The Cross-Border Credit Transfers Regulations 1999

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“beneficiary” means the person to whom the funds transferred by a cross-border credit transfer ultimately are, or are to be, made available;

“beneficiary’s institution” means, in relation to a cross-border credit transfer, the institution which makes, or is to make, the funds transferred available to the beneficiary;

“business day” means—

(a)

for the purposes of regulations 6(2) and 9(3), a day on which credit institutions are generally open for the business of carrying out cross-border credit transfers in each EEA State in which an institution participating in the carrying out of the cross-border credit transfer is situated; and

(b)

for the purposes of regulation 7(2), a day on which credit institutions are generally open for business in the United Kingdom;

and in this definition the reference to the United Kingdom, or to an EEA State where the State in question is the United Kingdom, shall be construed as referring to that part of the United Kingdom in which (in the case of (a) above) the institution participating in the carrying out of the cross-border credit transfer or (in the case of (b) above) the beneficiary’s institution (or, in either case, if the institution has branches in different parts of the United Kingdom, the branch of the institution participating in the carrying out of the transfer) is situated;

“commencement date” means, in relation to a cross-border credit transfer, the date upon which both the following conditions are fulfilled—

(a)

the originator’s institution has received all the information required by it in order to initiate the transfer; and

(b)

the originator’s institution has had made available to it, whether by deduction from an account of the originator or otherwise, an amount in an EEA currency sufficient to cover the funds to be transferred,

except that, if the originator and his institution have agreed that the carrying out of the transfer is to be initiated on a date (whether specified in that agreement or to be ascertained in a manner therein provided) which is later than the date upon which those conditions are both fulfilled, then “commencement date” means that later date;

“credit institution” means a credit institution as defined in Article 1 of Council Directive No. 77/780/EEC(1), that is to say, an undertaking whose business is to receive deposits or other repayable funds from the public and to grant credits for its own account, and includes a branch of a non-EEA credit institution situated in an EEA State;

“cross-border credit transfer” means a transaction or series of transactions carried out as a result of instructions given directly by an originator to an institution in one EEA State, the purpose of which is to make funds in an EEA currency available to a beneficiary at an institution in another EEA State; and for the purposes of this definition the originator and the beneficiary may be one and the same person;

“cross-border credit transfer order” means an unconditional instruction, given directly by an originator to an institution, to initiate the carrying out of a cross-border credit transfer;

“customer” means, as the context may require, the originator or the beneficiary of a cross-border credit transfer;

“EEA currency” means the currency of an EEA State;

“EEA State” means a State which is a Contracting Party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992(2) as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th March 1993(3);

“financial institution” means an institution as defined in Article 4(1) of Council Regulation No. 3604/93/EC(4), the text of which is set out in the Schedule to these Regulations;

“his institution” means, in relation to a cross-border credit transfer, the originator’s institution or the beneficiary’s institution, as the context may require;

“institution” means—

(a)

a credit institution; or

(b)

a person, not being a credit institution, who by way of business participates in the carrying out of cross-border credit transfers;

“intermediary institution” means an institution which by way of business participates in the carrying out of a cross-border credit transfer and which is neither the originator’s institution nor the beneficiary’s institution;

“non-EEA credit institution” means a credit institution which has its head office in a country or territory outside the European Economic Area and which by way of business participates in the carrying out of cross-border credit transfers;

“originator” means a person who gives an instruction to an institution to initiate the carrying out of a cross-border credit transfer;

“originator’s institution” means, in relation to a cross-border credit transfer, the institution which accepts a cross-border credit transfer order given to it by the originator;

“reference interest rate” means, for any period for which the rate is to be applied under these Regulations, the rate per annum which is 6% over the rate per cent published most recently before the beginning of that period by the Bank of England as its rate for the provision of short term liquidity in its operations in the sterling money markets;

“relevant transfer” means a cross-border credit transfer which satisfies the following conditions—

(a)

the originator of the transfer is neither an institution nor a financial institution; and

(b)

the funds made or to be made available to the beneficiary do not exceed 50,000 euro or its equivalent in another EEA currency; and

“value date” means—

(a)

where an amount is deducted from an account of the originator in order to cover the funds transferred by a relevant transfer, the date upon which that amount is deducted by his institution; or

(b)

where the funds transferred are credited to an account of the beneficiary, the date upon which those funds are credited by his institution.

(2) In these Regulations, references to funds being credited to an institution mean—

(a) in the case of a beneficiary’s institution—

(i) the crediting of those funds to an account of the beneficiary’s institution; or

(ii) the debiting of those funds to an account of the originator’s institution or, as the case may be, an intermediary institution with the beneficiary’s institution; and

(b) in the case of any other institution—

(i) the crediting of those funds to an account of that institution; or

(ii) the debiting of those funds to an account of another institution with that institution.

(3) In these Regulations, references to funds being made available to an originator or a beneficiary of a cross-border credit transfer mean—

(a) the crediting of those funds to an account of the customer with his institution or, if he has more than one such account, to an account designated for the purpose by the customer or )(where the customer is the beneficiary and has not so designated an account) by the originator,

or, in the absence of any such account or (if there is more than one such account) any designated account,

(b) the crediting of those funds to an account not in the name of the customer but maintained in the books and the books and records of his institution from which the institution will allow him to draw funds.

(4) For the purposes of these Regulations—

(a) references to an institution which participates in the carrying out of a cross-border credit transfer shall, in relation to an institution which has branches in more than one EEA State, be construed as referring to the branch of that institution which participates in the carrying out of the transfer; and

(b) branches of an institution which participate in the carrying out of a cross-border credit transfer and which are situated in different EEA States shall be regarded as separate institutions.

(5) In these Regulations, references to information in writing include references to information which is given by an electronic means.

(1)

O.J. L322, 17.12.77, page 30, as amended by Council Directive 85/345/EEC (O.J. L183, 16.7.85, page 19), Council Directive 89/646/EEC (O.J. L386, 30.12.89, page 1), European Parliament and Council Directive 95/26/EC (O.J. L168, 18.7.95, page 7), Council Directive 96/13/EC (O.J. L66, 16.3.96, page 15) and European Parliament and Council Directive 98/33/EC (O.J. L204, 21.7.98, page 29).

(2)

Cm 2073.

(3)

Cm 2183.

(4)

O.J. L332, 31.12.93, page 4.