Finance Act 2007
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Amendment of Part 6 (special provisions relating to uncertificated securities) of Principal Act. |
109.— (1) Part 6 of the Principal Act is amended— | |
(a) in section 68 by deleting the definitions of “market maker”, “member firm” and “relevant period”, | ||
(b) in section 73(1) by deleting paragraph (b), | ||
(c) by deleting section 74, and | ||
(d) by substituting the following for section 75: | ||
“Relief for intermediaries. | ||
75.— (1) In this section— | ||
‘ excluded business ’ means any of the following: | ||
(a) any business which consists in the making or managing of investments; | ||
(b) any business which consists in, or is carried on for the purpose of, providing services to persons who are connected with the person carrying on the business; and the question of whether a person is connected with another person shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of section 10 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 ; | ||
(c) any business which consists in insurance business, or assurance business within the meaning of section 3 of the Insurance Act 1936 ; | ||
(d) any business which consists in administering, managing or acting as trustee in relation to, a pension scheme, or which is carried on by the administrator, manager or trustee of such a scheme, in connection with or for the purposes of the scheme; | ||
(e) any business which consists in operating, or acting as trustee in relation to, a collective investment scheme (within the meaning of section 88), or is carried on by the operator or trustee of such a scheme in connection with or for the purposes of the scheme; | ||
‘ intermediary ’ means a person who carries on a bona fide business of dealing in securities and, for the purpose of this definition, the entering into derivative agreements referenced directly or indirectly to securities shall be treated as carrying on a business of dealing in securities; | ||
‘ member firm ’ means a member of— | ||
(a) the Irish Stock Exchange Limited, | ||
(b) the London Stock Exchange plc, or | ||
(c) any other exchange or market which is designated for the purposes of this section in regulations made by the Commissioners; | ||
‘ operator ’, in relation to a collective investment scheme, means an administrator, manager or other such person who is authorised to act on behalf of, or in connection with, or for the purposes of, the scheme and habitually so acts in that capacity; | ||
‘ recognised intermediary ’, in relation to an exchange or market, means a member of the exchange or market who is an intermediary and who is approved by the Commissioners as a recognised intermediary in accordance with arrangements made by the Commissioners with the exchange or market. | ||
(2) For the purposes of this section, a transfer of securities is effected on an exchange or market if— | ||
(a) it is subject to the rules of the exchange or, as the case may be, the market, and | ||
(b) it is reported to the exchange or, as the case may be, the market, in accordance with the rules of the exchange or market concerned. | ||
(3) Stamp duty shall not be chargeable on an instrument of transfer whereby any securities are on the sale of such securities transferred to a person or a nominee of such person, where— | ||
(a) the person is a member firm of an exchange or market, | ||
(b) the person is a recognised intermediary in relation to the exchange or market, | ||
(c) the transfer of securities is effected— | ||
(i) on the exchange or, as the case may be, the market, | ||
(ii) on any exchange or market operated by the Irish Stock Exchange Limited or the London Stock Exchange plc, or | ||
(iii) on any other exchange or market designated by the Commissioners for the purposes of this section, | ||
and | ||
(d) the transfer of securities is not effected in connection with an excluded business. | ||
(4) (a) The Commissioners may, from time to time, make arrangements with an exchange or a market setting out how a member firm is to be approved by the Commissioners as a recognised intermediary. | ||
(b) Every recognised intermediary shall, whenever and wherever required to do so, make available for inspection by an officer of the Commissioners authorised for that purpose, all books, documents and other records in the possession of or under the control of, the recognised intermediary, as are relevant for the purposes of the Commissioners ensuring compliance by the intermediary with this section. | ||
(5) (a) The Commissioners may, from time to time, make regulations to designate an exchange or market for the purposes of this section. | ||
(b) Every regulation made under this section shall be laid before Dáil Éireann as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by Dáil Éireann within the next 21 days on which Dáil Éireann has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder. | ||
