{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/provision-of-services-regulations-2009/regulation-4",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/provision-of-services-regulations-2009/regulation-4.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2009/2999",
  "legislation_title": "The Provision of Services Regulations 2009",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/provision-of-services-regulations-2009",
  "path": "regulation/4",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "4",
  "heading": "Interpretation: general",
  "text": "In these Regulations—\n“authorisation scheme” means any arrangement which in effect requires the provider or recipient of a service to obtain the authorisation of, or to notify, a competent authority in order to have access to, or to exercise, a service activity;\n“complete for the purposes of processing” means a competent authority has received all the application information and documentation required under the relevant authorisation scheme to enable it to process the application, and references to an “incomplete” application shall be construed accordingly;\n“enactment” includes Acts of the Scottish Parliament, Northern Ireland legislation, Acts and Measures of the National Assembly for Wales and subordinate legislation;\n“establishment”, in relation to the provider of a service, means the actual pursuit of an economic activity, as referred to in Article 49 of the Treaty, by the provider for an indefinite period and through a stable infrastructure from where the business of providing services is actually carried out (and references to “established”, in relation to the provider of a service, are to be construed accordingly);\n“notary”—\n(a)in England and Wales, includes a person who, for the purposes of the Legal Services Act 2007 , is an authorised person in relation to any activity which constitutes a notarial activity (within the meaning of that Act), and\n(b)in Scotland, means a notary public duly admitted in Scotland;\n“professional liability insurance” means insurance taken out by the provider of a service in respect of potential liabilities to recipients and, where applicable, third parties arising out of the provision of the service;\n“provider”, in relation to a service, means a person who provides, or offers to provide, the service in the United Kingdom and “provision of a service” shall be construed accordingly;\n“recipient”, in relation to a service, means a person in the United Kingdom who, for professional or non-professional purposes, uses, or wishes to use, the service and “recipient of a service” shall be construed accordingly;\n“regulated profession” means a professional activity or group of activities—\n(a)access to which, the pursuit of which or one of the modes of pursuit of which is subject (directly or indirectly) by virtue of legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions to the possession of specified qualifications, or\n(b)the pursuit of which is by persons using a professional title which is limited by legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions to holders of a given professional qualification;\n“requirement” includes any obligation, prohibition, condition or limit;\n“service” has the meaning given by regulation 2;\n...\n“subordinate legislation” means Orders in Council, orders, rules, regulations, schemes, warrants, byelaws and other instruments made or to be made under any Act or under any Act of the Scottish Parliament, Northern Ireland legislation or Act or Measure of the National Assembly for Wales;\n“the Treaty” means the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Words in reg. 4 inserted (1.10.2026) by The Provision of Services (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/435), regs. 1(2), 3(a) (with reg. 12)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Words in reg. 4 substituted (1.8.2012) by The Treaty of Lisbon (Changes in Terminology or Numbering) Order 2012 (S.I. 2012/1809), art. 2(1), Sch. Pt. 2 (with art. 2(2))"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "Words in reg. 4 substituted (1.10.2026) by The Provision of Services (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/435), regs. 1(2), 3(b) (with reg. 12)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F4",
      "text": "Words in reg. 4 substituted (1.10.2026) by The Provision of Services (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/435), regs. 1(2), 3(c) (with reg. 12)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F5",
      "text": "Words in reg. 4 omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Provision of Services (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1329), regs. 1(1), 4; 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)"
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M1",
      "text": "2007 c. 29."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/2999/regulation/4",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T03:01:49.899965+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}