Commentary on Sections Control of donations Section 56 Exemption from requirement to prepare quarterly donation reports
299.Subsection (1) of this section amends the effect of section 62 of the 2000 Act (Quarterly donation reports) by inserting new section 62A (Exemption from requirement to prepare quarterly donation reports).
300.Section 62 currently requires the treasurer of a registered party to submit quarterly donation reports in respect of any recordable donation. A recordable donation is any donation of more than £5,000 accepted during a quarter or any donation which when, added to other donations from the same source during that calendar year, brings the amount up to more than £5,000. In respect of an accounting unit of a registered party, a recordable donation is one of more than £1,000 accepted during a quarter or any donation which, when added to other donations from the same source during that calendar year, brings the amount up to more than £1,000. A treasurer must also record any further donations of more than £1,000 from a source, which, during the same calendar year, has already been recorded in a donation report. Parties must also report donations from the same source made to any of their accounting units which in aggregate exceed £5,000.
301.The effect of new section 62A is to make the requirements of section 62 less burdensome for smaller political parties, such as residents associations, and increase the Electoral Commission efficiency. The treasurer of a registered political party which does not receive any recordable donations for four consecutive quarterly periods is no longer required to provide any further quarterly donation reports until a recordable donation is accepted or dealt with in accordance with section 56(2) of the 2000 Act (Acceptance or return of donations: general).
302.Subsection (2) of this section provides that the provisions in new section 62A will have effect if the last of the four consecutive quarterly donation reports mentioned in subsection (1) relates to a period which falls wholly or partly after the commencement of this section. For clarification it also provides that it is immaterial whether any of the other reports relate to such a period.