Member

7: Clause 1, page 3, line 37, at end insert— “2CA Payments collected by intermediaries(1) This section applies where, under or in connection with a contract to which section 2B applies (“the supply contract”), a person other than the supplier (“the intermediary”) receives all or part of a relevant payment from the purchaser for onward transmission to the supplier.(2) This section applies regardless of—(a) whether the intermediary acts as agent for the supplier or the purchaser or otherwise, and(b) the legal characterisation of any contract between the intermediary and the supplier or the purchaser.(3) For the purposes of this section, a relevant payment is not to be treated as made to the supplier until the amount received by the intermediary is received by the supplier.(4) It is an implied term of any contract between the intermediary and the supplier that the intermediary must pay to the supplier any amount received from the purchaser in respect of a relevant payment under the supply contract before the end of the period of 7 days beginning with the day on which the intermediary receives that amount.(5) A term of any contract is void so far as it purports to—(a) provide for payment to the supplier later than is required by subsection (4), or(b) treat a relevant payment as made to the supplier earlier than is provided by subsection (3).(6) Where the intermediary fails to comply with the implied term in subsection (4), the unpaid amount is to be treated as a qualifying debt owed by the intermediary to the supplier for the purposes of this Act (and statutory interest runs accordingly).(7) Subsection (4) does not require the intermediary to pay an amount to the supplier so far as the intermediary is entitled to deduct or withhold that amount under a term of a contract with the supplier that is fair and reasonable having regard to the matters specified in Schedule 2 to the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, and it is for the intermediary to show that any such term satisfies that test.”Member’s explanatory statement This amendment closes the online marketplace loophole by providing that payment is not treated as made to a supplier until the supplier actually receives the money, and by requiring any intermediary that collects payment on a supplier’s behalf to remit it within 7 days regardless of how the intermediary is legally characterised.