Relief for clearing houses. | ||
75A.— (1) In this section— | ||
‘ clearing house ’ means a body or association which provides services related to the clearing and settlement of transactions and payments and the management of risks associated with the resulting contracts and which is regulated or supervised in the provision of those services (in this section referred to as ‘clearing services’) by a regulatory body, or an agency of government, of a Member State of the European Communities; | ||
‘ clearing participant ’ means a member of a recognised clearing house who is permitted by the clearing house to provide clearing services in connection with a transfer of securities; | ||
‘ client ’ means a person who gives instructions for securities to be sold; | ||
‘ nominee ’ means a person whose business is or includes holding securities as a nominee for a recognised clearing house acting in its capacity as a provider of clearing services or, as the case may be, a nominee for a clearing participant or a non-clearing participant; | ||
‘ non-clearing participant ’ means a member of an exchange or market when not acting as a clearing participant; | ||
‘ recognised clearing house ’ means― | ||
(a) Eurex Clearing AG, | ||
(b) LCH.Clearnet Limited, | ||
(c) SIS SegaInterSettle AG, or | ||
(d) any other clearing house designated as a recognised clearing house for the purposes of this section by regulations made by the Commissioners. | ||
(2) Stamp duty shall not be chargeable on an instrument of transfer whereby any securities are on the sale of such securities transferred in the circumstances referred to in subsection (3) where the conditions referred to in subsection (4) are satisfied. | ||
(3) The circumstances referred to in this subsection are that the transfer of securities is— | ||
(a) from a clearing participant or a nominee of a clearing participant, to another clearing participant or a nominee of that other clearing participant, | ||
(b) from a client or a non-clearing participant or a nominee of a non-clearing participant, to a clearing participant or a nominee of a clearing participant, | ||
(c) from a non-clearing participant or a nominee of a non-clearing participant or a clearing participant or a nominee of a clearing participant, to a recognised clearing house or a nominee of a recognised clearing house, | ||
(d) from a person other than a clearing participant, to a recognised clearing house or a nominee of a recognised clearing house, as a result of a failure by a clearing participant to fulfil that clearing participant’s obligations in respect of the transfer of securities to the recognised clearing house or a nominee of the recognised clearing house, | ||
(e) from a recognised clearing house or a nominee of a recognised clearing house, to a clearing participant or a nominee of a clearing participant or a non-clearing participant or a nominee of a non-clearing participant, or | ||
(f) from a clearing participant, or a nominee of a clearing participant to a non-clearing participant or a nominee of a non-clearing participant. | ||
(4) The conditions referred to in this subsection are that the person to whom the securities are transferred under a transfer of securities referred to in paragraphs (a) to (f) of subsection (3) (in this section referred to as the ‘ relevant transfer ’) is required on receipt of those securities to transfer securities under a matching transfer to another person, or in the case of a relevant transfer falling within paragraph (d), would have been so required if the failure referred to in that paragraph had not occurred. | ||
(5) For the purposes of subsection (4), a ‘ matching transfer ’ means a transfer of securities under which— | ||
(a) the securities transferred are of the same kind as the securities transferred under the relevant transfer, and | ||
(b) the number of and consideration paid for, the securities transferred are identical to the number of and consideration paid for, the securities transferred under the relevant transfer. | ||
(6) (a) The Commissioners may, from time to time, make regulations to designate a clearing house as a recognised clearing house for the purposes of this section. | ||
(b) Every regulation made under this section shall be laid before Dáil Éireann as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by Dáil Éireann within the next 21 days on which Dáil Éireann has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.”. | ||
(2) (a) Subject to paragraph (b), this section comes into operation on such day or days as the Minister for Finance may by order appoint and different days may be appointed for different purposes or different provisions. | ||
(b) The Revenue Commissioners may, before this section comes into operation, make arrangements with an exchange or market setting out how a member firm is to be approved as a recognised intermediary by the Commissioners when this section comes into operation. |