Debt Relief
(Developing Countries) (Jersey) Law 2013
A LAW to make provision for or in
connection with the relief of debts of certain developing countries.
Commencement [see endnotes]
1 Interpretation
In this Law –
“completion point” is regarded as being reached in
respect of a country if it is so regarded for the purposes of the Initiative;
“country” includes a territory;
“debt” has the meaning set out in Article 3;
“decision point” is regarded as being reached in respect
of a country if it is so regarded for the purposes of the Initiative;
“external”, in relation to a debt, has the meaning set
out in Article 3;
“foreign judgment” means a judgment (however described)
of a court or tribunal of a country outside Jersey, and includes anything
(other than an arbitration award) enforceable as if it were such a judgment;
“Initiative” means the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor
Countries Initiative of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank;
“judgment” includes an order;
“the lodging day” means 1st October 2012;
“potentially eligible Initiative country” means a
country –
(a) that
the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank identify as potentially
eligible for debt relief under the Initiative; and
(b) in
respect of which decision point has not been reached;
“public” and “publicly guaranteed”, in
relation to a debt, have the meanings set out in Article 3;
“qualifying debt” has the meaning set out in Article 2;
“relevant claim” means –
(a) a
claim for, or relating to, a qualifying debt; or
(b) a
claim under an agreement compromising a claim within paragraph (a);
“relevant proportion” has the meaning prescribed in Article 6.
2 Qualifying
debt
(1) In this Law,
“qualifying debt” means a debt that is –
(a) incurred
before the lodging day;
(b) public
or publicly guaranteed;
(c) external;
(d) a
debt of a country to which the Initiative applies or of a potentially eligible
Initiative country; and
(e) in
the case of a debt of a country to which the Initiative applies, a debt
incurred before decision point is reached in respect of the country.
(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1),
a debt incurred on or after the lodging day is to be treated as incurred before
the lodging day if (and so far as) it replaces one incurred before the lodging
day.
(3) For the purposes of paragraph (1),
a debt incurred after decision point is to be treated as incurred before
decision point if (and so far as) it replaces one incurred before decision
point.
3 Qualifying
debt: additional interpretation provisions
(1) This Article applies
for the purposes of the interpretation of Article 2.
(2) A debt
includes –
(a) a
liability that falls to be discharged otherwise than by the making of a
payment;
(b) an
obligation to repurchase property that arises under an agreement for the sale
and repurchase of property (whether or not the same property); and
(c) a
liability of the lessee under a finance lease (except a liability so far as it
relates to the operation or maintenance of property subject to the lease).
(3) A debt does not
include –
(a) a
liability to pay for goods or services that arose on the delivery of the goods
or the provision of the services;
(b) a
liability that falls to be discharged in less than a year from the time when it
was incurred unless it is within paragraph (4); or
(c) a
liability incurred on or after the lodging day that replaces anything that was
(at the time of the replacement) within sub-paragraph (a) or (b).
(4) A liability is within
this paragraph if it ought to have been discharged –
(a) in
every case, more than a year before the lodging day; and
(b) in
the case where decision point has been reached in respect of the country
concerned, more than a year before decision point.
(5) A debt is a public debt
of a country if it was incurred by –
(a) the
country or any part of it (or the government of the country or of any part of
the country or any department of any such government);
(b) the
central bank or other monetary authority of the country; or
(c) a
body corporate controlled (directly or indirectly) by anything within
sub-paragraph (a) or (b).
(6) In paragraph (5)(a)
references to part of a country include any municipality or other local government
area in the country.
(7) A debt is a publicly
guaranteed debt of a country if –
(a) it is
guaranteed;
(b) the
guarantee was entered into –
(i) before the
lodging day, and
(ii) if
decision point has been reached in respect of the country, before decision point
was reached; and
(c) the
debt would be a public debt of the country if it had been incurred by the
guarantor.
(8) If the conditions in
paragraph (7)(a) to (c) are met as regards part of a debt, that part is
regarded as a publicly guaranteed debt of the country concerned.
(9) A public or publicly
guaranteed debt of a country is external unless the creditor was resident in
the country –
(a) if
decision point has been reached in respect of the country before the lodging
day, at the time when decision point was reached; or
(b) otherwise,
at the lodging day.
(10) If in any proceedings there
is an issue as to whether a debt is a qualifying debt, the debt is to be
treated as external unless it is proved in those proceedings that it is not
external.
4 Change
of relevant eligibility condition
(1) If the terms of the
Initiative are amended on or after the lodging day in such a way as to change a
relevant eligibility condition, this Law has effect as if they had not been so
amended.
(2) In paragraph (1)
“relevant eligibility condition” means a condition as to the level
of a country’s income or debt or the size of its economy that must be met
in order for the country to be eligible for debt relief under the Initiative.
5 Amount
recoverable in respect of claim for qualifying debt etc
(1) The amount recoverable
in respect of –
(a) a
qualifying debt; or
(b) any
cause of action relating to a qualifying debt,
is the relevant proportion of the amount that would otherwise be
recoverable in respect of the qualifying debt or cause of action.
