Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000

[F1100ACode of practice on controlled expenditureU.K.

(1)The Commission must prepare a code of practice about the operation of this Part in relation to a reserved regulated period.

(2)The code must in particular set out—

(a)guidance on the kinds of expenses which do, or do not, fall within Part 1 of Schedule 8A (qualifying expenses);

(b)guidance on determining whether the condition in section 85(2)(b) (promoting or procuring electoral success) is met in relation to expenditure;

(c)guidance on determining whether anything provided to or for the use of a third party falls to be dealt with in accordance with section 86 (notional controlled expenditure) or with section 95 and Schedule 11 (donations);

(d)examples of when expenditure falls to be dealt with in accordance with section 94(6) (expenditure of a third party in pursuance of an arrangement with one or more other third parties);

(e)guidance about the operation of sections 94D to 94H (targeted controlled expenditure).

(3)The Commission may from time to time revise the code.

(4)In exercising their functions under this Part, the Commission must have regard to the code.

(5)It is a defence for a third party charged with an offence under any provision of this Part, where the offence relates to expenditure incurred or treated as incurred by a third party during a reserved regulated period, to show—

(a)that the code, in the form for the time being issued under section 100B, was complied with by the third party in determining whether the expenditure is controlled expenditure for the purposes of this Part, and

(b)that the offence would not have been committed on the basis of the controlled expenditure as determined in accordance with the code.

(6)In this section, “reserved regulated period” means a period in relation to which any limit is imposed by paragraph 3, 7, 9, 10 or 11 of Schedule 10 (regulated periods for parliamentary general elections or general elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly).

(7)Section 100B sets out consultation and procedural requirements relating to the code or any revised code.]