Part I Prescription

General

14 Computation of prescriptive periods.

(1)

In the computation of a prescriptive period for the purposes of any provision of this Part of this Act—

(a)

time occurring before the commencement of this Part of this Act shall be reckonable towards the prescriptive period in like manner as time occurring thereafter, but subject to the restriction that any time reckoned under this paragraph shall be less than the prescriptive period;

(b)

any time during which any person against whom the provision is pled was under legal disability shall (except so far as otherwise provided by F1subsection (4) of section 6 of this Act including that subsection as applied by section 8A of this Act of this Act) be reckoned as if the person were free from that disability;

(c)

if the commencement of the prescriptive period would, apart from this paragraph, fall at a time in any day other than the beginning of the day, the period shall be deemed to have commenced at the beginning of the next following day;

(d)

if the last day of the prescriptive period would, apart from this paragraph, be a holiday, the period shall, notwithstanding anything in the said provision, be extended to include any immediately succeeding day which is a holiday, any further immediately succeeding days which are holidays, and the next succeeding day which is not a holiday;

(e)

save as otherwise provided in this Part of this Act regard shall be had to the like principles as immediately before the commencement of this Part of this Act were applicable to the computation of periods of prescription for the purposes of the M1Prescription Act 1617.

F2(1A)

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F3(1B)

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F4(1C)

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F5(1D)

The prescriptive period calculated in relation to a relevant consumer dispute for the purposes of any provision of this Part of this Act is extended where the last day of the period would, apart from this subsection fall—

(a)

after the date when the non-binding ADR procedure starts but before the date that such a procedure ends;

(b)

on the date that a non-binding ADR procedure in relation to the dispute ends; or

(c)

in the 8 weeks after the date that a non-binding ADR procedure in relation to the dispute ends.

(1E)

Where subsection (1D) applies, the prescriptive period is extended so that it expires on the date falling 8 weeks after the date on which the non-binding ADR procedure ends.

(1F)

For the purposes of subsections (1D)(a) and (1E), a non-binding ADR procedure starts in relation to a relevant dispute on the date when the dispute is first sent or otherwise communicated to the ADR entity in accordance with the entity’s rules regarding the submission of complaints.

(1G)

For the purposes of subsections (1D) and (1E), a non-binding ADR procedure ends on the date that any of the following occurs—

(a)

all of the parties reach an agreement in resolution of the relevant consumer dispute;

(b)

a party completes the notification of the other parties that it has withdrawn from the non-binding ADR procedure;

(c)

a party to whom a qualifying request is made fails to give a response reaching the other parties within 14 days of the request;

(d)

the ADR entity notifies the party that submitted the relevant dispute to the ADR entity that, in accordance with its policy, the ADR entity refuses to deal with the relevant consumer dispute;

(e)

after the parties are notified that the ADR entity can no longer act in relation to the relevant dispute (for whatever reason), the parties fail to agree within 14 days to submit the dispute to an alternative ADR entity;

(f)

the non-binding ADR procedure otherwise comes to an end pursuant to the rules of the ADR entity.

(2)

In this section—

F6...

F7“ADR entity” means a person whose name appears on a list maintained in accordance with regulation 10 of the Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes (Competent Authorities and Information) Regulations 2015 (S.I. 2015/542);

F8...

F9“ADR procedure” means a procedure for the out-of-court resolution of disputes through the intervention of an ADR entity which proposes or imposes a solution or brings the parties together with the aim of facilitating an amicable solution;

F10“consumer” means an individual acting for purposes which are wholly or mainly outside that individual’s trade, business, craft or profession;

F11...

“holiday” means a day of any of the following descriptions, namely, a Saturday, a Sunday and a day which, in Scotland, is a bank holiday under the M2Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971;

F12...

F13 “non-binding ADR procedure” means an ADR procedure the outcome of which is not binding on the parties;

“qualifying request” is a request by a party that another (A) confirm to all parties that A is continuing with the non-binding ADR procedure;

F14“relevant consumer dispute” means a dispute that—

(a)

concerns obligations under a sales contract or a service contract, and

(b)

is between a trader established in the United Kingdom or the European Union and a consumer resident in the United Kingdom,

which the parties attempt to settle by recourse to a non-binding ADR procedure;;

F15...

F16“sales contract” means a contract under which a trader transfers, or agrees to transfer, the ownership of goods to a consumer and the consumer pays, or agrees to pay, the price, including any contract that has both goods and services as its object;

“service contract” means a contract, other than a sales contract, under which a trader supplies, or agrees to supply, a service to a consumer and the consumer pays, or agrees to pay, the price;

“trader” means a person acting for purposes relating to that person’s trade, business, craft or profession, whether acting personally or through another person acting in the trader’s name or on the trader’s behalf.