Amendment of the Justices of the Peace Act 1979
2. The Justices of the Peace Act 1979 (1)is amended—
(1) in subsection (1) of section 49 (distress warrant for rates) by the substitution for the words after “levied” to the end of the following words —
“, or where a charging authority has set an amount for its personal community charges or has determined a standard community charge multiplier, or in the case of a special authority within the meaning of section 144(6) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988, a multiplier under paragraph 9 of Schedule 7 to that Act, and a warrant of distress is issued against a person who is subject to the authority’s personal community charge, collective community charge or standard community charge, or is subject to a special authority’s non-domestic rate, no action shall be brought against the justice or justices who granted the warrant by reason of any irregularity or defect in the rate or, as the case may be, in the setting of the charge or the determination of the multiplier, or by reason that the person in question was not liable to the rate or subject to the charge.”; and
(2) in section 65 (justices not disqualified by reason of being ratepayers) by the insertion —
(a)after the words “rating authority” of the words “, community charges of a charging authority or the non-domestic rate of a special authority within the meaning of section 144(6) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988”; and
(b)after the words “such rates” of the words “or is liable or would, but for an enactment or anything provided or done under an enactment, be liable to pay an amount in respect of any such community charges or such non-domestic rate”.