15ARequests for repayment of farm management bonds

15A Requests for repayment of farm management bonds

(1) The depositor in respect of a deposit that is wholly or partly a farm management bond may, in accordance with this section, request the authorised person to declare so much of the farm management bond as is specified in the request to be repayable. (2) The depositor may, at any time, make the request on the ground that: (a) if the depositor is a trustee who made the deposit on behalf of a beneficiary—the beneficiary; or (b) in any other case—the depositor; is experiencing serious financial difficulties because of a significant fall in commodity prices, or because of drought, disease, fire, flood or similar natural events, affecting the business of primary production concerned. (3) If a request under subsection (2) is made on the ground of serious financial difficulties caused by a substantial fall in commodity prices affecting a business of primary production: (a) the authorised person must not accept the request unless it is accompanied by evidence of the prices received by the business for sales of commodities comprising the major part of the beneficiary’s or depositor’s income for: (i) the year (the application year) ending at the time the request is made; and (ii) each of the 3 years before the application year; together with any other evidence of the ground required by the authorised person; and (b) unless the authorised person considers that there are special circumstances relating to the beneficiary or depositor or the commodities concerned, in order for the authorised person to be satisfied of the ground, the average of the prices received for the sales for the application year must be at least 25% below the average for the total period of 3 years before that year. (4) Subsection (3) is not intended to affect the evidence, information or (except as mentioned in paragraph (3)(b)), considerations to be taken into account by the authorised person in deciding whether the ground is made out. (5) The depositor may, within 12 months after the date on which the deposit was made, make the request on the ground that: (a) if the depositor is a trustee who made the deposit on behalf of a beneficiary—the beneficiary; or (b) in any other case—the depositor; is experiencing serious financial difficulties that did not result from: (c) the matters set out in subsection (2); or (d) circumstances that were in existence when the deposit was made. (6) To be effective in a subsection (5) case, the request must be accompanied by evidence, of a kind required by the authorised person, of the ground on which it is made. (7) If the depositor makes the request under subsection (2) or (5) and the authorised person is satisfied that the ground in the request is made out, he or she must, in writing, declare that the deposit, to the extent that it consists of the part of the farm management bond specified, is repayable. Once the declaration is made, the deposit, to that extent, becomes repayable. (8) The depositor may, at any time after 12 months have passed since the date on which the deposit was made, make the request without specifying any ground. If so, the deposit, to the extent that it consists of the part of the farm management bond specified, is repayable on the day on which the request is made. (9) If the deposit or part of the deposit becomes repayable in a case where subsection (5) or (8) applies: (a) the deposit or part is taken for the purposes of this Act never to have been a farm management bond; and (b) any interest that, because of paragraph (a), should not have been paid to a person is, for the purposes of section 27B, an amount that exceeds the amount properly payable; and (c) any amount that, because of paragraph (a), should not have been paid into the Income Equalization Deposits Reserve and added to the balance of a deposit is taken for the purposes of this Act not to have been so paid and added.