S.L. 378.12 Art. 4Scope.

(1) These regulations shall apply to consumer credit agreements except where the creditor who grants or promises to grant credit in the course of his trade, business or profession holds a licence or any other authorisation issued in terms of the Banking Act or the

Financial Institutions Act, as applicable, by virtue of which such creditor is licensed or authorised to grant or promise to grant credit.

(2) Without prejudice to sub-regulation (1), these regulations shall not apply to credit agreements:

(a) entered into before the date on which these regulations shall come into force: Provided that open-end credit agreements which were entered into before 1st October, 2010 shall be regulated by regulations 12(4)(a), 12(4)(b), 12(5), 13, 17, 18(2) and 18(3);

(b) which are secured by a hypothec, privilege, or land registry charge, or by a right related to immovable property;

(c) the purpose of which is to acquire or retain property rights over land and or over an existing or projected building;

(d) involving a total amount of credit less than two hundred euro (€200) or more than seventy-five thousand euro (€75,000): Provided that notwithstanding this provision, these regulations shall apply to unsecured credit agreements the purpose of which is the renovation of a residential immovable property involving a total amount of credit above seventy-five thousand euro (€75,000);

(e) relating to hiring or leasing where an obligation to purchase the object of the agreement is not laid down either by the agreement itself or by a separate agreement. Such an obligation shall be deemed to exist if it is so decided unilaterally by the creditor;

(f) in the form of an overdraft facility and where the credit has to be repaid within one month, without prejudice to regulation 9;

(g) where the credit is granted free of interest and without any other charges;

(h) under the terms of which the credit has to be repaid within three months and only insignificant charges are payable;

(i) where the credit is granted by an employer to his employees as a secondary activity free of interest or at annual percentage rates of charge which are lower than those prevailing on the market and which are not offered to the public;

(j) which are concluded with European investment firms as defined in article 2 of the Investment Services Act or with banks or credit institutions or electronic money institutions as defined in article 2 of the Banking Act for the purpose of allowing an investor to carry out a transaction relating to one or more of the instruments listed in the Second Schedule to the Investment Services Act where the European investment firm or bank or credit institution or electronic money institution granting the credit is involved in such transaction;

(k) which are the outcome of a settlement reached in court or before another statutory authority;

(l) which relate to the deferred payment, free of charge, of an existing debt;

(m) upon the conclusion of which the consumer is requested to deposit an item as security in the creditor’s safe-keeping and where the liability of the consumer is strictly limited to that pledged item; and

(n) which relate to loans granted to a restricted public under a statutory provision with a general interest purpose and at lower interest rates than those prevailing on the market or free of interest or on other terms which are more favourable to the consumer than those prevailing on the market and at interest rates not higher than those prevailing on the market.

(3) Credit agreements in the form of:

(a) an overdraft facility and where the credit has to be repaid on demand or within three months, shall be subject only to regulations 1, 2, 3, for proviso 4(2)(a), 5(3), 5(4), 8 to 10, 11(3), 12(1), 12(2), 12(3), 12(5), 15, 17, 19(1), 19(2)(a) to (d), 20 to 24; and

(b) an overrunning, shall be subject only to regulations 1 to 4, 18, 22 to 25.

(4) Credit agreements which provide for arrangements to be agreed by the creditor and the consumer in respect of deferred payments or repayment methods, where the consumer is already in default on the initial credit agreement and where -

(a) such arrangements would be likely to avert the possibility of legal proceedings concerning such default; and

(b) the consumer would not thereby be subject to terms less favourable than those laid down in the initial credit agreement, shall be subject only to regulations 1 to 4, 5(3), 5(4), the application of regulation 7(a) to (f), paragraph (h), (i), and (m) in so far as the information to be included in credit agreements, 8, 9, 11(3), 12(1) limitedly to the first sentence thereof regarding the consumer credit referred to in sub-regulation 11(3) to be drawn up in writing or on a durable medium, 12(1)(b), 12(2), 12(4), 13, 16, 18, 20 to 25. Provided that credit agreements in the form of an overdraft facility and where the credit has to be repaid on demand or within three months, shall be regulated by sub-regulation (3)(a).