PART IGENERAL

Citation, commencement and interpretation1.

(1)

These Regulations may be cited as the Pension Sharing (Implementation and Discharge of Liability) Regulations 2000 and shall come into force on 1 December 2000.

(2)

In these Regulations—

“the 1993 Act” means the Pension Schemes Act 19935;

“the 1995 Act” means the Pensions Act 1995;

“the 1999 Act” means the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999;

“base rate” means the base rate for the time being quoted by the reference banks or, where there is for the time being more than one such base rate, the base rate which, when the base rate quoted by each bank is ranked in a descending sequence of seven, is fourth in the sequence;

“guaranteed minimum pension” has the meaning given by section 8(2) of the 1993 Act6;

“the implementation period” has the meaning given by section 34 of the 1999 Act;

“normal benefit age” has the meaning given by section 101B of the 1993 Act7;

“occupational pension scheme” has the meaning given by section 1 of the 1993 Act;

“pension arrangement” has the meaning given by section 46(1) of the 1999 Act;

“pension credit” means a credit under section 29(1)(b) of the 1999 Act;

“pension sharing order or provision” means an order or provision which is mentioned in section 28(1) of the 1999 Act;

“personal pension scheme” has the meaning given by section 1 of the 1993 Act8;

“person responsible for a pension arrangement” has the meaning given to that expression in section 46(2) of the 1999 Act;

“protected rights” has the meaning given by section 10 of the 1993 Act9;

“the reference banks” means the seven largest institutions for the time being which—

(a)

are authorised by the Bank of England under the Banking Act 198710;

(b)

are incorporated in and carrying on within the United Kingdom a deposit-taking business (as defined in section 6, but subject to any order under section 7 of that Act11); and

(c)

quote a base rate in sterling;

and for the purpose of this definition the size of an institution at any time is to be determined by reference to the gross assets denominated in sterling of that institution, together with any subsidiary (as defined in section 736 of the Companies Act 198512), as shown in the audited end of year accounts last published before that time;
“the Regulatory Authority” means the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority13;
“safeguarded rights” has the meaning given in section 68A(1) of the 1993 Act14;

“scheme actuary”, in relation to a scheme to which section 47(1)(b) of the 1995 Act applies, means the actuary mentioned in section 47(1)(b) of that Act;

“section 9(2B) rights” has the meaning given in regulation 1(2) of the Occupational Pension Schemes (Contracting-out) Regulations 199615;

“transferee” has the meaning given by section 34 (5) of the 1999 Act;

“transferor” has the meaning given by section 34 (5) of the 1999 Act;

“trustees or managers”, in relation to an occupational pension scheme or a personal pension scheme means—

(a)

in the case of a scheme established under a trust, the trustees of the scheme, and

(b)

in any other case, the managers of the scheme;

“the valuation day” has the meaning given in section 29(7) of the 1999 Act.