United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020

17 Services: overview

(1) This Part governs the regulation of service providers in the United Kingdom.

(2) It makes provision that limits the application and effect of authorisation requirements and regulatory requirements.

(3) An authorisation requirement is a legislative requirement that a service provider must have the permission of a regulator before carrying on a business of providing particular services.

(4) A regulatory requirement is a legislative requirement that would if not satisfied (whether at a particular point or on a continuing basis) prevent a service provider from carrying on a business of providing particular services.

(5) The following are neither authorisation requirements nor regulatory requirements for the purposes of this Part—

(a) relevant requirements as defined for the purposes of the mutual recognition principle for goods (see section 3);

(b) provision of the sort described in section 24(1) or 28(1) (professional qualifications and regulation) to the extent it has the effect described there;

(c) a requirement that—

(i) is in force, or otherwise has effect, on the day before the day on which this section comes into force and has not been substantively changed after that day, or

(ii) comes into force, or otherwise takes effect, on or after the day on which this section comes into force if it re-enacts or replicates (without substantive change) a legislative requirement in force or having effect immediately before that day;

(d) a requirement that applies to a service provider, but which also applies to persons who do not provide services (for example, a requirement imposing duties on employers);

(e) a requirement to notify, or register with, a regulator;

(f) a requirement to provide evidence of being authorised to provide services in a part of the United Kingdom other than the part in which the requirement applies.

(6) Subsection (5)(c) does not exclude (and, accordingly, references to authorisation requirements do include) an authorisation requirement that applies in a part of the United Kingdom if, after the relevant day, a corresponding authorisation requirement in another part of the United Kingdom is substantively changed.

(7) For the purposes of subsection (6)—

(a) an authorisation requirement corresponds to another authorisation requirement if it relates to the same, or substantially the same, services;

(b) the “relevant day” is the day before the day on which this section comes into force.

(8) For the purposes of this section, an authorisation requirement is substantively changed if a legislative requirement that would, if not satisfied, prevent a service provider from satisfying the authorisation requirement is substantively changed.

(9) In this Part—

• “service provider” means a person—

  (a)

  that provides, or intends to provide, services in the course of the person’s business, and

  (b)

  that has a permanent establishment in the United Kingdom through which that business is wholly or partly carried on;

• “permanent establishment”—

  (a)

  in relation to a company, is to be read in accordance with Chapter 2 of Part 24 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010, and

  (b)

  in relation to any other person, is to be read in accordance with that Chapter but as if references in that Chapter to a company were references to that person.