Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Act 2010

2 Qualifying debts: further definitions

(1) The expressions used in section 1(3) have the meaning given below.

(2) “Debt” includes—

(a) a liability that falls to be discharged otherwise than by the making of a payment,

(b) an obligation to repurchase property that arises under an agreement for the sale and repurchase of property (whether or not the same property), and

(c) a liability of the lessee under a finance lease (except a liability so far as relating to the operation or maintenance of property subject to the lease).

(3) “Debt” does not include—

(a) a liability to pay for goods or services that arose on the delivery of the goods or the provision of services,

(b) a liability that falls to be discharged in less than a year from the time it was incurred (“a short-term debt”) unless the short-term debt is within subsection (4), or

(c) a liability incurred after commencement that replaces anything that was (at the time of the replacement) within paragraph (a) or (b).

(4) A short-term debt is within this subsection if it ought to have been discharged—

(a) more than a year before commencement, and

(b) (where decision point has been reached in respect of the country concerned) more than a year before decision point.

(5) A debt is a “public” debt of a country if it was incurred by—

(a) the country or any part of it (or the government of the country or any part of the country or any department of any such government),

(b) the central bank or other monetary authority of the country, or

(c) a body corporate controlled (directly or indirectly) by anything within paragraph (a) or (b).

(6) In subsection (5)(a) references to part of a country include any municipality or other local government area in the country.

(7) A debt is a “publicly guaranteed” debt of a country if—

(a) it is guaranteed,

(b) the guarantee was entered into—

(i) before commencement, and

(ii) where decision point has been reached in respect of the country, before that point was reached, and

(c) the debt would be a public debt of the country if it had been incurred by the guarantor.

(8) If the conditions in subsection (7)(a) to (c) are met as regards part of a debt, that part is regarded as a publicly guaranteed debt of the country concerned.

(9) A public or publicly guaranteed debt of a country is “external” unless the creditor was resident in the country—

(a) if decision point was reached in respect of the country before commencement, at the time that point was reached, or

(b) otherwise, at commencement.

(10) If in any proceedings there is an issue as to whether a debt is a qualifying debt, treat the debt as external unless it is proved in those proceedings that it is not external.