Manner in which a licence is granted and a variation, suspension or revocation is effected
3.—(1) A licence is to be granted by the Department to the owner or charterer of a Northern Ireland fishing boat by delivering it to the owner or charterer of the boat named in the licence or (as the case may be) to their nominee in accordance with paragraph (2), and the person to whom the licence is delivered is in that paragraph referred to as the “recipient”.
(2) A licence must be delivered by-
(a)personally delivering it to the recipient;
(b)sending it by post to the recipient at the recipient’s address or place of business;
(c)leaving it at the recipient’s address or place of business, or in the hands of a person there who is apparently over the age of 16; or
(d)subject to paragraph (7), transmitting it to the recipient by means of an electronic communication to an address which the recipient has specified for the purposes of sub-paragraph (b) of that paragraph.
(3) A variation, suspension or revocation of a licence by the Department is to be effected by communicating written notice of it to the owner or charterer of the Northern Ireland fishing boat named in the licence or (as the case may be) to their nominee in accordance with paragraph (4), and the person to whom the notice is communicated is in that paragraph referred to as the “recipient”.
(4) A notice must be communicated to the recipient by-
(a)a method specified in paragraph (2);
(b)publishing the notice on a website (1), the address of which is indicated on the licence to which the notice relates; or
(c)where the notice is a general notice, publishing it in a newspaper.
(5) A general notice must specify -
(a)that it applies to all sea fishing licences; or
(b)the class of sea fishing licence to which it applies by reference to species, area, method or licence type, or any combination of those matters.
(6) A notice other than a general notice must specify the licence to which it relates by reference to the name, port letters and number of the fishing boat in respect of which the licence was granted.
(7) A licence may be delivered and a notice may be communicated by means of an electronic communication as described in paragraph (2)(d) only if the following conditions are satisfied-
(a)the use of an electronic communication results in the information contained in the licence or notice being available to the person in all material respects as it would appear in a licence or notice in printed form; and
(b)the person has specified an address for the purpose of receiving such communication.
(8) In this regulation a “general notice” means a notice which relates to –
(a)all sea fishing licences; or
(b)all sea fishing licences authorising fishing-
(i)for one of more specified descriptions of sea fish,
(ii)in one or more specified areas,
(iii)by a specified method or methods,
(iv)by licence type; or
(v)by reference to a combination of two or more of the matters referred to in heads (i) to (iv).
(9) Section 24(1) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 (service of documents) has effect in relation to the delivery of a licence or the communication of a notice by post with the omission of the word “registering”.
As of the date of making of these Regulations, the address of the website for the purposes of regulation 3(4)(b) is http://www.dardni.gov.uk/vessel-licence-variations.htm. Any alteration to that address will be notified to the licence holder or any nominee, as the case may be.