Citation and commencement

1.-(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Personal and Occupational Pension Schemes (Perpetuities) Regulations 1990.

(2) These Regulations come into force on 27th June 1990. Definitions

2. In these Regulations-

"1973 Act" means the Social Security Act 1973.

"Taxes Act" means the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988(3).

Occupational pension schemes that qualify under section 69 of the 1973 Act

3.-(1) An occupational pension scheme qualifies under section 69 of the 1973 Act at any time when it satisfies the requirements of any of paragraphs (2) to (6) of this regulation.

(2) This paragraph requires the scheme to be a superannuation fund to which exemption from income tax is allowed under section 608 of the Taxes Act.

(3) This paragraph requires the scheme to be a superannuation fund to which the Inland Revenue give relief from income tax under section 614(5) of the Taxes Act.

(4) This paragraph requires the scheme to be a trust scheme approved by the Inland Revenue for the purposes of section 620(5) of the Taxes Act.

(5) This paragraph requires the scheme, or part of the scheme, to be a retirement benefits scheme approved by the Inland Revenue for the purposes of Chapter I of Part XIV of the Taxes Act. Where an application for approval of the scheme or part of the scheme has been made under section 604 of the Taxes Act, the scheme will be treated as satisfying the requirements of this paragraph for so long as the appliction is not withdrawn or refused and the Inland Revenue have not told the applicant that they believe the application has been dropped.

(6) This paragraph requires the scheme to be a retirement benefits scheme and the Inland Revenue to be satisfied, under section 596(2)(b) of the Taxes Act, that the scheme corresponds to a scheme approved by the Inland Revenue for the purposes of Chapter I of Part XIV of that Act.

Personal pension schemes that qualify under section 69 of the 1973 Act

4. A personal pension scheme qualifies under section 69 of the 1973 Act of any time when it is approved by the Inland Revenue for the purposes of Chapter IV of Part XIV of the Taxes Act.Where an application for approval of the scheme has been made under section 631 of the Taxes Act, the scheme will be treated as satisfying the requirements of this regulation for so long as the application is not withdawn or refused and the Inland Revenue have not told the applicant that they believe the application has been dropped.

Schemes that cease to qualify under section 69 of the 1973 Act

5. An occupational pension scheme that ceases to be contracted-out or to satisfy the requirements of any of paragraphs (2) to (6) of regulation 3, and a personal pension scheme that ceases to be an appropriate scheme or to satisfy the requirements of regulation 4, will nevertheless be treated as continuing to qualify under section 69 of the 1973 Act for a further period of 2 years from the cesser, or for such longer period as the Occupational Pensions Board consider reasonable in the case of the particular scheme.

Revocation of the Occupational Pension Schemes (Perpetuities) Regulations 1973

6. The Occupational Pension Schemes (Perpetuities) Regulations 1973(4) and the Occupational Pension Schemes (Perpetuities) Amendment Regulations 1975(5) are revoked.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These regulations replace the Occupational Pension Schemes (Perpetuities) Regulations 1973.

Regulations 3 and 4 set out the requirements for occupational and personal pension schemes to be exempt from the operation of any rules of law relating to perpetuities. Public service pension schemes, contracted-out occupational pension schemes and appropriate personal pension schemes are exempted by section 69(2) of the Social Security Act 1973 whether or not they satisfy these requirements.

Regulation 5 says that schemes that would otherwise cease to be exempt from the rules of law relating to perpetuities on ceasing to satisfy the requirements of section 69(2) of the 1973 Act will continue to be treated as exempt for a further period of 2 years or such longer period as the Occupational Pensions Board consider reasonable.

The report of the Occupational Pensions Board on the draft of these Regulations which was referred to them, together with a statement by the Secretary of State showing that these Regulations give effect to the Board's recommendations, is contained in Command Paper No. 1086, published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office.