The Gazette 1991

g a z e t t e

april

1991

regulations. Interestingly, any person concerned may be order- ed to pay the reasonable ex- penses of any other " p e r s on concerned" in connection w i th the hearing. "The Board is given power to hold an oral hearing in connection with any determina- tion." Despite the mechanism for the Board to determine any conflict, there may be difficulties in practice in implementing the relevant pro- visions of the Act. The relevant sections (38, 53 and 58) provide that the provisions of the relevant Part of the Act, of any regulations made thereunder and of any schedule related thereto override any provision of a scheme to the extent that the scheme provision conflicts w i th the provisions of the Act, etc. The sections go on to provide t hat the Board is to determine whether any relevant

relation to schemes). The Act confers on the Board the power to determine whether or not there is a conflict under any of those Parts and to determine disputes under Part VII (equal treatment for men and women). In so determining, the Board is obliged to take account of any representations made to it. While representations may be made by "any persons concerned", the Act does not clarify who these are, but one must assume that they would include the trustees, the emp l oye rs and any member involved. The Board is given power to hold an oral hearing in con- nection w i th any determination. If an oral hearing is held the person holding the hearing may require any person to attend and give evidence at the hearing or to produce any documents which may be required, failure to comply wi th which will be an offence. While the Act does specify some procedural require- ments incidental to the holding of a hearing, the procedures at the hearings are to be prescribed by

provision conflicts w i th a scheme provision. The difficulty for trustees and practitioners will be that a determination that there is such a conflict may result in a defective or unclear section overriding the relevant provisions of the scheme. So it is possible that where there is a doubt as to the effect of a pa r t i c u l ar s e c t i on and t he constitution of a scheme attempts to provide an answer, that attempt may be set aside. Specific duties end obligations The Act imposes a number of specific duties and obligations on trustees, in addition to any imposed under the deed and rules of any particular scheme and to the general duties under s.59. The Mi n i s t er by order has brought into operation ss.60 and 61 w i th effect from 1st January 1991, so that an initial duty of trustees will be to register the scheme within the time limits provided by the Act, effectively by 1st January

PENSION SCHEME TRUSTEES

PRESERVATION OF BENEFITS FUNDING STANDARDS

What does the Pensions Act mean for Pension Scheme Trustees?

DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION

Will it mean added responsibilities?

What should Trustees do now to avoid problems later?

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7/9 South Leinster Street, Dublin 2. Tel: 616211 Fax: 611321

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