Legal Issues/Legal Status of Minors on a Committee

Issue

The current issue is the legal status of minors (persons under 18) on an Incorporated Societies' committee. The reason why this is important is that it is important to protect the interests of the society, by been compliant with New Zealand law.

This is due to the Companies Act stating that Directors of a company must be over 18, so it is possible/likely that there is a similar provision the the Incorporated Societies Act (1908)

Action

Nigel has sent of a request to the Societies Registar to clarify the issue, and a resolution should be posted here within a weeks time. (Date: 14 May 2006)

Resolution

The Ministry of Economic Development has advised that:

We advise that any person under the age of 18 cannot be a member, therefore that would mean that they cannot hold a position of an officer of a society either.

This means that the constitution needs to be altered to reflect this, as Wikimedia New Zealand is not legally formed, there is no committee to ratify the resolution of this issue.

Reflecting Articles

• Draft Constitution may need changing if the resolution is in favour of not allowing minors to the board.