Statutory Instruments
2002 No. 1675
CONTRACTS, ENGLAND AND WALES
CONTRACTS, NORTHERN IRELAND
The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Rate of Interest) (No. 3) Order 2002
Made
22nd June 2002
Laid before Parliament
28th June 2002
Coming into force
7th August 2002
The Secretary of State, having considered the extent to which it may be desirable to set the rate of statutory interest so as to protect suppliers whose financial position makes them particularly vulnerable if their qualifying debts are paid late and deter generally the late payment of qualifying debts, with the consent of the Treasury, in exercise of the power conferred on her by section 6 of the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998( 1 ), and of all other powers enabling her in that behalf, hereby makes the following Order:—
Citation, commencement and extent
1. —(1) This Order may be cited as the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Rate of Interest) (No. 3) Order 2002 and shall come into force on 7th August 2002.
(2) This Order extends to England and Wales and Northern Ireland( 2 ).
Revocation
2.The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Rate of Interest) (No. 2) Order 1998( 3 ) is hereby revoked.
Interpretation
3. In this Order, “the official dealing rate” means the rate announced from time to time by the Monetary Policy Committee( 4 ) of the Bank of England (“the Bank”) and for the time being in force as the official dealing rate, being the rate at which the Bank is willing to enter into transactions for providing short term liquidity in the money markets.
Rate of statutory interest
4. The rate of interest for the purposes of the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 shall be 8 per cent per annum over the official dealing rate in force on the 30th June (in respect of interest which starts to run between 1st July and 31st December) or the 31st December (in respect of interest which starts to run between 1st January and 30th June) immediately before the day on which statutory interest starts to run.
Nigel Griffiths
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Small Business
Department of Trade and Industry
22nd June 2002
We consent to the making of this Order
Anne McGuire
Tony McNulty
Two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury
14th May 2002
The functions of the Secretary of State under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, insofar as they relate to Scotland, have been transferred to Scottish Ministers by virtue of section 53 of the Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46) .
S.I. 1998/2765 .
The Monetary Policy Committee was constituted on a statutory basis by section 13 of the Bank of England Act 1998 (c. 11) .