126.During a parliamentary general election period, section 63 requires donation reports to be sent to the Electoral Commission in respect of each seven-day period (and any final period of less than seven days). Weekly donations reports differ from the quarterly donations reports in that they will include disclosable donations received whether or not they are eventually accepted. Only donations of more than £5,000 made to a party or, in the case of a party with accounting units, to the central organisation of a party need to be recorded in the weekly reports. The general election period is defined for the purpose of this section as the period commencing with the date of the announcement of Her Majesty’s intention to dissolve Parliament and ending with the date of the poll. In the fifteen general elections since the Second World War the length of this period has, on average, been thirty-three days.
Commentary on Sections Part IV: Control of donations to registered parties and their members etc. Chapter III (Sections 62 to 69) : Reporting of donations to registered parties Section 63 : Weekly donation reports during general election periods