Rule 328 — Amendment of rules, etc., of fund.
The rule bars alteration of an approved fund's own governing terms without clearance. No alteration in the rules, constitution, objects or conditions of an approved fund shall be made without the prior approval of the approving authority.
Approval of a fund is given on the strength of the rules, constitution, objects and conditions placed before the approving authority, and the tax treatment that follows rests on those terms. If they could be altered afterwards, the approval would attach to a document that no longer describes the fund. The rule therefore requires the approving authority's consent before, not after, any such alteration, so that the fund the authority approved remains the fund that exists.
The requirement is for prior approval, so an alteration made first and reported afterwards does not satisfy the rule however uncontroversial it may be. The bar is wide in its subject matter — rules, constitution, objects and conditions are all covered, not merely the objects — and the rule draws no distinction between a major and a minor alteration. It states no time limit for the approving authority and no procedure; it states only that the alteration shall not be made without prior approval.
The trustees of an approved fund wish to change a provision in the fund's rules about the age at which benefits become payable. They must obtain the prior approval of the approving authority before making the change. Amending the fund's rules first and seeking ratification afterwards would not answer rule 328.
Trustees and employers meet this rule whenever a fund's trust deed or rules are to be amended, in the application for prior approval that must precede the amendment.
No alteration in the rules, constitution, objects or conditions of an approved fund shall be made without the prior approval of the approving authority.