Disqualification
You will automatically be disqualified from holding a secondhand dealers licence or certificate if:
- you are under 18 years old
- your certificate has been suspended
- in the last five years:
- your certificate or licence was cancelled
- your application for renewal of a certificate or licence was refused
- A company licence was cancelled while you were a person concerned with the company's management.
- in the last five years you were convicted of:
- a specified offence
- an offence under the Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Act 2004
- an offence under the Pawnbrokers Act 1908 or Secondhand Dealers Act 1963
- in the last five years, you were imprisoned.
A company is disqualified if it has:
- been convicted in the last five years of a specified offence
- had its licence cancelled in the last five years.
Waiving your disqualification
The Licensing Authority of Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers can waive your disqualification if, on the basis of written material you supply, there are special reasons why you should not be disqualified.
Apply for a waiver of disqualification using a form from the website of the Licensing Authority of Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers [Ministry of Justice website].
You can only seek a waiver when:
- you apply for a licence or certificate
- you apply for renewal of a licence or certificate
- your licence has been cancelled or your certificate has been suspended or cancelled.
You cannot be granted a waiver if, within the last five years, you were convicted of a specified offence. This means an offence under the Fair Trading Act 1986 or an offence under sections 217-265 of the Crimes Act 1961.
Sections 217-265 relate to 'crimes against rights of property' and includes these: theft, unlawful taking, dishonestly taking or using documents, burglary, robbery, assault with intent to rob, blackmail, demanding with intent to steal, obtaining by deception, money laundering, receiving, crimes involving computers, forgery, altering, concealing, destroying or reproducing documents with intent to deceive, using altered or reproduced documents with intent to deceive and false accounting.
If you are granted a waiver it will expire when your licence or certificate expires. Alternatively, your waiver can be cancelled if the Licensing Authority is satisfied that it should no longer apply. If the Licensing Authority chooses to cancel your waiver you will receive a written notice containing the reasons for the Licensing Authority's decision.