Part 4: Regulation of Expenditure Controlled Expenditure etc Section 28 Recognised Third parties: changes to existing limits etc
Subsections (2) to (4) amend section 88 of PPERA to create, in effect, a two tier system of notification for third-party campaigners, by introducing the "lower-tier expenditure limit" set at £10,000. Subsection (1) defines the lower tier expenditure limits applicable to controlled expenditure by third parties during a regulated period as set out in section 94(5) of PPERA.
	By virtue of subsections (5) and (6), third-party campaigners registered on the ‘lower tier’, as part of any renewal notification, must confirm or withdraw their statement (as a third party subject to lower tier expenditure limit) with the Electoral Commission. If a third-party campaigner is registered on the lower tier and thinks that it will exceed the existing per country spending limit, the third party may send a "notification of alteration" to the Electoral Commission as is the case for any changes to an original notification under section 88(8) of PPERA. Failure to do so means the third party (or individual or responsible person) may be liable for an offence if their spending is in excess of those third party limits.
	Subsections (7), (8) and (9) incorporate this new ‘lower tier threshold’ as an expenditure limit for third parties alongside the existing spending limits for third-party campaigners in section 94 of PPERA. The lower tier for notification is set at those third parties intending to spend in excess of £10,000 on controlled expenditure across any combination of the constituent parts of the UK during a reserved regulated period before an election. It also acts as the upper expenditure limit for non-recognised third parties. New subsection (4ZA) of section 94 links the incurring of controlled expenditure to authorisation by a responsible person within the third party subject to the lower tier expenditure limits.
	Subsection (10) makes it an offence under section 94(4) of PPERA for a third party to incur controlled expenditure in excess of £10,000 across the UK during a regulated period without notifying/registering with the Electoral Commission. Recognised third-party campaigners subject to the lower tier expenditure limit that exceed their limit outlined in section 94(4) become subject to all of the existing Part 6 regulation for recognised third-parties, and the corresponding spending limit offence in section 94(2) (subsection (10A)).
	Under subsection (11), a "lower tier" third-party campaigner is excluded from acting as a lead campaigner in relation to any arrangement in which expenditure is incurred in pursuance of a common plan with one or more third parties. This is due to the fact that such parties are not subject to the reporting requirements of recognised third parties, and therefore the spending would be unreported.
	Subsection (12) ensures that third-party campaigners subject to the lower tier expenditure limit are not subject to some controls in PPERA namely sections 91, 92, 95A, 95B, 95D and 96 will not apply. They are not required to submit donations reports during a reserved regulated period, or subject to the internal reporting and recording requirements of sections 91, 92 and 93 of PPERA.
	Subsection (8) specifies that only third-party campaigners incurring controlled expenditure during a reserved regulated period are required to give a notification to the Electoral Commission subject to the ‘lower tier expenditure limit’. The section only applies to regulated periods (defined by section 94(10) of the 2000 Act) to which any limit is imposed by references to paragraphs 3, 7 and 9 to 11 of Schedule 10 PPERA. The regulated period before devolved elections fall within the devolved legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament or Welsh Senedd, except where regulated periods for UK Parliamentary elections overlap/are combined with those periods; this is also the case for any related offences under section 94 (2) and (4) of PPERA.
	That means that a third party campaigning for both Scottish parliamentary and Welsh Senedd elections can spend up £10,000 per regulated period (the existing per country thresholds under section 94(5) of PPERA) without registering with the Commission whereas section 25 makes the registration threshold £10,000 for spending anywhere in the UK during a reserved regulated period. For example, a third party spending £5,000 in both Northern Ireland and England will now be required to register (as they have reached the new ‘lower tier’ threshold), although they have not reached the per country thresholds of £10,000 and £20,000 respectively in those countries (which as contained in section 94(5) of PPERA). Failure to register will mean that a third party (or the person who authorised the expenditure) is potentially liable for the offence in section 94(4).
	It is possible that this combination of regulated periods could happen retrospectively, if a UK parliamentary general election is called and the regulated period of the devolved election is within 365 days leading up to the UK election for example. In this scenario, the entire combined period (as defined by paragraphs 9 to 11 of Schedule 10 of PPERA) would be reserved. In this situation, a non-registered third party spending in excess of £10,000 spread across the Scottish and Welsh regulated periods, without registering, could be liable for an offence if those regulated periods were combined with a regulated period for a UK parliamentary election.