The Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee has published its report on the Commercial Payments Bill.
The latest developments are:
- The Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee is appointed by the House of Lords to report on whether any bill inappropriately delegates legislative power.
- The delegated powers in sections 2B(7), 2D(7) and 2E(4) of (the renamed CPILPA 1998) allow for a potentially major carve-out from the general rules on when commercial payments are due.
- In simple terms, these sections give the Secretary of State powers to exclude certain types of contracts from the mandatory payment terms.
- The Report notes that the “wider the scope of the exceptions, the less will be the impact of the general rules”.
- The Committee recommends, in the absence of a convincing justification for their inclusion, that the delegated powers in clauses 1 to 3 of the Bill are removed.