Appointment of assessors
23.—(1)  If the Registrar has accepted an application mentioned in section 39N(1) of the Act, the Registrar must send to the parties, whose particulars are indicated in that application, the following:
(a)a notice of acceptance;
(b)a notice of appointment of one or more assessors;
(c)a notice of the date and place for the hearing, if applicable.
(2)  If an assessor has a direct or an indirect interest (whether pecuniary or otherwise) in an application that the assessor is appointed to determine, that results in a conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest, the assessor must —
(a)disclose the nature of the interest to the Registrar;
(b)abstain from hearing or making any determination in relation to the application; and
(c)if the Registrar so directs, withdraw from all proceedings relating to the application.
(3)  Without limiting paragraph (2), an assessor has an interest in an application that results in a conflict of interest if the assessor is related to any party to the affected agreement in question in the following manner:
(a)the assessor is, at any time within the 3 years immediately preceding the date on which the application is submitted to the Registrar —
(i)an employee or a partner of the party;
(ii)a director or substantial shareholder of the party, where the party is a company or foreign company;
(iii)an employee, a director, a substantial shareholder or a partner of any corporation, partnership or limited liability partnership that owns or is owned by the party;
(iv)the sole proprietor of the party, where the party is a sole proprietorship; or
(v)a spouse, step-parent, stepchild, stepbrother or stepsister of the party;
(b)the assessor is a child, parent or sibling of the party;
(c)the assessor, or an affiliate of the assessor, has assisted the party to prepare any document for, or has provided any advice or service to, the party in relation to the affected agreement or the commercial development or housing development to which the affected agreement relates.
(4)  In this regulation —
“affiliate”, in relation to an assessor, means —
(a)an employee or employer of the assessor;
(b)an individual who is employed by the assessor’s employer and who supervises or is supervised by the assessor;
(c)a director of a company or foreign company in which the assessor is also a director;
(d)a partner of a partnership or limited liability partnership in which the assessor is also a partner;
(e)a child or stepchild of the assessor;
(f)a parent or step‑parent of the assessor; or
(g)a spouse of the assessor;
“child” includes an adopted child;
“company”, “corporation” and “foreign company” have the meanings given by section 4(1) of the Companies Act;
“limited liability partnership” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Limited Liability Partnerships Act (Cap. 163A);
“parent” includes an adoptive parent;
“partnership” means —
(a)a partnership within the meaning given by section 1 of the Partnership Act (Cap. 391); or
(b)a limited partnership registered under the Limited Partnerships Act (Cap. 163B);
“sibling” means a brother or sister, and includes an adopted brother or sister;
“substantial shareholder”, in relation to a company or a foreign company with a share capital, has the meaning given by section 81 of the Companies Act.