The Stakeholder Pension Schemes (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations amend regulation 12 of the Stakeholder Pension Schemes Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000 (“the principal Regulations”) which provides for an annual declaration as to the arrangements made by the trustees or manager of a stakeholder pension scheme for ensuring the proper administration of the scheme and for the trustees or manager to obtain statements from the scheme’s reporting accountant as to the reasonableness of the annual declaration.

Regulation 2(3)(a) provides that the trustees or manager of a scheme must make an annual declaration within 3 months of each reporting date. Regulation 2(3)(b) sets out how the reporting date is to be ascertained. Regulation 2(3)(b) also extends to 31st December 2002 the time limit for the trustees or manager of a scheme to make their annual declaration, where the declaration relates to a reporting date on or before 30th September 2002. Regulation 2(3)(d) extends to 31st December 2002 the time limit for the trustees or manager of a scheme to obtain the required statements from the reporting accountants, where these would otherwise have had to be obtained prior to this date.

Regulation 2(2) makes a minor technical amendment to correct a numbering error in regulation 1 of the principal Regulations.