Part 1: Introductory provisions Section 4: "Adversely affected by coronavirus"
See the table in Annex A for a summary of the position regarding territorial extent and application in the United Kingdom.
	This section defines when a business tenancy is "adversely affected by coronavirus" for purposes of the Act.
	Subsection (1) provides the conditions for when a business tenancy is adversely affected by coronavirus. This subsection means that if the whole or part of a business carried on in the premises comprised in the tenancy, or if the whole or part of the premises themselves, were subject to a closure requirement under coronavirus regulations during a "relevant period", then they are considered as being adversely affected by coronavirus.
	The term "closure requirement" is defined in subsection (2)(a) and means a requirement to close either premises (or parts of premises) or businesses (or parts of businesses) specified in regulations and expressed as an obligation to close. Subsection (4) states that, for the purposes of subsection (2), it does not matter if certain limited activities were allowed as an exception to the closure requirement. If certain activities were allowed by regulations, this should be disregarded when determining whether a tenancy was adversely affected by coronavirus and so the tenancy still falls within the scope of arbitration under the Act. The concept of closure for these purposes is therefore relatively broad. However, the closure must have been required by regulations.
	Under subsection (2)(b), a "relevant period" began at or after 2pm on 21 March 2020 and ended at or before 11.55 p.m. on 18 July 2021 for premises in England, or 6 a.m. on 7 August 2021 for premises in Wales. This means that if a business was subject to a closure requirement for any period within these times, then they meet the test. Many types of business were required to close for some periods within these times; they are adversely affected by coronavirus.
	For the purposes of subsection (2)(a), subsection (3) states that a requirement to close either the whole or part of the business or premises at particular times every day can be regarded as a closure requirement. For example, some businesses were required to close their premises at a certain time in the evening until a certain time in the morning, during a relevant period.
	Subsection (5) states that in a situation where a business is carried on not only at the premises named in the tenancy but also elsewhere, then this Act only applies to the portion of the business that was carried on at the tenancy premises. For example, if a tenant runs a restaurant business partly at the tenancy premises but also from the tenant’s own owned premises, then the relevant business for the Act’s purposes is just that part that was conducted at the tenancy premises.
	Subsection (6) sets out that "coronavirus regulations" for the purposes of this section, must have been made under the power in section 45C of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, either alone or under other powers too.