# The General Commissioners and Special Commissioners (Jurisdiction and Procedure) (Amendment)Regulations 2002, Note: Explanatory note


(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations amend the Special Commissioners (Jurisdiction and Procedure) Regulations 1994 (S.I. 1994/1811) (“the Special Commissioners Regulations”) and the General Commissioners (Jurisdiction and Procedure) Regulations 1994 (S.I. 1994/1812) (“the General Commissioners Regulations”). The definitions of proceedings are amended to include appeals under Part II of the Social Security Contributions (Transfer of Functions, etc.) Act 1999 (“the Transfer Act”) and Part III of the Social Security Contributions (Transfer of Functions, etc;) (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 (“the Transfer Order”), which respectively transfer from the Secretary of State to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue or the Treasury certain functions relating to social security contributions, statutory sick pay or pension schemes and certain associated functions relating to benefits. These Regulations similarly include appeals under regulation 14(4) of the Working Tax Credit (Payment by Employers) Regulations 2002 within the definition of proceedings in the Special Commissioners Regulations and also amend that definition in the Special Commissioners Regulations to include within it preliminary proceedings, held in accordance with regulation 9.
These Regulations also amend the Special Commissioners Regulations and General Commissioners Regulations to provide for lead cases under the Transfer Act and the Transfer Order. They also provide (subject to some exceptions) for appeals to the Special and General Commissioners to be heard in public, and provide for other minor amendments.
Regulations 3 to 6 amend the Special Commissioners Regulations.
Regulation 3 amends regulation 2 to include the appeals referred to above and preliminary hearings within the definition of “proceedings” in that regulation.
Regulation 4 amends regulation 7(1) to provide for any Special Commissioner rather than the Presiding Special Commissioner to direct that proceedings be heard at the same time or consecutively and by the same Tribunal.
Regulation 5 inserts a new Regulation 7A which sets out the procedure to be applied in relation to appeals which raise same issues under Part II of the Transfer Act or Part III of the Transfer Order.
The Presiding Special Commissioner may of his own motion or on application by a party to any of those proceedings direct that one such appeal be heard as the lead case and that for procedural purposes all other appeals which raise the same issues be stayed pending determination of the same issues in the lead case.
Regulation 6 substitutes a new Regulation 15 providing for all hearings to be in public and also contains further consequential provisions for the conduct of hearings.
Regulations 8 to 10 amend the General Commissioners Regulations.
Regulation 8 provides for similar amendments (but in addition includes reference to appeals under regulation 8(6) of the Working Tax Credit (Payment by Employers) Regulations 2002) to those made to regulation 2 of the Special Commissioners Regulations.
Regulation 9 provides for appeals which raise same issues under Part II of the Transfer Act or Part III of the Transfer Order to be transferred, after giving the parties the opportunity to be heard, to the Special Commissioners so that they may be determined in accordance with the lead case procedure under new Regulation 7A of the Special Commissioners Regulations.
Regulation 10 mirrors the provisions contained in new Regulation 15 of the Special Commissioners Regulations providing for all hearings to be in public and also contains further consequential provisions for the conduct of hearings.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/2976/note (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/general-commissioners-and-special-commissioners-jurisdiction-and-procedure-amendmentregulations-2002/note
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.