(2) Paragraph (1) does
not apply in relation to an agreement (a “compromise agreement”)
that compromises –
(a) a
claim for a qualifying debt; or
(b) a
claim in respect of a cause of action relating to a qualifying debt.
(3) However, the amount
recoverable under a compromise agreement is limited to the amount that would
have been recoverable in respect of the claim if the agreement had not been
made and paragraph (1) had applied to the claim.
(4) Paragraph (1) does
not apply where an agreement that is not a compromise agreement (a
“refinancing agreement”) has been made in respect of a debt
(“the initial debt”), being an agreement –
(a) that
changes the terms for repayment of the initial debt in such a way as to reduce
its net present value; or
(b) by
virtue of which the initial debt is replaced by a debt (“the new
debt”) whose net present value is less than the net present value of the initial
debt.
(5) However, the amount
recoverable in respect of the initial debt after its terms for repayment have
been changed as referred to in paragraph (4)(a), or in respect of the new
debt referred to in paragraph (4)(b), is limited to the amount that would
have been recoverable in respect of the initial debt if the refinancing
agreement had not been made and paragraph (1) had applied to the initial
debt.
(6) References in this
Article to the amount recoverable include the amount recoverable on the
enforcement of any security.
(7) This Article applies
even if the law applicable to the qualifying debt, or to any compromise
agreement, refinancing agreement or security, is the law of a country outside
Jersey.
6 How
to determine the relevant proportion
(1) Where a qualifying debt
is one to which the Initiative applies, the relevant proportion in relation to
that debt is the quotient found when A is divided by B and –
“A” is the amount that the debt would be if it were
reduced in accordance with the Initiative (on the assumption, if it is not the
case, that completion point has been reached, for the purposes of the
Initiative, in respect of the country whose debt it is); and
“B” is the amount of the debt without its having been so
reduced.
(2) Where the qualifying
debt is a debt of a potentially eligible Initiative country, the relevant
proportion in relation to that debt is 33%.
7 Judgments
and awards on qualifying debts where Article 5 not applied by court, tribunal or arbitrator
(1) This Article applies to –
(a) a
judgment given on a relevant claim where the judgment is given by a court of Jersey
before this Law came into force;
(b) a
foreign judgment given, whether before, on or after the lodging day, on a
relevant claim; or
(c) an
award made, whether before, on or after the lodging day, on a relevant claim in
an arbitration conducted under any law.
(2) The amount of the
judgment or award is to be treated as equal to the amount that it would have been
if the court, tribunal or arbitrator had applied Article 5 in relation to
the relevant claim.
(3) However, paragraph (2)
does not apply in relation to a claim if the effect of its so applying would be
to increase the amount of the judgment or award.
(4) This Article applies to
anything that gives effect to a compromise of a relevant claim as if paragraph (2)
read as follows –
“(2) The amount of the judgment or
award is to be treated as equal to the amount that it would have been if the
relevant claim had not been compromised and the court, tribunal or arbitrator
had applied Article 5 in relation to the relevant claim.”.
8 Law
does not apply if debtor fails to offer to compromise proceedings
(1) This Law does not apply
to a relevant claim, a relevant foreign judgment or a relevant arbitration
award if –
(a) proceedings
are brought in respect of the claim, foreign judgment or arbitration award; and
(b) the
debtor does not, before the relevant time, make an offer to compromise the
proceedings on comparable Initiative terms.
(2) For the purposes of
this Article an offer to compromise proceedings is made on comparable
Initiative terms if the net present value of payments to be made in accordance
with the offer is equal to or exceeds the net present value of the payment
required to satisfy the claim, foreign judgment or arbitration award (reduced
in accordance with this Law).
(3) This Article applies
only to cases where the proceedings were brought on or after the lodging day.
(4) In this
Article –
“proceedings” means proceedings in a court of Jersey,
and includes proceedings for –
(a) the
registration of a foreign judgment or an arbitration award; or
(b) permission
to enforce an arbitration award in the same manner as a judgment of a court,
but does not include proceedings for the enforcement of a judgment
or award;
“relevant arbitration award” means an award referred to
in Article 7(1)(c);
“relevant foreign judgment” means a foreign judgment
referred to in Article 7(1)(b);
“the relevant time” means, as the case
requires –
(a) the
time when a court first gives judgment on the relevant claim;
(b) the
time when the relevant foreign judgment or relevant arbitration award is
registered; or
(c) the
time when permission is given to enforce the relevant arbitration award in the
same manner as a judgment of a court.
9 Exception
for European law or international obligation
Nothing in this Law applies to a foreign judgment, or an arbitration
award, of a kind that is required, by –
(a) European Union law that
applies to Jersey; or
(b) an international
obligation that applies to Jersey,
to be enforced in full, even in cases where such enforcement is
contrary to the public policy of Jersey.
10 Exception
for amounts already paid on a
liability
Nothing in this Law enables a person to recover anything paid in
total or partial satisfaction of any liability (whether arising under an
agreement, judgment, order, award or otherwise).
11 Short title
This Law may be cited as the Debt Relief (Developing Countries)
(Jersey) Law 2013.