any disapplied or removed technical definitions that were formerly in the regulation.

Following these steps will align operational practice with the regulation’s prescriptive requirements: issue authorised receipts, prepare and retain the required accounts and reports, get consents and manage supervisors for child participants, disclose non-standard expenses in licence applications, and be audit-ready when the $50,000 threshold is reached.