National Grid 2008 Annual Report Download - page 226

BOWNE INTEGRATED TYPESETTING SYSTEM
CRC: 55252
Name: NATIONAL GRID
Date: 17-JUN-2008 03:10:51.35Operator: BNY99999TPhone: [phone]Site: BOWNE OF NEW YORK
Y59930.SUB, DocName: EX-2.B.6.1, Doc: 6, Page: 20
Description: EXH 2(B).6.1
0/1624.00.00.00Y59930BNY
[E/O] EDGAR 2 *Y59930/624/1*
BOWNE INTEGRATED TYPESETTING SYSTEM
CRC: 55252
Name: NATIONAL GRID
Date: 17-JUN-2008 03:10:51.35Operator: BNY99999TPhone: [phone]Site: BOWNE OF NEW YORK
Y59930.SUB, DocName: EX-2.B.6.1, Doc: 6, Page: 20 Description: EXH 2(B).6.1
0/1624.00.00.00Y59930BNY
[E/O] EDGAR 2 *Y59930/624/1*
the way those rates are calculated, quoted and published or displayed. The introduction of the Euro could also be accompanied
by a volatile interest rate environment, which could adversely affect investors in the Instruments.
EU Savings Directive
Under EU Council Directive 2003/48/EC on the taxation of savin
g
s income, each Member State is required to provide to the tax
authorities of another Member State details of payments of interest or other similar income paid by a person within its
jurisdiction to, or collected by such a person for, an individual or certain other persons resident in that other Member State;
however, for a transitional period, Austria, Bel
g
ium and Luxembour
g
may instead apply a withholdin
g
system in relation to such
payments, deductin
g
tax at rates risin
g
over time to 35 per cent. The transitional period is to terminate at the end of the first full
fiscal year following agreement by certain non-EU countries to the exchange of information relating to such payments.
Also, a number of non-EU countries and certain dependent or associated territories of certain Member States, have a
g
reed to
adopt similar measures (either provision of information or transitional withholdin
g
) in relation to payments made by a person
within its jurisdiction to, or collected by such a person for, an individual resident in a Member State. In addition, the Member
States have entered into reciprocal provision of information or transitional withholdin
g
arran
g
ements with certain of those
dependent or associated territories in relation to payments made by a person in a Member State to, or collected by such a
person for, an individual resident in one of those territories.
If a payment in respect of an Instrument which is the subject of the Directive were to be made or collected throu
g
h a Member
State which has opted for a withholdin
g
system and an amount of, or in respect of, tax were to be withheld from that payment,
neither the Issuer nor any Payin
g
A
g
ent nor any other person would be obli
g
ed to pay additional amounts with respect to such
Instrument as a result of the imposition of such withholdin
g
tax. However, the Issuer is required, save as provided in Condition
5.4, to maintain a Payin
g
A
g
ent in a Member State that will not be obli
g
ed to withhold or deduct tax pursuant to any law
implementing the Directive or any other Directive implementing the conclusions of the ECOFIN Council meeting of 26-27
November 2000.
Change of law
The Terms and Conditions of the Instruments are based on En
g
lish law in effect as at the date of issue of the relevant
Instruments. No assurance can be
g
iven as to the impact of any possible judicial decision or chan
g
e to En
g
lish law or
administrative practice after the date of issue of the relevant Instruments.
Risks related to the market generally
Set out below is a brief description of certain market risks, includin
g
liquidity risk, exchan
g
e rate risk, interest rate risk and credit
risk:
The secondary market generally
Instruments may have no established tradin
g
market when issued, and one may never develop. If a market does develop, it
may not be liquid. Therefore, investors may not be able to sell their Instruments easily or at prices that will provide them with a
yield comparable to similar investments that have a developed secondary market. This is particularly the case for Instruments
that are especially sensitive to interest rate, currency or market risks, are desi
g
ned for specific investment objectives or
strate
g
ies or have been structured to meet the investment requirements of limited cate
g
ories of investors. These types of
Instruments
g
enerally would have a more limited secondary market and more price volatility than conventional debt securities.
Illiquidity may have a severely adverse effect on the market value of Instruments.
20