Crown Agents Act 1979
| Year | 1979 |
Crown Agents Act 1979
1979 CHAPTER 43
An Act to reconstitute as a body corporate, and make other provision with respect to, the Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations, including the establishment of a Board to realise certain of their assets.
[4th April 1979]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
The Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations
1 Reconstitution of Crown Agents as body corporate.
(1) On such day as the Minister may by order appoint (in this Act referred to as ‘the appointed day’)—
(a ) there shall come into being a body corporate named the Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations, which shall function under and in accordance with the provisions of this Act; and
(b ) the term of office of each of the unincorporated Agents shall expire, but without prejudice to his eligibility for appointment under this section to membership of the Crown Agents for a term of office beginning on that day.
(2) In this Act—
(a ) ‘the Crown Agents’ means the body corporate established by this section;
(b ) ‘the unincorporated Agents’ means the persons for the time being holding office under the Crown as Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations; and
(c ) ‘The Minister’ means the Minister of Overseas Development.
(3) The Crown Agents shall consist of not less than six nor more than ten members appointed by the Minister; and the Minister shall appoint one member to be the chairman, and another member to be the deputy chairman, of the Crown Agents.
(4) Any appointment under subsection (3) may be on either a full-time or a part-time basis.
(5) The Crown Agents, despite their name—
(a ) are to be regarded as agents of the Crown only in so far as they act as agents of the Crown by virtue of any provision of this Act expressly authorising them to do so; and
(b ) are not to be regarded as servants of the Crown or as enjoying any status, privilege or immunity of the Crown,
and their property is not to be regarded as property of, or held on behalf of, the Crown; but nothing in this Act shall be taken to derogate from any privilege, immunity or exemption of the Crown in relation to any matter as respects which the Crown Agents act as agents of the Crown by virtue of any such provision as is mentioned in paragraph (a ).
(6) Schedule 1 shall have effect with respect to the Crown Agents.
(7) The Minister may, after consultation with the Crown Agents, by order specify a different name by which the Crown Agents are to be known; and an order under this subsection may make such provision as appears to the Minister to be necessary or expedient in consequence of the change of name effected thereby, including provision for amending enactments (whether contained in this or any other Act).
2 Vesting in Crown Agents of property, rights and liabilities.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, on the appointed day there shall vest in the Crown Agents by virtue of this Act—
(a ) all property (in whoever vested) which, immediately before the appointed day, is held by or on behalf of the Crown in connection with the functions of the unincorporated Agents in their capacity as such; and
(b ) all rights, liabilities and obligations (in whoever vested) which, immediately before that day, are enjoyed by, or incumbent on, the Crown in that connection.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to any property, rights, liabilities or obligations as to which it is provided by paragraph 7 of Schedule 5 that on the appointed day they are to vest in the Crown Agents Holding and Realisation Board established by section 25.
(3) Subsection (1)(a ) does not apply to any property which, immediately before the appointed day, is vested in any person as nominee of the unincorporated Agents or any of them in their capacity as such; and accordingly, subject to paragraph 7(2) of Schedule 5, any such property shall as from that day continue vested in that person as nominee, but (by virtue of subsection (1) (b )) as nominee of the Crown Agents and not of any other person.
(4) Schedule 2 shall have effect for the purpose of supplementing the preceding provisions of this section.
(5) In this section and Schedule 2 ‘the Crown’ means the Crown in right of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom.
3 General functions of Crown Agents.
(1) Subject to the following provisions of this Act, the Crown Agents shall have power—
(a ) to do, as agents of any scheduled authority or body, but not as agents of any other person, anything which they are by or under this Act given power to do as agents; and
(b ) to do, otherwise than as agents, anything which they are by or under this Act given power to do in their own right.
(2) It shall be the duty of the Minister, in deciding whether or how far to make use of any power conferred on him by this Act, and in particular his powers under section 10 to require the Crown Agents to furnish him with information, to have regard to the special nature of the relationship between the Crown Agents and the scheduled authorities and bodies for whom they act as agents.
(3) In this Act ‘scheduled authority or body’ means an authority or body of any description specified in Part I of Schedule 3, and references to the scheduled authorities and bodies shall be construed accordingly.
(4) Part II of Schedule 3 shall have effect for the purpose of supplementing subsection (3).
4 Authorised agency activities.
(1) As agents of any scheduled authority or body the Crown Agents shall have power to carry on anywhere in the world any of the activities mentioned in Schedule 4 on behalf of their principal; and references in that Schedule to the principal shall be construed accordingly.
(2) The Minister may from time to time, with the approval of the Treasury and after consultation with the Crown Agents, by order impose on the Crown Agents, for any period specified in the order, an overall limit on the amount of funds which may be accepted by them under paragraph 10 of Schedule 4 during that period.
(3) The Minister may by order confer on the Crown Agents power, as agents of any scheduled authority or body, to carry on anywhere in the world any activity not mentioned in Schedule 4 which in his opinion it would be appropriate for the Crown Agents to have power to carry on as agents.
(4) An order under subsection (3) conferring power to carry on any activity—
(a ) may be framed so as to confer power to carry on that activity only in accordance with conditions specified in the order; and
(b ) may be made so as to have effect from any date not earlier than the appointed day.
5 Authorised non-agency activities.
(1) The Crown Agents shall have power to carry on in their own right anywhere in the world any of the following activities—
(a ) providing any of the services mentioned in subsection (2) to scheduled authorities and bodies, but not to any other person;
(b ) procuring, subject to subsection (3), movable property of any kind, being property for which the Crown Agents anticipate a demand on the part of one or more of the scheduled authorities and bodies, and selling any such property to any such authority or body or (subject to subsection (3)) to any other person.
(2) The services referred to in subsection (1)(a ) are—
(a ) technical inspection services (including testing);
(b ) giving professional or technical advice;
(c ) carrying out feasibility studies;
(d ) supervision and management of projects;
(e ) appraisal of proposals;
(f ) certification in connection with contracts;
(g ) consultancy services;
(h ) training services;
(i ) provision and management of staff;
(j ) services as a trustee or nominee;
(k ) acting as registrar, and performing related functions, for the purposes of any loan raised by a scheduled authority or body;
(l ) subject to subsection (3), procuring movable property of any kind, being property required by one or more of the scheduled authorities and bodies, and selling it to such of those authorities and bodies as require it;
(m ) subject to subsection (3), assembling, installing, commissioning or maintaining any equipment procured and sold in pursuance of paragraph (l );
(n ) providing on commercial terms—
(3) The following powers of the Crown Agents under subsection (1), namely—
(a ) the power under subsection (1)(a ) to procure movable property in pursuance of subsection (2)(l );
(b ) the power under subsection (1)(a ) to provide any of the services mentioned in subsection (2)(m );
(c ) the power under subsection (1)(a ) to provide credit as mentioned in subsection (2)(n )(ii);
(d ) the power under subsection (1)(b ) to procure movable property; and
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