Citation, commencement and interpretation

1. —(1) This Order may be cited as the Legal Services Act 2007 (Commencement No. 3 and Transitory Provisions) Order 2008.

(2) This Order comes into force on 1st January 2009.

(3) In this Order—

(a) “the 2007 Act” means the Legal Services Act 2007; and

(b) a reference to a section, Schedule or paragraph of a Schedule by number alone is a reference to that section, Schedule or paragraph in the 2007 Act.

Commencement of provisions

2. The following provisions of the 2007 Act come into force on 1st January 2009—

(a) in Part 2, sections 8 (The Consumer Panel) subject to article 3, 9 (Committees and the procedure of the Consumer Panel), 10 (Representations by the Consumer Panel) and 11 (Advice and research functions of the Consumer Panel);

(b) in Part 3—

(i) sections 20(5) (Approved regulators and relevant approved regulators), 24(3) (Extension of the reserved legal activities) and 26(2) (Recommendations that activities should cease to be reserved legal activities);

(ii) Schedule 4 (Approved regulators), paragraphs 3(1), (3) and (4), 4(2), 11(3), 13, 20 and 23(3); and

(iii) Schedule 6 (Alteration of reserved legal activities), paragraphs 12(1) to (3), 13 and 14;

(c) in Part 4—

(i) sections 27 (Regulatory and representative functions of approved regulators), 29 (Prohibition on the Board interfering with representative functions), 30 (Rules relating to the exercise of regulatory functions), 33 (Directions: procedure), 37(4) and (5) (Financial penalties), 41(4) and (5) (Intervention directions), 42(6) to (10) (Intervention directions: further provision), 44(2) (Revocation of intervention directions), 45(3)(b) and (c), (4) and (7) (Cancellation of designation as approved regulator), 48(6) to (9) (Cancellation of designation: powers of entry etc ), 49 (The Board’s policy statements), 50 (Policy statements: procedure) and 51(1), (3), (4) and (6) to (8) (Control of practising fees charged by approved regulators);

(ii) Schedule 7 (Directions: procedure), paragraphs 1, 2(5) and 10(3);

(iii) Schedule 8 (Intervention directions: procedure), paragraphs 1, 2(5), 10(5), 13(2)(a) and 21(5); and

(iv) Schedule 9 (Cancellation of designation as approved regulator), paragraphs 1, 2(5) and 9(5);

(d) in Part 5—

(i) sections 74 (Designation of approved regulator as licensing authority), 76(3)(b) and (c), (4) and (7) (Cancellation of designation as licensing authority by order), 79(6) to (10) (Cancellation of designation: powers of entry etc), 84(2) (Application for licence) in so far as it introduces Schedule 12, 87(4) and (5) (Registers of licensed bodies), 89 (Ownership of licensed bodies), 95(3) and (4) (Financial penalties) and 96(1) (Appeals against financial penalties);

(ii) Schedule 10 (Designation of approved regulators as licensing authorities), paragraphs 1(1), (4) and (5), 2(2), 9(3), 11, 17, 18(5) and 25(5);

(iii) Schedule 12 (Entitlement to make an application for a licence to the Board), paragraphs 2(4) and (5) and 4; and

(iv) Schedule 13 (Ownership of licensed bodies), paragraph 8 and, in so far as they relate to the exercise of powers by virtue of paragraph 8, paragraphs 17(4)(b) and (5), 18(1) and (3), 19(3)(b) and (4), 20(1) and (3), 25(2), 28(5)(b) and (6), 29(1) and (3), 31(4)(b) and (5), 32(1) and (3), 33(2)(b), (5)(b) and (6), 34(1) and (3), 36(2), (5)(b) and (6), 37(1) and (4), 43(3), 44(4)(b), 46(3), 49(4)(b) and (5) and 50(1) and (3);

(e) in Part 6—

(i) sections 112(2) and (4) (Complaints procedures of authorised persons), 115 to 124 (which are about the Office for Legal Complaints and the ombudsmen), 126(3) (Complaints excluded because respondent’s complaints procedures not used), 127 (Complaints excluded by scheme rules), 128(3)(b), (4)(d) and (5)(c) (Parties), 130 (Orders under section 128), 132 (Continuity of complaints), 133 (Operation of the ombudsman scheme), 136 (Charges payable by respondents), 137(4) (Determination of complaints), 140(6)(c) (Acceptance or rejection of determination), 141(5), (6) and (7) (Enforcement by complainant of directions under section 137), 144(1) and (3) to (7) (Duties to share information) subject to the modifications set out in article 3, 145(2) and (3) (Duties of authorised persons to co-operate with investigations), 155 (Consent requirements for rules), 156 (The Board’s powers in respect of rules) and 160 (Interpretation of Part 6); and

(ii) Schedule 15 (The Office for Legal Complaints), paragraphs 13 to 34;

(f) in Part 7, sections 162 (Guidance), 173(1) and (3) to (11) (The levy) subject to article 3, 174(1), (3), (4), (6) and (7) (The levy: supplementary provisions) subject to article 3 and 175(1)(c), (k), (m) and (n) (Amounts payable into the Consolidated Fund); and

(g) in Part 9, sections 200(2) to (4) (Notices and directions), 201 (Documents), 202 (The giving of notices, directions and other documents), 203 (The giving of notices, directions and other documents in electronic form), 204 (Orders, regulations and rules) to the extent that it is not already in force and 205 (Consultation requirements for rules).

Transitory provisions

3. —(1) Until section 13 comes into force, section 8 shall have effect as if—

(a) the references to “reserved legal activities” in subsection (4)(a) and “reserved legal activity” in subsection (5)(d) were read as if the definitions in section 12 and Schedule 2 were in force;

(b) a reference to “authorised persons” in subsection (4)(a) and “authorised person” in subsection (5)(d) were read as if the definitions in section 18 were in force; and

(c) for the words “approved regulator” in subsection (5)(c) there were substituted “designated regulator (as defined in paragraph 2(2) and (3) of Schedule 22)”.

(2) Until paragraph 1 of Schedule 4 comes into force, section 144 shall have effect as if—

(a) subsection (4) were read excluding the reference to subsection (2); and

(b) in subsection (7) for the words “approved regulator” there were substituted “designated regulator (as defined in paragraph 2(2) and (3) of Schedule 22)”.

(3) Until section 13 comes into force, sections 173 and 174 shall have effect as if for the words “approved regulator” in section 173(5)(a) there were substituted “designated regulator (as defined in paragraph 2(2) and (3) of Schedule 22)”.