The Non-Domestic Rates (Telecommunications New Fibre Infrastructure Relief) (Scotland) Regulations 2019
The Scottish Ministers make the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by section 153 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 M1 and all other powers enabling them to do so.
Citation and commencement1.
These Regulations may be cited as the Non-Domestic Rates (Telecommunications New Fibre Infrastructure Relief) (Scotland) Regulations 2019 and come into force on 1 April 2019.
Interpretation2.
In these Regulations—
“the 1975 Act” means the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975 M2,
“lands and heritages” has the meaning prescribed by and under section 42 of the Lands Valuation (Scotland) Act 1854 M3,
“rates” means non-domestic rates levied under section 7B of the 1975 Act M4,
“telecommunications new fibre infrastructure” has the same meaning as in the Non-Domestic Rating (Telecommunications New Fibre Infrastructure) (Scotland) Order 2019 M5, and
“valuation roll” means the roll made up under section 1 of the 1975 Act M6.
Amount payable as rates – lands and heritages comprising telecommunications new fibre infrastructure3.
(1)
This regulation grants relief to a person who is liable to pay rates in respect of lands and heritages comprising telecommunications new fibre infrastructure.
(2)
The relief is a reduction in the amount of rates payable by 100%.
(3)
Relief is available for any day in the period beginning on 1 April 2019 and ending on 31 March F12034.
(4)
For the avoidance of doubt, relief is not available for any day prior to that on which an entry is made in the valuation roll under section 2(1)(b) of the 1975 Act in respect of the telecommunications new fibre infrastructure.
F2(5)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Application for relief4.
(1)
An application for relief under these Regulations must—
(a)
be signed by the ratepayer or a person authorised to sign on behalf of the ratepayer, and
(b)
be made to the rating authority in whose valuation roll the entry for the lands and heritages appears by—
(i)
addressing it to that authority, and
(ii)
delivering it or sending it to that authority's office by post or electronic communication.
(2)
For the purposes of paragraph (1)—
“electronic communication” has the meaning given to it by section 15(1) of the Electronic Communications Act 2000 (“the 2000 Act”) M7,
“person authorised to sign on behalf of the ratepayer” means, where the ratepayer is—
(a)
a partnership, a partner of that partnership or any other person authorised by it,
(b)
a trust, a trustee of that trust or any other person authorised by it,
(c)
a body corporate, a director of that body or any other person authorised by it, and
“sign” or “signed”, in relation to an application made by electronic communication, means an electronic signature, as defined in section 7(2) of the 2000 Act M8.
St Andrew's House,
Edinburgh
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations provide 100% relief from business rates to any provider of new fibre infrastructure for telecommunication. The relief is available for a 10 year period until 31 March 2029.
An application must be made to obtain the relief and regulation 4 sets out how applications are to be made.