For the purposes of this paragraph, such sums as may reasonably be regarded as necessary to meet the costs of carrying on the activity mentioned in sub-paragraph (1) do not constitute a pecuniary gain.

Transco plc and relevant gas shippers are exempt from the general prohibition in respect of any regulated activity of the kind specified by article 14 or 21 of the Regulated Activities Order (dealing in investments as principal or agent) in so far as that activity relates to an investment of the kind specified by article 84 or 85 of that Order (futures or contracts for differences etc.) and is carried on for the purpose of participating in the balancing market.

A trade union or employers’ association is exempt from the general prohibition in respect of any regulated activity of the kind specified by article 10 of the Regulated Activities Order (effecting and carrying out contracts of insurance) which it carries on in order to provide provident benefits or strike benefits for its members.

In sub-paragraph (1), “trade union" and “employers’ association" have the meanings given by section 1 and section 122(1) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 M9 or, in Northern Ireland, the meanings given by article 3(1) and article 4(1) of the Industrial Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1992 M10.

A charity is exempt from the general prohibition in respect of any regulated activity of the kind specified by article 36H of the Regulated Activities Order (operating an electronic system in relation to lending) which it carries on in relation to an article 36H agreement (within the meaning given in article 36H(4) of the Regulated Activities Order) under or in connection with which the only amount payable to the lender is the amount of credit provided.

In sub-paragraph (2), “pooling scheme fund" means a fund established by a common investment scheme the trusts of which provide that property is not to be transferred to the fund except by or on behalf of a charity, the charity trustees (within the meaning of section 97(1) of the Charities Act 1993) of which are the trustees appointed to manage the fund.

Except for the purposes of sub-paragraph (1)(a), “relevant housing body” also includes a wholly-owned subsidiary of a body listed in sub-paragraph (2)(a), (aa), (b), (ca), (h) or (i).

In this paragraph—

• “bridging loan” has the meaning given by Article 4(23) of the mortgages directive;

• “borrower” means a person receiving credit;

• “credit” includes a cash loan and any other form of financial accommodation;

• “restricted public loan” means credit that is—

  1. a

     offered to a particular class of borrower and not offered to the public generally;

  2. b

     offered under an enactment with a general interest purpose; and

  3. c

     provided on terms which are more favourable to the borrower than those prevailing on the market, because it meets one of the following conditions—

     1. i

        it is interest free;

     2. ii

        the rate of interest is lower than that prevailing on the market; or

     3. iii

        the rate of interest is no higher than that prevailing on the market but the other terms on which credit is provided are more favourable to the borrower; and

• “wholly-owned subsidiary” has the same meaning as in section 1159 (meaning of “subsidiary” etc.) of the Companies Act 2006 and, for the purposes of this definition, a relevant housing body is to be treated as a body corporate.

ELEXON Clear Limited is exempt from the general prohibition in respect of any regulated activity of the kind specified by article 14, 21 F32, 25 or 25D of that Order which it carries on in the course of its participation in the Balancing and Settlement Arrangements as clearer for the purposes of (among other things) receiving from and paying to BSC Parties trading and reconciliation charges arising under the Balancing and Settlement Arrangements.

ELEXON Limited is exempt from the general prohibition in respect of any regulated activity of the kind specified by article 25 F34or 25D of that Order which it carries on in the course of its participation in the Balancing and Settlement Arrangements as administrator.

Each BSC Agent and each Volume Notification Agent is exempt from the general prohibition in respect of any regulated activity of the kind specified by article 25 F35or 25D of that Order which it carries on in that capacity.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In this paragraph—

• “Ancillary Services” means services which generators and suppliers of electricity and those making transfers of electricity across an Interconnector are required (as a condition of their connection to the transmission system in F7Great Britain), or have agreed, to make available to NGC for the purpose of securing the stability of the electricity transmission or any distribution system in F7Great Britain or any system linked to it by an Interconnector;

• “Balancing and Settlement Arrangements” means—

  1. a

     the Balancing Mechanism; and

  2. b

     arrangements—

     1. i

        for the determination and allocation to BSC Parties of the quantities of electricity that have been delivered to and taken off the electricity transmission system and any distribution system in F7Great Britain; and

     2. ii

        which set, and provide for the determination and financial settlement of, BSC Parties' obligations arising by reference to the quantities referred to in sub-paragraph (i), including the difference between such quantities (after taking account of accepted bids and offers in the Balancing Mechanism) and the quantities of electricity contracted for sale and purchase between BSC Parties;

