The Agents Act 2003 and Agents Regulation 2003 determine eligibility for a travel agent. You can find the Act and the Regulation on the following website: www.legislation.act.gov.au

Section 24 of the Agents Act 2003 deals with eligibility:

• At least one director of the company MUST BE ELIGIBLE TO HOLD A TRAVEL AGENT LICENCE
• No director of the company is disqualified from obtaining a licence
• The travel agents board of trustees has decided that the company is eligible under the travel agents trust deed to be a compensation scheme participant
• The corporation has paid the amount payable under the travel agents trust deed as an initial contribution.

To satisfy the requirements of section 24, one director of the company must be eligible for a travel agent licence prior to the company lodging its application for a travel agent licence. the director's must lodge a completed application for a personal licence - the Commission will assess this to determine if the director is eligible. A licence is not isssued and no fee is payable for the director.

Section 27 of the Agents Act 2003 lists those matters that will disqualify a person from being licensed - please refer to the section for full details. This includes bankruptcy and any conviction for an offence involving dishonesty. The statutory declaration for a licence form (Form 09 AG) required to be completed by each director of the company will address each of these issues. For the purposes of the statutory declaration, "relevant offence" means an offence involving dishonesty, in the ACT or elsewhere.

There are a number of forms you must complete and lodge with the Office of Regulatory Services, Business and Industry Licensing Unit:

• Application form front page - Form 01 TAC
• Organisation particulars – Form 05 TA
• Personal particulars form Form 06 AG (these also require 2 forms of personal identification - see Infotext G 01)
• Statutory declaration for an agent licence or salesperson registration - Form 09 AG
• National Police Checks from the Australian Federal Police (including for the company)
• Additional particulars (about qualifications, licensed employer and advertisement in newspaper) - Form 21
• Premises particulars - Form 24 AG (one for each premises you will operate under this licence in the ACT)

Downloads

Travel Agent Licence (Company) Application Package- includes all of the above forms plus instructions

Each director of the corporation must obtain and lodge a National Police Check from the Australian Federal Police.  You must also obtain and lodge a National Police Check for the company.

We will NOT license you until we have received the police records check and have determined that the company is eligible for the relevant licence.

If any director has any convictions or finding of guilt in a court, whether Magistrates, Children’s or other courts, recorded against them, whether in the ACT or any other state, territory or country, they must declare this on their police consent form. The rule of "spent convictions" applies. Details of convictions or findings of guilt that have become "spent" will not be provided to us by the Australian Federal Police.

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The company must publish a notice of its intention to apply for a licence (specifying the licence category or categories), in a daily ACT newspaper, before applying for a licence (see suggested wording for this on the rear of Form 21). You must lodge your application within 10 business days after the notice is published and include a copy of the page on which your notice of intention is published.

The principles of "mutual recognition" of an interstate licence do not apply to a company licence application.

A licence will be in the form of an A4 paper licence certificate, showing the company's name, place of business and expiry date.

We will advise you about licence fees and teh method of payment. We will contact you when the period for objections to be lodged has passed and the Commissioner for Fair Trading has determined the company's eligibility to be licensed. Licences expire annually on 30 June.