Section 203: Powers to prohibit the carrying on of Consumer Credit Act business
408.Under the Act, EEA firms may, on the basis of their home State authorisation, be automatically authorised to carry on the types of activity covered by the passport under the various single market directives. Two of these directives include lending in their listed activities, which encompasses consumer credit business regulated in the United Kingdom under the CCA 1974. This means that EEA firms may carry on consumer credit business without having to apply to the DGFT for a consumer credit licence and they are therefore not subject to the DGFT’s powers under the CCA 1974.
409.This section, along with section 204, confers on the DGFT separate powers to restrict or prohibit the carrying on, or the purported carrying on, of consumer credit business in the United Kingdom under the relevant directives if the firm or any of its employees has done any of the things listed in section 25(2)(a) to (d) of the CCA 1974. That is, if they have:
committed any offence involving fraud, dishonesty or violence;
contravened any provision made by or under the CCA 1974, or by or under any other enactment regulating the provision of credit to individuals or other transactions with individuals;
practised discrimination on grounds of sex, colour, race or ethnic or national origins in, or in connection with, the carrying on of any business; or
engaged in business practices appearing to the DGFT to be deceitful or oppressive, or otherwise unfair or improper (whether unlawful or not).
410.Contravention of a restriction or prohibition is a criminal offence and contravention of a restriction is also grounds for imposing a prohibition. Schedule 16 sets out the procedure the DGFT must follow when imposing prohibitions or restrictions. This procedure follows that generally applicable in the CCA 1974 rather than in the other provisions of this Act.