9.—(1) Where a proposed contractor elects in a written notice served on the Primary Care Trust at any time prior to the contract being entered into to be regarded as a health service body for the purposes of section 4 of the 1990 Act, it shall be so regarded from the date on which the contract is entered into.
(2) If, in accordance with paragraph (1) or (5), a contractor is to be regarded as a health service body, that fact shall not affect the nature of, or any rights or liabilities arising under, any other contract with a health service body entered into by that contractor before the date on which the contractor is to be so regarded.
(3) Where a contract is made with an individual dental practitioner or two or more persons practising in partnership, and that individual or that partnership is to be regarded as a health service body in accordance with paragraph (1) or (5), the contractor shall, subject to paragraph (4), continue to be regarded as a health service body for the purposes of section 4 of the 1990 Act for as long as that contract continues and irrespective of any change in—
(a)the partners comprising the partnership;
(b)the status of the contractor from that of an individual dental practitioner to that of a partnership; or
(c)the status of the contractor from that of a partnership to that of an individual dental practitioner.
(4) A contractor may at any time request a variation of the contract to include or remove provision from the contract that the contract is an NHS contract, and if it does so—
(a)the Primary Care Trust shall agree to the variation; and
(b)the procedure in paragraph 60(1) of Schedule 3 shall apply (variation of a contract: general).
(5) Where, pursuant to paragraph (4), the Primary Care Trust agrees to a variation of the contract, the contractor shall—
(a)be regarded; or
(b)subject to paragraph (7), cease to be regarded,
as a health service body for the purposes of section 4 of the 1990 Act from the date that variation takes effect pursuant to paragraph 60(1) of Schedule 3.
(6) Subject to paragraph (7), a contractor shall cease to be regarded as a health service body for the purposes of section 4 of the 1990 Act if the contract is terminated.
(7) Where a contractor ceases to be a health service body pursuant to—
(a)paragraph (5) or (6), it shall continue to be regarded as a health service body for the purposes of being a party to any other NHS contract entered into after it became a health service body but before the date on which the contractor ceased to be a health service body (for which purposes it ceases to be such a body on the termination of that NHS contract);
(b)paragraph (5), it shall, if it or the Primary Care Trust has referred any matter to the NHS dispute resolution procedure before it ceases to be a health service body, be bound by the determination of the adjudicator as if the dispute had been referred pursuant to paragraph 54 of Schedule 3 (dispute resolution: non-NHS contracts); or
(c)paragraph (6), it shall continue to be regarded as a health service body for the purposes of the NHS dispute resolution procedure where that procedure has been commenced—
(i)before the termination of the contract; or
(ii)after the termination of the contract, whether in connection with or arising out of the termination of the contract or otherwise,
for which purposes it ceases to be such a body on the conclusion of that procedure.