Taxation (International and Other Provisions) Act 2010 section 446

Joint ventures: supplementary

Section 446 provides supplementary rules for the joint venture company public infrastructure election, covering how the third-party interest exemption applies, the election procedure, and what it means for investors to have "the same rights" in a joint venture.

• Where a joint venture company (or a member of its worldwide group) is owed money by another company outside that group, the third-party interest exemption under section 438 applies without the usual requirement that the creditor must not be connected to any qualifying infrastructure company at any time in the period.
• The procedural rules that govern elections for qualifying infrastructure company status (under section 434, subsections 1 to 5) also apply to elections made by joint venture companies under section 444.
• Investors in a joint venture company are not treated as having "the same rights" if any provision, arrangement, or other circumstance means that some investors have, or could have, different entitlements to shares, assets, or debts of the joint venture — whether now or in the future.
• The definitions section clarifies that "rights" includes powers, "different persons" includes persons of different classes, and "arrangements" covers any agreement, understanding, scheme, or transaction series — whether legally enforceable or not.