Exemptions - general17.

(1)

Part IV of the Order does not apply to—

(a)

a scheme which—

(i)

is established by, or under, a statutory provision, and

(ii)

is guaranteed by a public authority;

(b)

a pay-as-you-go scheme;

(c)

a scheme which is established under section 48 of the Northern Ireland Act 199812 (pensions of members), or which was established under Part II of the Ministerial Salaries and Members' Pensions Act (Northern Ireland) 196513 or Article 3 of the Assembly Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 197614;

(d)

a section or part of a scheme which is treated as a scheme by virtue of paragraph 4 or 5, as the case may be, of Schedule 2 and—

(i)

in the cases described in paragraphs 4(2) and 5(2)(a) of that Schedule, applies to members in employment outside the member States, and

(ii)

in the cases described in paragraphs 4(3) and 5(2)(b) of that Schedule, applies to members in employment outside the United Kingdom;

(e)

a scheme which—

(i)

provides relevant benefits;

(ii)

is neither a relevant statutory scheme nor a tax approved scheme, or, from 6th April 2006, is not a tax registered scheme, and

(iii)

has fewer than 100 members;

(f)

a section 615(6) scheme which has fewer than 100 members;

(g)

a scheme which has fewer than two members;

(h)

a scheme which has fewer than 12 members, where all the members are trustees of the scheme and either—

(i)

the provisions of the scheme provide that all decisions which fall to be made by the trustees are made by the unanimous agreement of the trustees who are members of the scheme, or

(ii)

the scheme has a trustee who is an independent trustee in relation to the scheme for the purposes of Article 23 of the 1995 Order15 (power to appoint independent trustees) and is registered in the register maintained by the Regulator in accordance with regulations made under paragraph (4) of that Article;

(i)

a scheme which has fewer than 12 members, where a company is a trustee of the scheme and all the members of the scheme are directors of the company and either—

(i)

the provisions of the scheme provide that any decision made by the company in its capacity as trustee is made only by the unanimous agreement of the directors who are members of the scheme, or

(ii)

one of the directors is a trustee who is independent in relation to the scheme for the purposes of Article 23 of the 1995 Order and is registered in the register maintained by the Regulator in accordance with regulations made under paragraph (4) of that Article;

(j)

a scheme under which the only benefits provided for (other than money purchase benefits) are death benefits, if the death benefits are secured by insurance policies or annuity contracts;

(k)

a scheme which is the subject of a scheme failure notice under Article 106 or 114, or

(l)

subject to regulation 18, a scheme which is being wound up.

(2)

In paragraph (1)—

“pay-as-you-go scheme” means an occupational pension scheme under which there is no requirement for assets to be set aside in advance for the purpose of providing benefits under the scheme (disregarding any requirements relating to additional voluntary contributions);

“public authority” means—

(a)

a Minister of the Crown (within the meaning of the Ministers of the Crown Act 197516);

(b)

a government department (including any body or authority exercising statutory functions on behalf of the Crown), or

(c)

a local authority;

“relevant benefits” has the meaning given in section 612(1) of the Taxes Act 198817 (interpretation) or, from 6th April 2006, section 393B of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 200318;
“relevant statutory scheme” has the meaning given in section 611A(1) of the Taxes Act 198819;
“section 615(6) scheme” means a scheme with such a superannuation fund as is mentioned in section 615(6) of the Taxes Act 198820 (funds for the provision of benefits in respect of employment outside the United Kingdom);
“a tax approved scheme” means a scheme which is approved or was formerly approved under section 590 or 591 of the Taxes Act 198821 (approval of retirement benefit schemes) or in respect of which an application for such approval has been duly made but has not been determined;
“a tax registered scheme” means a scheme which is, or is treated as, registered under Chapter 2 of Part 4 of the Finance Act 200422 (registration of pension schemes).

(3)

In paragraph (2), “local authority” has the meaning given by Article 2(2) of the Superannuation (Northern Ireland) Order 197223.

(4)

Where Part IV of the Order ceases to apply to a scheme to which it previously applied, because the scheme satisfies any of the criteria for exemption in paragraph (1), that does not affect any rights or obligations arising before that Part ceased to apply.