The Consumer Credit Licensing (Appeals) Regulations 1998

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations prescribe the period within which and the manner in which appeals may be made under section 41 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. This section provides for the making of appeals to the Secretary of State from certain determinations of the Director General of Fair Trading in relation to the licensing of consumer credit, consumer hire and ancillary credit business. The Regulations also make provision as to the persons by whom such appeals may be heard, the manner in which they are to be conducted and other matters connected with such appeals. They repeal the Consumer Credit Licensing (Appeals) Regulations 1976 (S.I. 1976/837) under which appeals under the 1974 Act have hitherto been conducted, subject to transitional provisions for appeals made before these Regulations come into force.

Although these Regulations are made under the 1974 Act, they are modelled on model appeals procedure rules prescribed by the Deregulation (Model Appeals Provisions) Order 1996 (S.I. 1996/1678) made under the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994. The principal differences between these Regulations and the model rules result from the fact that, whereas the model provides for a tribunal that can itself determine appeals, the 1974 Act, in section 41, confers the power to determine appeals only on the Secretary of State.

Among the most significant divergences in procedure between the procedure for which the 1976 Regulations provided and that for which these Regulations provide are those relating to publicity—e.g. the publication of the hearing date (regulation 15), for the hearing to be held in public (regulation 16) and for the Secretary of State to make such arrangements as she considers appropriate for giving publicity to her decision (regulation 23)—and the elimination of provision for appeals to be determined by written representations, rather than after an oral hearing. One similarity is the provision these Regulations make (regulation 24(4)) for one, or for more than one, person to hear appeals on the Secretary of State’s behalf.

A Regulatory Appraisal of the costs and benefits that will result from these Regulations will be available in the Libraries of the Houses of Parliament when the Regulations, having been made, are laid before Parliament and from the Consumer Credit Appeals Secretariat, the Department of Trade and Industry, Room 235, 10 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0NN.