Statutory Instruments
2014 No. 615
Environmental Protection
Licensing (marine)
Marine Pollution
The Marine Licensing (Application Fees) Regulations 2014
Made
13th March 2014
Laid before Parliament
14th March 2014
Coming into force
6th April 2014
Citation and commencementI1
1. These Regulations—
(a)may be cited as the Marine Licensing (Application Fees) Regulations 2014; and
(b)come into force on 6th April 2014.
InterpretationI2
2. In these Regulations—
“the Act” means the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 ;
“the 2011 Regulations” means the Marine Licensing (Application Fees) Regulations 2011 ( 3 );
“activity” means a licensable marine activity; and
“licence” means a marine licence granted under section 71(1)(a) or (b) of the Act.
ApplicationI3
3. These Regulations apply in relation to any application for a licence in relation to which the Secretary of State is the appropriate licensing authority under section 113 of the Act, other than any activity relating to an activity falling within the subject-matter of—
(a)the Petroleum Act 1998(4); or
(b)Part 1 (gas importation or storage), 4 (provisions relating to oil and gas) or 4A (works detrimental to navigation) of the Energy Act 2008(5).
Fees for applications for licences
[F1 4.—(1) The fee payable for determining an application for a licence is comprised of—
(a)an application fee, as calculated in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (4); and
(b)if appropriate, a travel fee, as calculated in accordance with paragraph (5).
(2) Subject to paragraph (3)—
(a)the application fee for an application which falls within Band 1 in the Schedule is £50; and
(b)the application fee for an application which falls within Band 2 or Band 3 in the Schedule is the product of £122 and the total number of hours worked.
(3) Where the application fee that would otherwise be payable under paragraph (2), taken together with the fee (if any) charged under section 67(5) of the Act, would exceed the maximum fee in relation to an application of the kind in question, the amount payable in respect of both such fees taken together is the maximum fee.
(4) For the purposes of paragraph (3), the maximum fee payable in respect of an application falling within any band specified in the first column of the table in paragraph 1 of the Schedule (and of the kind described in the second column of that table) is specified in relation to that band in the third column of that table.
(5) The travel fee is comprised of—
(a)a travel time charge which is the product of £122 and the total number of hours of travel undertaken by each relevant person; and
(b)the total amount of the reasonable travelling costs and related incidental expenditure incurred in respect of each relevant person.
(6) For the purposes of paragraphs (2)(b) and (5)(a), the total number of hours worked or travelled (as applicable) may be expressed as a fraction where it cannot be expressed as a whole number.
(7) In paragraph (5), “relevant person” means a person acting on behalf of the Secretary of State in relation to an application. F1]
Payment of feesI4
5.—(1) All fees are payable on demand to the Secretary of State.
(2) Payment of any fee may be made by electronic means.
(3) Payment of a fee is not received until the Secretary of State has received cleared funds for the full amount due.
(4) Any unpaid fee may be recovered by the Secretary of State as a civil debt.
Deposits in cases where fee payable at hourly rateI5
6.—(1)[F2 In relation to an application which falls within Band 2 or Band 3 in the Schedule, the Secretary of State may require an applicantF2] to pay a deposit of such amount as the Secretary of State may determine on account of the fee payable.
(2) Subject to paragraph (3), the amount of the deposit must be calculated by reference to the estimated duration of the work likely to be required in relation to the application and the hourly rate payable.
(3) In relation to any application which falls within Band 3 in the Schedule, the amount of the deposit may not exceed £10,000.
(4) If an [F3applicantF3] fails to comply with a requirement to pay a deposit made under paragraph (1), the Secretary of State may—
(a)refuse to proceed with the application, or
(b)refuse to proceed with it until the deposit is paid in full.
Repayment, waiver or reduction of feeI6
7.—(1) The Secretary of State must refund any payment made in excess of the fee payable, but fees paid are not otherwise refundable.
(2) The Secretary of State may waive or reduce any fee if the Secretary of State sees fit.
Revocation of the 2011 RegulationsI7
8. Subject to regulation 9, the 2011 Regulations are revoked.
Transitional and saving provisionsI8
9.—(1) Paragraph (2) applies in respect of any licence application that was received by the Secretary of State before 6th April 2014 but which was not determined by the Secretary of State before that date.
(2) The 2011 Regulations continue to have effect in relation to the application, subject to the exception in paragraph (3) and the modification in paragraph (4).
(3) Where the application falls within the description in Band 1 or Band 2 in the Schedule to the 2011 Regulations and the amount of the fee, if it were determined in accordance with the 2011 Regulations, would be greater than the amount of the fee if it were determined in accordance with these Regulations, the fee is to be determined in accordance with these Regulations.
(4) The fee in respect of an application falling within the description in Band 3 in the Schedule to the 2011 Regulations is to be determined as if, for “£80 per hour or part thereof”, there were substituted “£80 per hour or part thereof worked before 6th April 2014 and £94 per hour or part thereof worked on or after that date”.
(5) For the purposes of paragraph (1), an application is not received until an applicant has supplied such information or produced such articles as in the opinion of the Secretary of State may be necessary or expedient to enable the Secretary of State to determine the application.
