Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) The Minister may, by notifiable instrument, authorise an external dispute resolution scheme if the Minister is satisfied that the mandatory requirements under section 1051 will be met.
(2) In considering whether to authorise an external dispute resolution scheme, the Minister:
(a) must take into account the general considerations for an external dispute resolution scheme under section 1051A; and
(b) may take into account any other matter the Minister considers relevant (whether or not those other matters are consistent with those general considerations).
(3) An authorisation of an external dispute resolution scheme must not come into force while an authorisation of another external dispute resolution scheme is in force.
(4) The Minister may, by notifiable instrument, vary or revoke an authorisation of an external dispute resolution scheme.
(5) In an instrument under subsection (1) or (4), the Minister:
(a) must specify the day the authorisation, variation or revocation comes into force; and
(b) may specify, vary or revoke conditions relating to the authorisation.
Note: Once the authorisation of an external dispute resolution scheme comes into force, the scheme is known as the AFCA scheme and the operator is known as AFCA (AFCA is short for Australian Financial Complaints Authority): see the definitions of AFCA and AFCA scheme in section 761A.