New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 17 - TREASURY - GENERAL › Chapter 46 - DEVELOPMENT OF MINORITY AND WOMEN'S BUSINESSES › Subchapter 1 - CERTIFICATION › Section 17:46-1.3 - Standards of certification for minority businesses and women's businesses

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) A business may be eligible to be
				certified as a minority business, a women's business, or both.
(b) In order to be eligible as a minority
				business, a business must be a sole proprietorship, partnership, joint venture,
				corporation, or other business entity authorized under the laws of the United
				States, which is at least 51 percent owned, operated, and controlled by persons
				who are Black, Hispanic, Asian American, American Indian, or Alaskan
				native.
(c) In order to be eligible
				as a women's business, a business must be a sole proprietorship, partnership,
				joint venture, corporation, or other business entity authorized under the laws
				of the United States, which is at least 51 percent owned, operated, and
				controlled by persons who are women, without regard to race.
(d) In order to be eligible to be certified
				under the Act, a minority or women's business must be independently owned,
				operated, and controlled and can demonstrate the ability to be considered a
				"going concern," as in the business has sufficient resources needed to continue
				operating indefinitely by normal industry standards. A business shall meet the
				following standards to be certified as a minority business or women's business:
1. Ownership: A business shall be deemed to
				be independently owned, operated, and controlled, if its management, as
				specified in its certification application, is responsible for both its daily
				and long-term operation, and that management owns at least 51 percent interest
				in the business. The ownership and control by minorities or women shall be
				real, substantial, and continuing, demonstrating authority over the affairs of
				the business, and shall go beyond the pro forma ownership of the business as
				reflected in its ownership documents;
2. Business Entity: Recognition of the
				business as a separate entity for tax or corporate purposes is not necessarily
				sufficient for recognition as a minority business or women's business. In
				determining whether a potential minority business or women's business is an
				independent business, all relevant factors shall be considered, including the
				date the business was established and the degree to which financial, equipment
				leasing, and other relationships with non-minority and non-women businesses
				vary from industry practice; and
3.
				Licensing: When a professional or occupational license or certification is
				required by Federal or State law to perform the primary business operations of
				the applicant business, and the woman owner in the case of a women's business
				or the minority owner in the case of a minority business does not possess the
				applicable license or certification, the woman or minority owner shall
				demonstrate competence in the affairs of the business in order to satisfy the
				requirement for managerial and operational control.