TIME LIMIT UPDATES

Hello, can anyone tell me if the new time limits only apply to new students?

ACCA say “Under the current rules, students are removed from the register if they have not completed the exams within 10 years of their initial registration date.”

“All current students on the register will have been given a last exam session date which is 10 years from when they initially registered. Under the new rules, if you have not completed the exams by your last session date you will not be removed from the register. However, you will lose any passes you may have achieved at the Professional level if you passed them more than seven years ago so these exams will have to be retaken. All Professional Level exams must be passed within a 7 year period.”

“The new seven year time rule at Professional level will apply to any new students registering with ACCA who are given March 2016 as their first eligible exam session. (ACCA will be offering four paper exam sessions in March, June, September and December by 2016). ”

I’m confused by the wording. I can interpret this as applying to all students (paragraph 2 of above acca quote) but can also see how it would only apply to new students (paragraph 3 of above acca quote)

Can anyone clarify?

Thanks