Broadcasting Act 1996

3 (1) The property, rights and liabilities that shall be capable of being transferred in accordance with a transfer scheme shall include— U.K.

(a) property, rights and liabilities that would not otherwise be capable of being transferred or assigned by the BBC,

(b) rights and liabilities of the BBC under any agreement or arrangement for the payment of pensions, allowances and gratuities,

(c) property acquired at a time after the making of the scheme and before it comes into force, and rights and liabilities which arise or may arise in respect of anything occurring after the making of the scheme,

(d) property situated anywhere in the United Kingdom or elsewhere and rights and liabilities under the law of any part of the United Kingdom or of any country or territory outside the United Kingdom, and

(e) rights and liabilities under enactments.

(2) The transfers authorised by sub-paragraph (1)(a), and the interests and rights that may be created in accordance with a transfer scheme, include transfers, interests and rights which are to take effect as if there were—

(a) no such requirement to obtain any person’s consent or concurrence,

(b) no such liability in respect of a contravention of any other requirement, and

(c) no such interference with any interest or right,

as there would be, in the case of any transaction apart from this Act, by reason of provisions having effect (whether under any enactment or agreement or otherwise) in relation to the terms on which the BBC are entitled or subject to any property, right or liability.

(3) Where apart from this sub-paragraph any person would have an entitlement, in consequence of anything done or likely to be done by or under this Act, to terminate, modify, acquire or claim an interest or right which is vested in the BBC at the passing of this Act or acquired by the BBC after that time, or to treat any such interest or right as modified or terminated, then—

(a) for the purposes of the transfer of the interest or right in accordance with a transfer scheme, that entitlement shall not be enforceable in relation to that interest or right until after its transfer in accordance with such a scheme, and

(b) without prejudice to the preceding provisions of this paragraph or to paragraph 4(2)(a), that entitlement shall be enforceable in relation to the interest or right after its transfer only in so far as the scheme contains provision for it to be transferred subject to the provisions conferring that entitlement.

(4) Subject to sub-paragraphs (5) and (6), nothing in sub-paragraph (1) or (2) shall enable—

(a) any agreement or instrument entered into or executed in pursuance of an obligation imposed by virtue of paragraph 2(1)(g), or

(b) anything done under any such agreement,

to give effect to any transfer, or to create any interest or right, which could not apart from this paragraph have been made by or under that agreement or instrument.

(5) A transfer scheme may provide for—

(a) the transfers to which effect is to be given by or under any agreement or instrument entered into or executed in accordance with the scheme, or

(b) the interests or rights that are to be created by or under any such agreement or instrument,

to include, to such extent as may be specified in the scheme, any such transfer, interest or right as is mentioned in sub-paragraph (2).

(6) A transfer scheme may provide that sub-paragraph (3) shall apply in relation to the provisions of any agreement or instrument which is to be entered into or executed in accordance with the scheme, and in relation to any proposal for such an agreement or for the execution of such an instrument, as if the reference in sub-paragraph (3)(b) to provision contained in the scheme included a reference to provision contained, in accordance with the scheme, in the agreement or instrument.