§ Mr. John Townendasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) when he intends to make further amendments to the Exempt Agreements Order under section 16 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974;
(2) when he intends to bring into force sections 123 to 125 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.
§ Mr. FletcherOn 26 March I made the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (Commencement No. 9) Order 1984/436 (C. 12) which is being published today. It appoints 19 May 1985 as the operational date for sections 123 to 125 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. This is the same date as that already appointed for all the other outstanding sections of the Act and for the regulations which were laid in November last.
Section 123 places certain restrictions on the taking and negotiating of negotiable instruments in relation to regulated consumer credit and hire agreements. The restrictions will not apply where the agreements are already exempt from regulation by the Act under the 1980 Exempt Agreements Order. That general exemption does not cover hire and leasing agreements nor are there powers to extend that exemption to such agreements. I believe the implementation of this section without an order exempting business leasing agreements with an overseas connection could hinder the leasing transactions of United Kingdom companies overseas and I therefore propose to exempt such agreements from regulations under section 123 460W provided they have connections with a country outside the United Kingdom. The necessary order was laid before Parliament today. It, too, has an operational date of 19 May 1985.
I have also laid a further order under section 16 of the Act amending the Consumer Credit (Exempt Agreements) order 1980. The main effect of this order is to exempt from the Consumer Credit Act agreements made between United States federal credit unions and members, or employees not habitually resident in the United Kingdom, of the United States Armed Forces based in the United Kingdom (or certain of their dependants). Such agreements comply with United States law. The order also amends the list of bodies in the schedule to the 1980 Order. These amendments will comze into operation on 24 April 1984.