The Storage of Carbon Dioxide (Access to Infrastructure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015

Compulsory modifications of relevant infrastructure N.I.

12.—(1) This regulation applies where—

(a) a person has made an access application in respect of a relevant pipe-line or relevant storage site; and

(b) the Department is considering whether to serve an access notice which would secure to the applicant the right sought in the application.

(2) Subject to paragraphs (3) and (6), the Department may serve on the owner of the relevant infrastructure and the applicant a notice in accordance with paragraphs (4) and (5) (a “modification notice”) if it appears to the Department—

(a) that relevant infrastructure that is the subject of the access application can and should be modified so as to increase its capacity; or

(b) that relevant infrastructure that is the subject of the access application can and should be modified by installing in it a junction or other apparatus through which another pipe-line may be connected to the relevant pipe-line or to the relevant storage site.

(3) The Department shall not serve a modification notice that requires the authorised capacity of a relevant storage site to be increased.

(4) A modification notice shall—

(a) specify the modifications which the Department considers should be made to the relevant infrastructure;

(b) specify the sums or the method of determining the sums which the Department considers should be paid to the owner by the applicant for the purpose of defraying the cost of the modifications;

(c) specify the arrangements which the Department considers should be made by the applicant, within a period specified in the notice, for the purpose of securing that those sums will be paid to the owner if the owner carries out the modifications or satisfies the Department that they will be carried out;

(d) require the owner, if the applicant makes those arrangements within that period, to carry out the modifications within a period specified in the notice; and

(e) authorise the owner, if the Department is satisfied that the owner has carried out or will carry out the modifications, to recover those sums from the applicant.

(5) A modification notice may also contain provision for the purpose of ensuring that if the carrying out of the modifications prejudices any of the matters referred to in regulation 11(9)(a) or (b), any person who suffers loss as a result may recover from the applicant payments by way of compensation of such amounts as are determined in accordance with the notice.

(6) In considering whether to serve a modification notice, the Department shall—

(a) take into account (so far as relevant) the matters referred to in regulation 11(7)(a) to (i); and

(b) give the persons listed in paragraph (7) an opportunity to be heard.

(7) The persons referred to in paragraph (6)(b) are—

(a) the applicant and the owner;

(b) any person with a right to have any thing conveyed by the relevant pipe-line or stored in the relevant storage site;

(c) the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland; and

(d) such other persons as the Department considers appropriate.

(8) Subject to paragraph (9), if a modification notice contains provision by virtue of paragraph (5) the Department shall give a copy of the notice to every person who has a right to have any thing conveyed by the relevant pipe-line or stored in the relevant storage site.

(9) Before giving a copy of a modification notice under paragraph (8), the Department shall—

(a) remove from the copy any provision included in the notice by virtue of paragraph (4)(b); and

(b) after giving the owner and the applicant an opportunity to be heard, remove from the copy any other provision included in the notice which the Department considers may prejudice the commercial interests of the owner or the applicant if not removed.

(10) If the Department serves a modification notice, regulation 11 has effect in relation to the relevant infrastructure concerned as if references to the relevant infrastructure were references to the relevant infrastructure as it would be with the modifications specified in the notice.

(11) A modification notice does not have effect unless and until the Department has served an access notice in respect of the relevant infrastructure that is the subject of the access application.

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 12 in operation at 4.1.2016, see reg. 1