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Price Indications (Bureaux de Change) (No.2) Regulations 1992 (SI 1992 No.737) can be viewed on the Internet or is available from The Stationery Office or through bookshops.
Where the bureau operator himself imposes a surcharge for payment by a particular means, such as credit cards, he will need to comply with the Price Indications (Method of Payment) Regulations 1991 (SI 199) in the same way as any other trader.
Other relevant regulation, which is the responsibility of HM Revenue & Customs, is the UK Money Laundering Regulations 1993 and 2001 (SI 1993 and 2001 No. 3641). These cover respectively obligations to help combat money laundering, and registration with Customs to ensure that obligations are understood and complied with.
Anyone who in the course of business indicates their willingness to buy foreign currency from or sell it to private consumers and gives exchange rate indications.
The regulations do not apply to indications of the exchange rate between 2 foreign currencies or to transactions between businesses. Nor do they apply where a person does not represent himself in any way to consumers generally as providing currency exchange facilities.
Thus a bank or building society branch which does not advertise itself as providing facilities for exchanging currency, but which is prepared to order foreign currency or accept it if a customer asks is not subject to the regulations.
Similarly the regulations do not apply to any other trader - for example a hotel or a shop - who does not indicate that he offers exchange facilities but who may on occasion be prepared to sell sterling to a customer who asks. Traders who state their willingness to take payment for goods, services or accommodation in foreign currency, but do not hold themselves out as willing to exchange one currency for another are not caught by the regulations either.
The essential requirement of the regulations is that where an exchange rate indication is given, it must be comprehensive and clear. Sufficient information needs to be provided to enable a consumer to work out what he or she will get when exchanging sterling for foreign currency or vice-versa.
If an exchange rate indication is displayed for a particular currency the display must include full information relating to transactions the operator is prepared to undertake in that currency.
It will be necessary to include information such as buying and selling rates, rates for travellers' cheques where these differ from those for notes, any denominations or values of currency to which the rates displayed do (or do not) apply, and fees or commission rates.
Where however particular types of transaction are only undertaken to order, rather than on the spot, the display can show that, say, yen travellers' cheques are available "to order" without showing an exchange rate. But the operator must also tell the consumer before an order is placed how the rate or any other charge he cannot specify is to be determined, e.g. that it will be the rate applying on the say the order is made up.
Where rates are displayed, one such display must be visible to a consumer as he approaches or as soon as he enters the premises. This may mean that where there is more than one entrance, there needs to be more than one display board. Displays must be legible, and any written statements, such as those relating to fees or commission, must be given the same degree of prominence as the exchange rate itself.
The "equal prominence" requirement, and those requirements which may have the effect of requiring operators to substitute a four column board for one of three columns, e.g. in order to show rates for selling foreign currency travellers' cheques, did not take effect until 18 May 1993. This was to allow time for boards to be replaced where the operator considered that to be the most convenient way of complying with the regulations.
However, it should be noted that there is no requirement for all the information to be displayed on the same board. A supplementary notice pinned to the bottom of the board or mounted alongside it are examples of alternative ways in which the requirements of the regulations could be met.
Other written or oral exchange rate indications given by a bureau de change operator must be legible or audible, and must also be comprehensive. Where however a consumer asks for information about a particular kind of transaction, e.g. the purchase of travellers' cheques denominated in Swiss francs, the operator need give only the information relevant to that type of transaction. If the consumer asks, say, how many francs he will be given for £100 net of all commission or other charges, the regulations do not apply, and the operator can simply state the number of francs which will be handed to him. Where an operator gives an exchange rate indication which may not be that at which the currency will be supplied, because for example the currency must be ordered and the rate used will be that ruling when the order is made up, the consumer must be told that this is so, and also told the rate of commission or other fees or how they will be calculated.
Yes. A receipt must be given at the time currency is supplied giving the date by reference to which the exchange rate was determined, full details of the transaction, and the name and address of the operator or other information (e.g. a bank sorting code) by means of which the operator and branch or outlet can be identified. Where payment is made by credit or other payment card, and the card issuer charges the card holder for obtaining cash using the card, there is no requirement for the receipt to include this charge.
Machines which exchange notes are generally subject to the regulations, but are required to give receipts only where they are capable of doing so. Where a machine provides such an option, a receipt need be given only when the consumer keys in the appropriate instruction. Where a machine cannot give receipts there must be a clear notice to this effect.
Machines which exchange only coins need not give receipts and are not subject to the general requirements of the regulations, but if it is indicated that the machine will exchange one or more coins of one currency for one or more coins of another, there must be displayed a clear notice indicating for each specified coin inserted the value of coins in other currency which will be dispensed.
Responsibility for enforcing the regulations rests with local authority Trading Standards Officers, as provided for in Section 27 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1987.
A. On summary conviction, i.e. by a magistrates court, a fine not exceeding the current statutory maximum - £5,000. On conviction on indictment, i.e. by a Crown Court, an unlimited fine.
