Secondhand Dealers & Pawnbrokers Licensing Authority

Fact Sheet No.1

Applying for a Licence or Certificate under the Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Act 2004 -

Things you need to know.

1. Applying Under the New Act

Obtain Form 2 from the Licensing Authority if you are an individual applying for a licence or Form 1 for a company. Form 3 is the one you want if you are applying for a certificate. These are the forms you must use if you are applying for a licence or certificate respectively pursuant to section 8 or 21 of the Act and are satisfied that you need to apply for and be granted a licence to operate as a secondhand dealer and/or pawnbroker or a certificate to work for a licence holder. Contact the staff at the Licensing Authority if you are at all unsure, get your own legal advice or read the Act itself.

As a reminder, you are ineligible to hold a licence or certificate if you:

Are under 18 years of age

have been convicted of a specified offence within the past 5 years

- have been convicted within the past 5 years of an offence under this Act

- have been convicted of any offence under the Pawnbrokers Act 1908 or Secondhand Dealers Act 1963 within the past 5 years

- have been subject to a term of imprisonment, at any time within the past 5 years

- have had a certificate or licence cancelled, or had renewal of a certificate or licence refused, within the past 5 years

- hold a certificate that is suspended

- are, or was at the relevant time, a person concerned in the management of a company that has had a licence cancelled within the past 5 years.

2. Form of Application

Every application must be in the form approved by the Licensing Authority - Form 1, 2 or 3 and be supported by a statutory declaration (which is incorporated into these forms now) and the prescribed filing fee.

In this case it will be either:

• $350 for an individual applying for a licence

• $350 for a company applying for a licence (with one director)

• $350 for a company with one director and an additional $150 for every additional director

• $150 for a certificate (for anyone who is involved in transactions on behalf of a licensed dealer or supervising, managing or controlling staff that do).

Payment should be by way of personal or bank cheque.

3. Photo Identification

2 recent photographs of the applicant, authenticated in the prescribed manner must accompany any application by an individual (for either a licence or certificate). The photographs must be of a specific size, so that they can be produced on a "credit-card" sized certificate or licence. If you have ever applied for a passport, you would have gone through a similar process with the photos for this. Indeed the photos must be of a standard passport class. They therefore must be:

• Identical, recent photographs of you;

• A full-front view of your face, head and shoulders only;

• Be taken without hats, head coverings, or head bands; and

• Be 40mm wide and 50mm high

Not just anyone can authenticate your photographs. The following is a list of those people who can:-

- a Barrister or solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand

- a Registrar or Deputy Registrar of a District Court

- a Justice of the Peace

- a member of the Police

- a registered medical professional

- a person authorised by law to take statutory declarations in New Zealand

but they cannot be:

- a relative or part of the family group of the applicant

- a spouse, de-facto partner or civil union partner of the applicant

- a person who lives at the same address as the applicant

- the employer of the applicant

- a business partner of the applicant

What do they need to do, to authenticate the photographs?

They must do two things:

• Write on the application form itself: "These photographs are a true likeness of the applicant" (full name) and sign and date this statement. There is provision for this on the form.

• Write on the back of one of the photos, "Certified true likeness of the applicant" (full name) and sign and date it that certificate in their own handwriting.

4. Operating in Partnership?

If you operate in partnership with someone else, you must provide information about the other partner(s), to enable the Licensing Authority to assure itself that they too are eligible to be licensed or certified, even if they are not actively seeking this status at present.

Similarly, the same requirement applies to companies, where all the managers of that business must also be checked for suitability, by law. A manager in a business is considered to be a director or a Chief Executive (or someone holding a similar position).

The application forms set out the mandatory (compulsory) information that must be provided.

If you are in partnership with another person, each of you must hold your own licence, unless you are operating as a sole trader.

5. Not Eligible to Hold a Licence or Certificate?

If you know that you are ineligible but believe there are good reasons for the Licensing Authority to waive or disregard this, you can apply for what is called a "waiver of disqualification". Ask for Form 4 (or download it from the website).

You can only apply for this, when applying for a licence or certificate, on renewal or when the Police have applied successfully to suspend or cancel your existing licence or certificate. It does not itself attract a fee.

You have to set out the reasons you would like the Licensing Authority to take into account. This must be in writing and preferably in the form of what is called a sworn affidavit. This is a statement that you swear to its accuracy before someone authorised to receive declarations and take oaths - a lawyer, Court Registrar, Justice of the Peace and the like.

6. Reminders

Remember to fully complete all the fields in the application form you are using.

At the end of the form you will be reminded to do this and of some of the more critical requirements including enclosing the fee and dating and signing your form.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the staff at the Licensing Authority, by phone, fax or email:

Phone Number: (04) 462 6660

Fax Number: (04) 462 6686

Email:shdlicensing@justice.govt.nz

NOTE:

The purpose of this fact sheet is to explain in general terms what the relevant provisions of the Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Act 2004 are, in relation to the licensing process. It is not intended to be a detailed legal analysis. If you require more specific information, you should read the Act itself or seek legal advice.