Date of issue of levies
5.—(1) A levy, other than a substituted levy issued under regulation 9 below, shall be issued before 15th February preceding the commencement of the financial year in respect of which it is issued (in this regulation called “the relevant date”), but shall not be invalid merely because it is issued on or after that date.
(2) Where the relevant Act would, apart from section 117 of the 1988 Act, require the levying body to issue a precept, make a levy or provide an estimate of its expenditure to be paid, before a date which is earlier than the relevant date, that earlier date shall be the relevant date for the purposes of paragraph (1) above.
(3) Paragraph (2) does not apply—
(a)to a levy issued for the financial year beginning in 1993; or
(b)to a levy to which regulation 7(3) applies.