Statutory Instruments
2003 No. 2579

CONSUMER PROTECTION
The Timeshare (Cancellation Information) Order 2003

Made
2nd October 2003

Laid before Parliament
8th October 2003

Coming into force
31st October 2003

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred upon her by section 4(2) and subsections (6), (7) and (8) of section 12 of the Timeshare Act 1992(1), hereby makes the following Order:—

Citation and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Timeshare (Cancellation Information) Order 2003 and shall come into force on 31st October 2003.

Interpretation

2.  In this Order—

“the Act” means the Timeshare Act 1992;

“blank cancellation notice”, in the case of a timeshare agreement, means a blank notice of cancellation which the agreement is required to contain by section 2(2F) of the Act(2), and, in the case of a timeshare credit agreement, means a blank notice of cancellation which a timeshare credit agreement is required to contain by section 3(6) of the Act(3);

“required information”, in the case of a timeshare agreement, means information which the agreement is required to contain by section 2 of the Act and, in the case of a timeshare credit agreement, means information which the agreement is required to contain by section 3 of the Act.

Form of timeshare agreements

3.—(1) A timeshare agreement shall include the required information in the form set out—

(a)in Part I of Schedule 1 to this Order, unless the agreement fulfils the conditions set out in either subsection (2B) or subsection (2D) of section 2 of the Act;

(b)in Part II of that Schedule, if the agreement fulfils the conditions set out in subsection (2D), but does not fulfil the conditions set out in subsection (2B), of that section; or

(c)in Part III of that Schedule, if the agreement fulfils the conditions set out in subsection (2B) of that section.

(2) If a timeshare agreement includes provision for providing credit for or in respect of the offeree, it shall also include the information which it is required to contain by section 2(2A) of the Act in the form set out in Schedule 2 to this Order.

(3) A timeshare agreement shall include a blank cancellation notice in the form set out in Part I of Schedule 4 to this Order.

(4) The required information and the blank cancellation notice shall be set out at the end of the timeshare agreement.

(5) A timeshare agreement shall include, immediately adjacent to the place where the offeree signs the agreement, the statement, “YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO CANCEL THIS AGREEMENT. YOU HAVE UNTIL IN WHICH TO DO SO. (THIS DATE MUST BE AT LEAST FOURTEEN DAYS AFTER THE DAY YOU SIGNED THE AGREEMENT). PLEASE REFER TO THE END OF THE AGREEMENT FOR FURTHER DETAILS OF YOUR CANCELLATION RIGHTS.”.

Form of timeshare credit agreements

4.—(1) A timeshare agreement shall include the required information in the form set out—

(a)in Part I of Schedule 3 to this Order, or

(b)in Part II of that Schedule, if the agreement fulfils the conditions set out in subsection (4) of section 3 of the Act.

(2) A timeshare credit agreement shall include a blank cancellation notice in the form set out in Part II of Schedule 4 to this Order.

(3) The required information and the blank cancellation notice shall be set out at the end of the timeshare credit agreement.

(4) A timeshare credit agreement shall include, immediately adjacent to the place where the offeree signs the agreement, the statement, “YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO CANCEL THIS AGREEMENT. YOU HAVE UNTIL IN WHICH TO DO SO. (THIS DATE MUST BE AT LEAST FOURTEEN DAYS AFTER THE DAY YOU SIGNED THE AGREEMENT). PLEASE REFER TO THE END OF THE AGREEMENT FOR FURTHER DETAILS OF YOUR CANCELLATION RIGHTS.”.

Lettering requirements

5.—(1) The lettering of the required information, of the blank cancellation notices and of the statements referred to in articles 3(5) and 4(4) shall be of a size and type that is easily legible and of a colour which is easily distinguishable from the background on which they are set out.

(2) For the required information and the blank cancellation notices, capital letters shall be used in all the places in which they are shown in each Schedule and words shall be in bold lettering in accordance with the Schedules.

(3) Capital letters shall be used for all the words in the statements referred to in articles 3(5) and 4(4).

(4) The lettering of the words “IMPORTANT—YOU SHOULD READ THIS CAREFULLY” and “YOUR RIGHT TO CANCEL THIS AGREEMENT” in the required information shall be larger than any other lettering in the required information.

Information to be inserted

6.—(1) In the required information and the blank cancellation notices, there shall be inserted in the blank spaces in the form set out in the appropriate Schedule the information referred to in the square brackets besides the blank spaces.

(2) In the statement referred to in article 3(5), there shall be inserted in the blank space after the word “until” the date which must be specified in the agreement by virtue of section 2(2)(a) of the Act.

(3) In the statement referred to in article 4(4), there shall be inserted in the blank space after the word “until” the date which must be specified in the agreement by virtue of section 3(2)(a) of the Act.

Gerry Sutcliffe,
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Employment Relations, Competition and Consumers,
Department of Trade and Industry
2nd October 2003

Article 3(1)
SCHEDULE 1

PART I

PART II

PART III

Article 3(2)
SCHEDULE 2

Article 4(1)
SCHEDULE 3

PART I

PART II

Articles 3(3) and 4(2)
SCHEDULE 4

PART I

PART II

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order prescribes the form of:
(a)information on the right to cancel a timeshare agreement; and
(b)a blank notice of cancellation of a timeshare agreement; and
(c)information on the right to cancel a timeshare credit agreement; and
(d)a blank notice of cancellation of a timeshare credit agreement.
Under sections 2 and 3 of the Timeshare Act 1992 the information referred to in (a) and (c) above must be included in the relevant agreement, together with the blank notices of cancellation referred to in (b) and (d) above.
It is a criminal offence for an offeror (the person offering the timeshare for sale) to enter into a timeshare agreement unless the agreement contains the information and the blank notice of cancellation referred to in (a) and (b) above.
A timeshare credit agreement should also contain the information and blank cancellation notice referred to in (c) and (d) above (although entering into such an agreement when it does not comply with these requirements does not constitute a criminal offence).
The information referred to in (a) and (c) concerns the rights of a person buying a timeshare (referred to as “the offeree” in the Timeshare Act 1992 and this Order) to cancel a timeshare agreement or a timeshare credit agreement at any time before or on a day specified in the notice. This must be a day which falls not less than fourteen days after the agreement is entered into. These notices also spell out the rights and obligations of the offeree should he choose to exercise the right to cancel.
Because Directive 1994/47/EC on the protection of purchasers in respect of certain aspects of contracts relating to the purchase of the right to use immovable properties on a timeshare basis confers additional cancellation rights in respect of some timeshare transactions, this Order prescribes different forms of cancellation information according to whether or not those additional cancellation rights apply.
Notices (b) and (d) may be used by the offeree to cancel the agreement.


(1)
1992 c. 35.

(2)
Section 2(2F) was inserted by the Timeshare Act 1992 (Amendment) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/1922).

(3)
Section 3(6) was inserted by the Timeshare Act 1992 (Amendment) Regulations 2003.