EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1985 NO. 210
ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR DEFENCE
ARMY AND AIR FORCE CANTEEN SERVICE REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
The Army and Air Force Canteen Service Regulations (“the Regulations”) provide for the establishment and operation of canteens for the Army and Air Force and, in particular, for the distribution of profits and other surplus funds by the Army and Air Force Canteen Service Board of Management (“the Board”). It is an important part of the policy for the Canteen Service that its profits and surplus funds should be applied for the benefit of personnel at the units and bases where it trades.
This Statutory Rule amends the Regulations by revising the procedure for distributing Canteen Service profits and other surplus funds. The amendments:
a. change the period over which profits are calculated from a “financial year” to a “trading period”, in line with established accounting practice;
b. require the Board to distribute, in accordance with principles approved by the Minister for Defence, profits and other surplus funds at least once in each financial year; and
c. enable the Board to adopt different formulas for the distribution of profits and of surplus funds (taking account, in the latter case, of gross sales as well as trading profits), in order to ensure an equitable distribution.
The Statutory Rule:
a. omits from sub-regulation 24(1) “financial year” wherever occurring and substitutes “trading period”;
b. omits from paragraph 24(2)(d) “21(3)” and substitutes “21(2)””, a drafting amendment to rectify an incorrect reference;
c. substitutes in sub-regulation 24(2) “, at least once in each financial year,” for “from time to time”;
d. omits paragraph 24(3)(b) and substitutes new paragraphs 24(3)(b) and 24(3)(c). New paragraph 24(3)(b) provides that Canteen Service profits distributed to a unit or base will continue to be related to the trading profits of canteens at that unit or base. Paragraph 24(3)(c) provides that other surplus funds which the Canteen Service distributes to a unit or base are to be related to either the trading profit or the gross sales of canteens at that unit or base; and
e. inserts sub-regulation 24(4) which defines a “trading period” as being such period as is determined by the Board having regard to the principles approved by the Minister for Defence.
The amendments have effect from the date of the gazettal of the Statutory Rule.