(112)  Reform of the law of charities

The Scottish Charity Law Review Commission, set up by the Scottish Ministers in 2000, published its Report, Charity Scotland, in May 2001.  Amongst the 114 recommendations made in the report are the following: (1) creation of a new body, to be called CharityScotland, with powers in relation to Scottish charities, in particular to determine eligibility as a charity; (2) adoption of a new legal form for charities, the Charitable Incorporated Organisation, following the recommendations of the DTI Company Law Steering Group; (3) creation of a Scottish Charity Register;  (4) obligations to provide annual returns, variable in weight according to the size of the charity; (5) public trusts as such to be considered apart from charities, while the concept of an educational endowment” should be abolished; (5) extension of charitable trustees’ powers of investment by a Trustees (Scotland) Bill.  The text of the Report is available at http://www.charityreview.com.”