Overseas Development and Co-operation Act 1980 (repealed)

PART I — General

Provision of assistance to, or for the benefit of, overseas countries

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• (1) The Secretary of State shall have power, for the purpose of promoting the development or maintaining the economy of a country or territory outside the United Kingdom, or the welfare of its people, to furnish any person or body with assistance, whether financial, technical or of any other nature.

• (2) Any such assistance may be provided on such terms and subject to such conditions (if any) as the Secretary of State may determine.

• (3) In particular any such assistance, other than financial assistance, may be provided free of charge or on such terms as to payment as the Secretary of State may determine, and financial assistance may be provided by way of grant or, subject to subsection (4) below, loan, or partly in the one way and partly in the other.

• (4) No assistance shall be provided by way of loan except on such terms and subject to such conditions (if any) as may be approved by the Treasury.

• (5) For the purpose of enabling him to furnish technical assistance under this section, the Secretary of State may undertake, or promote the undertaking of, such research in the fields of economic development, administration and social services as appears to him appropriate.

• (6) Any expenses incurred by virtue of this section by the Secretary of State shall be defrayed out of money provided by Parliament.

• (7) Any sums received by the Secretary of State by way of payment of interest on, or repayment of, a loan made under the powers conferred by this section or by way of payment for any assistance under this section, other than financial assistance, shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.

• (8) In this section—

• (a) any reference to technical assistance is a reference to assistance in the fields of economic development, administration and social services, consisting in the making available of the services of any body or person, training facilities, the supply of material, or the results of research undertaken in any such fields; and

• (b) any reference to a body or person, in relation to a country or territory, includes a reference to the Government of that country or territory.

• (9) No assistance shall be furnished under this section to the Commonwealth Development Corporation.

Powers of statutory bodies in relation to furnishing of assistance

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• (1) Subject to the following provisions of this section—

• (a) each of the bodies specified in Schedule 1 to this Act shall have power to enter into and carry out agreements with the Minister responsible for overseas development under which the body are to act, at the expense of that Minister, as the instrument by means of which technical assistance is furnished by the Minister under section 1(1) above ;

• (b) each of the bodies specified in Part II of that Schedule (all of which are constituted under the National Health Service Act 1977) and each of the bodies specified in Part III of that Schedule (which are constituted under other enactments) shall have power, in addition to the power conferred by paragraph (a) above, to enter into and carry out agreements under which the body, for any purpose specified in section 1(1) above, are to furnish technical assistance in a country or territory outside the United Kingdom against reimbursement to them of the cost of furnishing that assistance; and

• (c) each of the bodies specified in Part IV of that Schedule (all of which are constituted under the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978) shall have power, in addition to the power conferred by paragraph (a) above, to enter into and carry out agreements under which the body, for any purpose specified in section 1(1) above, are to furnish to any authority or person outside the United Kingdom, on such terms as to payment as may be agreed, technical or any other assistance, other than financial assistance.

• (2) The powers conferred by subsection (1) above may only be exercised by a body other than the Post Office if the appropriate consent is given.

• (3) In this section " appropriate consent" means-

• (a) in relation to the exercise of the power conferred by subsection (1)(a) above—

• (i) by the British Tourist Authority;

• (ii) by the English Tourist Board;

• (iii) by the Scottish Tourist Board; or

• (iv) by the Wales Tourist Board,

the consent of the relevant Minister as defined in section 1(6) of the Development of Tourism Act 1969 ;

• (b) in relation to any other exercise of that power, the consent of the Secretary of State; and

• (c) in relation to any exercise of the powers conferred by subsection (1)(b) and (c) above, the consent of the Secretary of State and the Minister responsible for overseas development.

• (4) Before giving consent in relation to any technical assistance proposed to be furnished by the National Coal Board, the Secretary of State or, as the case may be, the Secretary of State and the Minister responsible for overseas development shall take into account any alternative resources in the United Kingdom which may be available in that behalf.

• (5) The following subsection shall be substituted for subsection (6) of section 11 of the Coal Industry Act 1977 (which relates to the overseas activities of the National Coal Board): —

(6) Subsection (4) above shall not apply to anything done with consent given under section 2(2) of the Overseas Development and Co-operation Act 1980 (powers of statutory bodies in relation to furnishing of assistance to, or for the benefit of, overseas countries).

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• (6) In this section " the Minister responsible for overseas development" means the Secretary of State for the time being discharging the functions conferred by section 1 above.