• “Balancing Mechanism” means the arrangements pursuant to which BSC Parties may make, and NGC may accept, offers or bids to increase or decrease the quantities of electricity to be delviered to or taken off the electricity transmission system or any distribution system in F7Great Britain at any time or during any period so as to assist NGC in operating and balancing the electricity transmission system, and arrangements for the settlement of financial obligations arising from the acceptance of such offers and bids;

• “Balancing Services” means—

  1. a

     offers and bids made in the Balancing Mechanism;

  2. b

     Ancillary Services; and

  3. c

     other services available to NGC which assist it in operating the electricity transmission system in accordance with the Electricity Act 1989 and the Transmission Licence;

• “BSC Agents” means the persons for the time being engaged by or on behalf of ELEXON Limited for the purpose of providing services to all BSC Parties, NGC, ELEXON Limited and ELEXON Clear Limited in connection with the operation of the Balancing and Settlement Arrangements;

• F9“BSC Framework Agreement” means the agreement of that title in the form approved by the Secretary of State for the purpose of conditions of the Transmission Licence and which is dated 14 August 2000; and “conditions” for the purposes of this definition means conditions determined by the Secretary of State under powers granted by section 137(1) of the Energy Act 2004. and incorporated into existing electricity transmission licences by a scheme made by the Secretary of State pursuant to section 138 of, and Schedule 17 to, that Act;

• “BSC Parties” means those persons (other than NGC, ELEXON Limited and ELEXON Clear Limited) who have signed or acceded to (in accordance with the terms of the BSC Framework Agreement), and not withdrawn from, the BSC Framework Agreement;

• “Interconnector” means the electric lines and electrical plant F10and meters used F11solely for the transfer of electricity to or from the electricity transmission system F12... in F7Great Britain into or out of F7Great Britain;

• “NGC” means F13... National Grid Company plc;

• F14...

• “the Transmission Licence” means the licence to F15participate in the transmission of electricity in F7Great Britain granted F16, or treated as granted, to NGC under section 6(1)(b) of the Electricity Act 1989; and

• “Volume Notification Agents” means the persons for the time being appointed and authorised under and in accordance with the Balancing and Settlement Arrangements on behalf of BSC Parties to notify to the BSC Agent designated for that purpose pursuant to the Balancing and Settlement Arrangements quantities of electricity contracted for the sale and purchase between those BSC Parties to be taken into account for the purposes of the Balancing and Settlement Arrangements.

A freight forwarder or storage firm is exempt from the general prohibition in respect of any regulated activity of the kind specified by article 21, 25, 39A or 53 of the Regulated Activities Order (dealing in investments as agent, arranging deals in investments, assisting in the administration and performance of a contract of insurance or advising on investments) in the circumstances referred to in paragraph 2.

A person acting as a policyholder advocate is exempt from the general prohibition in respect of any regulated activity of the kind specified by article 25 or 53 of the Regulated Activities Order (arranging deals in investments or advising on investments) in so far as he carries on these activities in connection with, or for the purposes of, his role as policyholder advocate.

In sub-paragraph (2), “with-profits fund” means a long-term insurance fund in which policyholders are eligible to participate in surplus assets of the fund.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

An employer who provides or makes available to their employees a cycle or cyclist's safety equipment up to the value of £1,000 under a relevant employee benefit scheme is exempt from the general prohibition in respect of any regulated activity of the kind specified by article 60N of the Regulated Activities Order (regulated consumer hire agreements).

For the purposes of this paragraph—

• “cycle” has the meaning given by section 192(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (general interpretation);

• “relevant employee benefit scheme” means a scheme operated by an employer which is designed to allow employees to take advantage of section 244 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (no liability to income tax in relation to cycles and cyclist's safety equipment) and under which cycles or cyclist's safety equipment are made available in the manner described in any guidance issued by the Secretary of State.

A person who takes steps to ascertain the identity or location (or the means of ascertaining the identity or location) of a borrower or hirer is exempt from the general prohibition in respect of any regulated activity of the kind specified by article 39F of the Regulated Activities Order (debt-collecting) so long as the person is not the lender under the agreement concerned or the owner under the consumer hire agreement concerned and takes no other steps to procure the payment of debts due under the agreement.

In this F66paragraph, “borrower”, “hirer” “lender” and “owner” have the meanings given by the Regulated Activities Order.

In sub-paragraph (1) “relevant document” means any document which is for service for the purposes of any legal proceedings brought, or to be brought, for the payment of a debt due under the relevant agreement.