George Eustice
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
Department for Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs
13th March 2014
Regulation 4(3)
SCHEDULE F4APPLICATION BANDS AND MAXIMUM FEES ... I9
[F5 1. The bands and (where applicable) maximum fees are as follows—
| Band | Description of application | Maximum fee |
|---|---|---|
| Band 1 | Any application relating to: (a) the burial of a body at sea; (b) erecting scaffolding for discrete maintenance projects; (c) removing poles, girders, joists and objects of a similar nature unattached to the seabed or any structure; (d) resurfacing a slipway; (e) repairing joints of any structure; or (f) any activity of a similarly minor nature | £50 |
| Band 2 | Any application which does not fall, or does not fall exclusively, within the description in Band 1 and relates to a specified activity or activities which has, or (in the case of more than one activity) taken together have, an estimated cost falling within one of the following ranges— | |
| Band 2A | less than £50,000 | £1,400 |
| Band 2B | £50,000 or more, but less than £1,000,000 | £2,200 |
| Band 3 | Any application which does not fall, or does not fall exclusively, within the description in Band 1 and does not fall within the description in Band 2A or 2B | NoneF5] |
2. —(1) In paragraph 1, “specified activity” means any activity falling within item 1 (deposits within the UK marine licensing area etc ), 7 (construction, alteration or improvement of works etc) or 8 (use of vehicle to remove substances etc) of section 66(1) of the Act, but does not include any such activity where it is—
(a) to be carried out in the course of an Annex I project;
(b) to be carried out in the course of an Annex II project, if it is likely because of its size, nature or location to have significant effects on the environment;
(c) a plan or project likely (either alone or in combination with other plans or projects) to have a significant effect on a European site;
(d) capable of affecting (other than insignificantly)—
(i) the protected features of an MCZ; or
(ii) any ecological or geomorphological process on which the conservation of any protected feature of an MCZ is (wholly or in part) dependent;
(e) likely to have a significant effect on a Ramsar site; or
(f) an activity with respect to which an environmental impact assessment is required by virtue of regulation 5 (requirement of assessment by agreement) of the EIA Regulations.
(2) In paragraph 2(1)(a) and (b)—
(a) “Annex I project” means a project of a type specified in Annex I to Council Directive 2011/92/EU on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment( 6 ); and
(b) “Annex II project” means a project of a type specified in Annex II to that Directive.
(3) In paragraph 2(1)(c)—
“European site” means a European site within the meaning of regulation 8(1) of [F6 the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 F6] or a European offshore marine site within the meaning of [F7 regulation 18 of the Conservation of Offshore Marine Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 F7] ; and
“plan or project” has the same meaning as in Council on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora( Directive 92/43/EEC 7 ).
(4) In paragraph 2(1)(d)—
(a) “an MCZ” means a marine conservation zone from time to time designated by an order made under section 116 of the Act; and
(b) “protected feature” has the meaning given by section 147(1) of the Act.
(5) In paragraph 2(1)(e) “Ramsar site” means a site designated under paragraph 1 of Article 2 of the Ramsar Convention( 8 ) by the Secretary of State, the Scottish Ministers, the Welsh Ministers or, in Northern Ireland, the Department of the Environment( 9 ).
(6) In paragraph 2(1)(f)—
(a) “EIA Regulations” means the Marine Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2007 ( 10 ); and
(b) “environmental impact assessment” means an assessment under Part 3 of the EIA Regulations.
By virtue of section 113(2)(a), 4(a), (6)(a) and (8) of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, the Secretary of State is the appropriate licensing authority as respects anything done in the course of carrying on certain activities in the Scottish offshore region, Wales and the Welsh inshore region and Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland inshore region, and in relation to any other area not mentioned in subsection (2), (4) or (6). See section 322(1) for the definition of those regions.
1998 c.17. Relevant amending instruments are the Energy Act 2004 (c.20), the Energy Act 2008 (c.32), the Act and the Energy Act 2011 (c.16), and S.I.s 2000/1937, 2004/2043, 2007/290 and 2011/2305, 2704.
2008 c.32. In Part 1, sections 1 and 35(1) were amended by section 41(8) of, and paragraph 5 of Schedule 4 to, the Act. Part 4A was inserted by section 314(1) of the Act. Section 30 was amended, and sections 30A and 30B were inserted, by section 107 of the Energy Act 2011; section 46 was amended by section 106 of that Act; and section 88 was amended by section 73 of that Act. Sections 41, 46, 49, 50, 54, 59, 63, 65 and 66 were amended by sections 116, 146 and 149 of the Energy Act 2013 and section 45A was inserted by section 149 of that Act. Sections 17 to 19, 21 to 23, 26 to 28, 30, 31 and 35 were amended by S.I. 2011/2453 and SSI 2011/224. Section 100 was amended by S.I. 2011/2195.
OJ L 26, 28.1.2012, p.1.
OJ No. L 206, 22.7.1992, p.7, last amended by Council Directive 2013/17/EU (OJ No. L 158, 10.06.2013, p. 193).
The Convention of Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat signed at Ramsar on 2nd February 1971, as amended by the Protocol known as the Paris Protocol done at Paris on 3rd December 1982 and the amendments known as the Regina Amendments adopted at the Extraordinary Conference of the Contracting Parties held at Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, between 28th May and 3rd June 1987.
The Department of the Environment is constituted for the purposes of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (1998 c.47) by section 21 of that Act and is continued in existence by article 3(3) and (8) of the Departments (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/283 (N.I.1)) and Schedule 1 to that Order.
S.I. 2007/1518; amended by S.I. 2011/735 and 1043.