Draft Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law 201- (P.37/2011): Amendment

Information about the publication of Ministerial Decisions

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demonstrating that good governance, and clear lines of accountability and authority, are in place around decisions-making – including the reasons and basis on which a decision is made, and the action required to implement a decision
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A decision made 21 June 2011 regarding:

Decision Reference: MD-C-2011-0072
Decision Summary Title :	Draft Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law 201-: Amendment		Date of Decision Summary:	17th June 2011
Decision Summary Author:	Director, Population Office		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title :	Draft Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law 201-: Amendment		Date of Written Report:	17th June 2011
Written Report Author:	Paul Bradbury Director, Population Office		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: Amendment to the Draft Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law 201-.
Decision(s): The Assistant Chief Minister, acting on behalf of the Chief Minister, agreed an amendment to the draft Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law 201- and asked that it be lodged ‘au Greffe’ on 21st June for debate on 5th July 2011.
Reason(s) for Decision: The amendment provides an additional safeguard to prevent an undertaking having to cease its operations pending the result of an application for a “significant change of ownership” permission under Article 25(3) of the Law, so long as the application was submitted within the filing time limit for applications, and it was not withdrawn or treated as withdrawn during that period. Furthermore, the amendment creates the ability to amend or repeal the beneficial ownership provisions by Order and Regulation, to enable, in particular, some change of ownership transactions to be excluded, for example, a change in the trustee of a trust which owns an undertaking in the Island.
Resource Implications: There are no resource implications.
Action required: To request the Greffier of the States to lodge the Report and Amendment to the Law on 21st June 2011.
Signature:		Position: Senator Paul Routier Assistant Chief Minister
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Draft Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law 201- (P.37/2011): Amendment

STATES OF JERSEY

draft control of housing and work (jersey) Law 201-(P. 37/2011): amendment

Lodged au Greffe on
by the Chief Minister

STATES GREFFE

DRAFT CONTROL OF HOUSING AND WORK (JERSEY) LAW 201- (P.37/2011): AMENDMENT

1 PAGE 80, ARTICLE 25 -

(a) for paragraph (3) substitute the following paragraph –

“(3) Subject to paragraphs (4) to (7), an undertaking which does not have a non-resident trading licence does not have an appropriate licence if –

(a) there is any significant change in the ownership of the undertaking after the date that this Article comes into force;

(b) more than 60 days have elapsed since that change took place; and

(c) the person carrying on the undertaking did not make an application, by the date of the expiry of that 60 day period, for the grant of a licence, or, if such an application was made, it was withdrawn or, under Article 26(7), treated as having been withdrawn.”

(b) for paragraph (10) substitute the following paragraphs –

“(10) The Minister may, by Order –

(a) amend any expression of time referred to in sub-paragraphs (b) and (c) of paragraph (3);

(b) amend paragraphs (4) to (7) in respect of the circumstances in which there is deemed to be a significant change in the ownership of an undertaking for the purposes of paragraph (3).

(11) The States may, by Regulations, repeal paragraphs (3) to (7), (10) and this paragraph.”

CHIEF MINISTER

REPORT

The Law as lodged on 15th March, 2011, contained provisions to the effect that where a significant change of ownership of an undertaking had taken place, as so defined in Article 25, Paragraphs (4) – (7), the licence held by that undertaking ceases to be valid 60 days after the change has taken place. Therefore, application for a new licence will need to be made within the 60 days, or more commonly, undertakings will seek in principle approval that a new licence will be issued before any significant change in ownership takes place. The first element of this amendment ensures that if an application for a new licence is made, for example, on the 59th day following change of ownership, that the undertaking can continue to operate while that application is being considered, and does not have to cease its operations on day 60.

The second element of this amendment enables the Minister to amend or repeal the ownership provisions by Order and Regulation, with the key difference from the provisions as previously lodged being that the Minister will now, in particular, be able to amend the provisions so as to exempt various types of ownership that may be outside the objectives of the Law, for example, a change of trustee in a trust which owns an undertaking.

On a final note, it is worth reminding Members that the current beneficial ownership provisions applied under the Regulation of Undertakings and Developments (Jersey) Law, 1973, are applied to all new licences as a matter of policy without the legislation providing any framework, other than in enabling the Minister to impose any conditions with regard to his responsibilities under the Law. These conditions also apply to even to smallest change of ownership, for example, 1%, and are in need of streamlining and greater legislative clarity. That is what the amended ownership provisions are designed to achieve.

Financial and manpower implications

There are no financial and manpower implications of this amendment.

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	P.37/2011 Amd.