Citation and interpretation

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007 (Commencement No. 5 and Savings and Transitional Provisions) Order 2008.

(2) In this Order “the Act” means the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007.

Commencement

2.  Subject to article 3, the provisions of the Act specified in the Schedule shall come into force on 1st October 2008.

Savings and transitional provisions

3.—(1) Nothing in the coming into force of the repeal of paragraph 8 of Schedule 2 to the Utilities Act 2000(2) by Schedule 8 to the Act shall affect the duties contained in that provision relating to the statement of accounts in respect of the financial year commencing on 1st April 2007.

(2) Nothing in the coming into force of the repeals of paragraph 16 of Schedule 2 to the Postal Services Act 2000(3) and paragraph 8 of Schedule 2 to the Utilities Act 2000 by Schedule 8 to the Act shall affect the duties contained in those provisions relating to the statements of accounts in respect of the financial year commencing on 1st April 2008, but those provisions shall have effect so as to require the statements to be prepared by the National Consumer Council and sent by it to the Secretary of State and to the Comptroller and Auditor General.

(3) For the purposes of paragraph (2), the financial year commencing on 1st April 2008 is to be treated as ending on 30th September 2008.

Article 2

SCHEDULEPROVISIONS COMING INTO FORCE ON 1ST OCTOBER 2008

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order brings into force on 1st October 2008 (subject to the savings and transitional provisions in Article 3) further provisions of the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007 (“the Act”) as specified in the Schedule to this Order (Article 2). The provisions relate to the National Consumer Council established by the Act, complaints handling and redress schemes (including repeal of the provisions in the Housing Act 2004 relating to redress schemes dealing with complaints about the activities of estate agents in relation to home information packs), minor and consequential amendments and repeals.

Article 3 contains savings and transitional provisions to preserve after 1st October 2008 the statutory duties relating to the statements of accounts of the Gas and Electricity Consumer Council (“Energywatch”) and the Consumer Council for Postal Services (“Postwatch”) in respect of the financial years commencing, in the case of Energywatch, on 1st April 2007 and 1st April 2008, and, in the case of Postwatch, on 1st April 2008, notwithstanding the repeal on 1st October 2008 of the provisions containing those duties. However, in respect of the financial year commencing on 1st April 2008, the duties to prepare statements of accounts, and to send them to the Secretary of State and the Comptroller and Auditor General, are transferred to the National Consumer Council, and that financial year is to be treated as ending immediately before the abolition of Energywatch and Postwatch.

The remaining provisions of the Act will be brought into force by subsequent orders.

NOTE AS TO EARLIER COMMENCEMENT ORDERS

(This note is not part of the Order)

The following provisions of the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007 have been brought into force, or will be brought into force on 1st October 2008, by commencement order made before the date of this Order.