In sub-paragraph (2) “relevant document” means any document which is for service for the purposes of any legal proceedings brought, or to be brought, for the exercise or enforcement of rights under the relevant agreement.

In this paragraph—

• “borrower”, “hirer”, “lender” and “owner” have the meaning given in article 3 of the Regulated Activities Order;

• “legal proceedings” includes arbitration and insolvency proceedings; and

• “relevant agreement”, in relation to a person who is a borrower or hirer, means—

  1. a

     the credit agreement (within the meaning given by article 60B of the Regulated Activities Order) or article 36H agreement (within the meaning given by article 36H of that Order) under which that person is the borrower; or

  2. b

     the consumer hire agreement (within the meaning given by article 60N of the Regulated Activities Order) under which that person is the hirer.

A person within the description in sub-paragraph (3) (“P”) is exempt from the general prohibition in respect of any activity of the kind specified by article 60B(2) of the Regulated Activities Order (regulated credit agreements) carried on in relation to a qualifying agreement provided that the conditions in sub-paragraphs (4) and (5) are satisfied in respect of the agreement.

Where P is exempt from the general prohibition in respect of any activity of the kind specified by article 60B(2) of the Regulated Activities Order by virtue of sub-paragraph (1), P is also exempt from the general prohibition in respect of any activity of the kind specified by article 39E(1) (debt-counselling) or 39F(1) (debt-collecting) of the Regulated Activities Order carried on in relation to the qualifying agreement in an exempt period.

For the purposes of this paragraph, there are excluded from articles 39E(1) and 39F(1) of the Regulated Activities Order activities carried on by P under or for the purposes of a servicing arrangement.

In this paragraph—

• “an exempt period” is the period of thirty days beginning on the day after the day on which a servicing arrangement came to an end;

• “the original lender” means the person who provided credit under the qualifying agreement;

• “a qualifying agreement” means a regulated credit agreement under which P exercises, or has the right to exercise, the rights of the original lender;

• “regulated credit agreement” has the meaning given in article 60B of the Regulated Activities Order;

• “the servicer” means the person with whom P enters into a servicing arrangement, where that person is an authorised person with permission to carry on an activity of the kind specified in article 39F, 39G (debt administration) or 60B of the Regulated Activities Order;

• “a servicing arrangement” means an arrangement between P and the servicer for the servicer to exercise on P’s behalf P’s rights under a qualifying agreement other than the right to transfer, assign or otherwise dispose of those rights.

A person within the description in sub-paragraph (3) (“P”) is exempt from the general prohibition in respect of any activity of the kind specified by article 60N(2) of the Regulated Activities Order (regulated consumer hire agreements) carried on in relation to a qualifying agreement provided that the conditions in sub-paragraphs (4) and (5) are satisfied in respect of each such agreement.

Where P is exempt from the general prohibition in respect of any activity of the kind specified by article 60N(2) of the Regulated Activities Order by virtue of sub-paragraph (1), P is also exempt from the general prohibition in respect of any activity of the kind specified by article 39E(2) (debt-counselling) or 39F(2) (debt-collecting) of the Regulated Activities Order carried on in relation to the qualifying agreement in an exempt period.

For the purposes of this paragraph, there are excluded from articles 39E(2) and 39F(2) of the Regulated Activities Order activities carried on by P under or for the purposes of a servicing arrangement.

In this paragraph—

• “an exempt period” is the period of thirty days beginning on the day after the day on which a servicing arrangement came to an end;

• “the original owner” means the person who entered into the qualifying agreement as owner;

• “a qualifying agreement” means a regulated consumer hire agreement under which P exercises, or has the right to exercise, the rights of the original owner;

• “regulated consumer hire agreement” has the meaning given in article 60N of the Regulated Activities Order;

• “the servicer” means the person with whom P enters into a servicing arrangement, where that person is an authorised person with permission to carry on an activity of the kind specified in article 39F, 39G (debt administration) or 60N of the Regulated Activities Order;

• “a servicing arrangement” means an arrangement between P and the servicer for the servicer to exercise on P’s behalf P’s rights under a qualifying agreement other than the right to transfer, assign or otherwise dispose of those rights.

In sub-paragraph (1)(b), “eligible student” means any person who is in receipt of or who is eligible to receive a loan of the kind mentioned in article 3(1) of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional Provisions) Order 1998 or article 3(1) of the Education (Student Support) (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 (Commencement and Transitional Provisions) Order (Northern Ireland) 1998.