Abortive exploratory expenditure connected with overseas enterprises

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• (1) The Secretary of State may with the consent of the Treasury enter into an agreement with any person carrying on business in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, or with a company controlled by such a person, under which the Secretary of State undertakes that if the other party to the agreement, or a company controlled by that party—

• (a) incurs expenditure approved by the Secretary of State in considering whether to make an investment of resources of a description so approved in an enterprise carried on or proposed to be carried on in a country other than the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man ; or

• (b) incurs expenditure approved by the Secretary of State in considering whether to participate in the management of such an enterprise,

and decides not to participate (whether by making an investment or otherwise), the Secretary of State will pay to the other party such sum, not exceeding the amount of the expenditure, as may be provided by the agreement.

• (2) Any such agreement may include such terms as the Secretary of State considers appropriate in the circumstances of the case.

• (3) Any expenses incurred by the Secretary of State by virtue of this section shall be defrayed out of money provided by Parliament.

• (4) Any sum received by the Secretary of State by virtue of an agreement under this section shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.

• (5) In this section—

• (a) " business " includes a profession ;

• (b) references to a company controlled by a person are references to a company so controlled directly or indirectly, and include cases where the person having control is also a company.

PART II — International Financial Institutions

General

International development banks

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• (1) If the Government of the United Kingdom has become bound before the coming into force of this Act, or thereafter becomes bound, by an international agreement for the establishment and operation of an international development bank which provides for the making by members of the bank of an initial subscription or other initial contribution to the capital stock of the bank or becomes bound by any arrangements for the making by the members of any further payment to any such bank, the Secretary of State may with the approval of the Treasury by order made by statutory instrument make provision—

• (a) for the payment out of money provided by Parliament of sums required by the Secretary of State for the making on behalf of the Government of the United Kingdom in accordance with the agreement or arrangements a payment of any such initial contribution or further payment, including a payment to maintain the value of any such contribution or further payment which has already been paid; and

• (b) for the payment out of such money of sums required to enable the Secretary of State to redeem any non-interest-bearing and non-negotiable notes or other obligations which may be issued or created by him and accepted by the bank in accordance with the agreement or arrangements; and

• (c) for the payment into the Consolidated Fund of sums received by the Government of the United Kingdom in pursuance of the agreement or arrangements.

• (2) In this section " international development bank " means an international financial institution (whether or not mentioned in section 5, 6 or 7 below) having as one of its objects economic development either generally or in any region of the world.

• (3) An order under this section shall not be made unless a draft of the order has been laid before and approved by the House of Commons.

Particular international development banks

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Finance Corporation

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• (1) There shall be paid out of money provided by Parliament—

• (a) the subscriptions payable to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (in this Act referred to as " the International Bank ") under paragraph id) of section 3 of Article II of the International Bank's Articles of Agreement, including any increase in those sums not exceeding the equivalent of 1,300.000,000 United States dollars ; and

• (b) any sums payable under section 9 of that Article (falls in the par or foreign exchange value of currencies of members).

• (2) The Treasury may, if they think fit so to do, create and issue to the International Bank, as they think fit, any such non-interest-bearing and non-negotiable notes or other obligations as are provided for by section 12 of Article V of the International Bank's Articles of Agreement.

• (3) Sums payable under any such notes or other obligations shall be charged on the National Loans Fund with recourse to the Consolidated Fund.

• (4) There shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund—

• (a) sums received by the Government of the United Kingdom from the International Bank (other than sums received by reason of the operation of the Exchange Equalisation Account); and

• (b) sums received by the Government of the United Kingdom from the International Finance Corporation in pursuance of the agreement for the establishment and operation of that body.

The International Development Association

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• (1) The Secretary of State shall pay out of money provided by Parliament any sums required—

• (a) for making on behalf of the Government of the United Kingdom—

• (i) contributions in accordance with any resolution of the Board of Governors of the International Development Association adopted before the coming into force of this Act; or

• (ii) payments in respect of any such contributions under paragraph (a) of section 2 of Article IV of the Articles of Agreement of that Association (falls in the par or foreign exchange value of currencies of members) as applied by any such resolution ; and

• (b) for redeeming any such non-interest-bearing and non-negotiable notes or other obligations as may be issued or created by the Secretary of State and accepted by the Association in accordance with paragraph (e) of section 2 of Article II of the Articles of Agreement as applied by any such resolution.

