TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS

HC Deb 31 October 1986 vol 103 cc629-30

Lords amendment: No. 551, in page 208, line 36, at end insert—— 7A.—(1) Subsection (7) of section 80 of this Act shall not apply to a scheme which is in existence on the date on which this Act is passed if—

1. (a) the units under the scheme are included in the Official List of The Stock Exchange and have been so included throughout the period of five years ending on the date on which this paragraph comes into force;
2. (b) the law of the country or territory in which the scheme is established precludes the participants being entitled or the operator being required as mentioned in that subsection; and
3. (c) throughout the period of five years ending on the date on which the application is made under that section, units under the scheme have in fact been regularly redeemed as mentioned in that subsection or the operator has in fact regularly ensured that participants were able to sell their units as there mentioned.

(2) The grounds for revoking an order made under section 80 of this Act by virtue of this paragraph shall include the ground that it appears to the Secretary of State that since the making of the order units under the scheme have ceased to be regularly redeemed or the operator has ceased regularly to ensure their sale as mentioned in sub-paragraph (1)(c) above.".

Read a Second time.

Mr. Deputy Speaker

With this, it will be convenient to discuss Lords amendment No. 552.

Mr. Tim Smith

I seek some clarification of amendment No. 552, which relates to delegation orders, and is part of the transitional provisions. As we are now dealing with the schedule on transitional provisions, can my hon. and learned Friend say when he thinks that the provisions will come into force, and give the timetable for implementing the Bill?

Mr. Howard

I am happy to respond to the second of my hon. Friend's points. When I have dealt with it, I may well be in a position to deal with his first point. However, the answer to the second point is that the hope and expectation is that the putative designated agency, the SIB, will be in a position to make its application for designation within a relatively short time, and that that application will be duly considered by the Secretary of State. It is hoped that he will be in a position to designate the agency in the early part of next year.

The agency will then have the task of considering applications for recognition by the SROs, which will have been drawing up their rules to provide equivalence with the investor protection given by the rules of the agency. It is a little difficult to judge the precise moment when recognition will be granted, but I very much hope that the final stages of putting the structure contemplated by this legislation into place will be completed in the latter part of next year, so that businesses will be applying for authorisation and will obtain it in that time scale.

Amendment No. 552 enables functions to be transferred before they come into force, so that, for example, it would be possible for the SIB to be made responsible for granting direct authorisations before the requirement to be authorised came into force, thus anticipating that last stage in the structure.

Question put and agreed to.

Lords amendments Nos. 552 and 553 agreed to.