• (2) If the Government of the United Kingdom becomes bound by arrangements for the making of additional payments to the Association, the Secretary of State may with the approval of the Treasury by order made by statutory instrument provide for the payment out of money provided by Parliament of any sums required—

• (a) for making on behalf of the Government of the United Kingdom additional payments to the Association in accordance with the arrangements or under paragraph (a) of section 2 of Article IV of the Articles of Agreement, as applied by the arrangements ; and

• (b) for redeeming any non-interest-bearing and non-negotiable notes or other obligations which may be issued or created by the Secretary of State and accepted by the Association in accordance with the arrangements or any provision of the Articles of Agreement as applied by the arrangements,

and may provide for payment into the Consolidated Fund of sums received by the Government of the United Kingdom in pursuance of the Articles of Agreement as so applied.

• (3) An order under subsection (2) above shall not be made unless a draft of the order has been laid before and approved by the House of Commons.

The Asian Development Bank

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• (1) Subject to subsection (2) below, the Secretary of State shall pay out of money provided by Parliament any sum which may be required to make payments—

• (a) in fulfilment of any undertaking given by the Government of the United Kingdom in pursuance of paragraph 3 of Article 3 of the Agreement for the establishment and operation of the Asian Development Bank (undertaking to be responsible for obligations of another member for whose external relations the United Kingdom is responsible); or

• (b) under paragraph 1 of Article 25 of the Agreement (falls in the par or foreign exchange value of currencies of members).

• (2) The aggregate amount of the sums which may be paid under subsection (1)(a) above shall not exceed £90,000,000 or such greater sum as may from time to time be specified in an order made by statutory instrument by the Secretary of State with the approval of the Treasury.

• (3) An order under this section shall not be made unless a draft of the order has been laid before and approved by the House of Commons.

• (4) Section 14 of the Interpretation Act 1978 (implied power to revoke, amend and re-enact subordinate legislation) does not apply to an order under this section.

• (5) Any sums-

• (a) received by the Secretary of State on behalf of the Government of the United Kingdom from the Asian Development Bank in pursuance of the Agreement, or

• (b) paid to the Government of the United Kingdom in repayment of any payment mentioned in subsection (1)(a) above,

shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.

Miscellaneous

Guarantees of International Bank's loans to colonial territories

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• (1) The Treasury may, subject to the provisions of this section, guarantee in such manner and on such conditions as they think fit the repayment of the principal of and the payment of the interest on and other charges in respect of any loan made by the International Bank—

• (a) to the Government of a colonial territory, or

• (b) to any Government constituted for two or more colonial territories, or

• (c) to any authority established for the purpose of providing or administering services which are common to, or relate to matters of common interest to, two or more territories of which at least one is a colonial territory.

• (2) The amount of the principal of the loans to be guaranteed under this section shall not in the aggregate exceed the equivalent of £150 million.

• (3) For the purposes of subsection (2) above, the sterling equivalent of the principal of any loan made in a currency other than sterling shall be calculated as at the time when the guarantee is given at such rate of exchange as the Treasury may determine to be the proper rate at that time.

• (4) No loan shall be guaranteed under this section unless the purpose of the loan is approved by the Secretary of State with the concurrence of the Treasury, as likely to promote the development of the resources of the territory or of all or any of the territories concerned.

• (5) A guarantee shall not be given under this section until the Government or authority to which the loan is to be made has provided to the satisfaction of the Treasury and the Secretary of State—

• (a) for appropriating and duly applying the loan for the purpose approved under subsection (4) above ;

• (b) for ensuring that any part of the loan which cannot be applied for that purpose will be applied only for such purposes as may be approved by the Secretary of State with the concurrence of the Treasury;

• (c) for the establishment, subject to subsection (6) below, of one or more sinking funds for the purpose of repayment of the principal of the loan or any instalment of it, and for the regulation of any sinking fund so established ;

• (d) for charging on the general revenues and assets of the territory concerned, or of all or any of the territories concerned, or on any other revenues or assets which may be made available for the purpose—

• (i) the principal of and interest on, and other charges in respect of, the loan and the payments to be made to any sinking funds to be established under paragraph (c) above ; and

• (ii) the repayment to the Treasury of any sum issued in pursuance of this section on account of the guarantee under this section, with interest on that sum at such rate as the Treasury may fix; and

• (e) for raising, or securing the raising of, sufficient money to meet the above charges.

• (6) Subsection (5)(c) above does not apply in a case where the Treasury and the Secretary of State are satisfied that the arrangements for the repayment of the principal of the loan, and for the payment of interest on and other charges in respect of the loan, are such as not to require the establishment of a sinking fund.

• (7) Sums required by the Treasury for fulfilling any guarantees given under this section shall be charged on and issued out of the Consolidated Fund and any sums received by way of repayment of any sums so issued shall be paid into that Fund.

• (8) Immediately after any guarantee is given under this section, the Treasury shall lay a statement of the guarantee before each House of Parliament.