The Environmental Impact Assessment and Natural Habitats (Extraction of Minerals by Marine Dredging) (Scotland) Regulations 2007

Electronic communications

28.—(1) A requirement in these Regulations that any application, approval, decision, determination, notice, opinion, or request should be in writing is fulfilled where the recipient consents to receive it electronically and the document meets the criteria in paragraph (4), and “written” is to be construed accordingly.

(2) Where an application is made to the Scottish Ministers for any approval, decision, determination or opinion, under these Regulations using electronic communications, the person making the application shall be taken to have agreed–

(a) to the use of such communications for all purposes relating to the application which are capable of being carried out electronically;

(b) that the address for the purpose of such communications is the address incorporated into, or otherwise logically associated with, the application; and

(c) that the deemed agreement under this paragraph shall subsist until that person gives notice to revoke the agreement.

(3) Where a person is no longer willing to accept the use of electronic communications in relation to any application under these Regulations, that person shall give notice to the Scottish Ministers and such revocation shall be final and shall take effect on a date specified by the person in the notice, but not less than seven days after the date on which the notice is given.

(4) The criteria referred to in paragraph (1) are that the document transmitted by the electronic communication is–

(a) capable of being accessed by the recipient;

(b) legible in all material respects; and

(c) sufficiently permanent to be used for subsequent reference.

(5) In paragraph (4), “legible in all material respects” means that the information contained in the document is available to the recipient to no lesser extent than it would be if sent or given by means of a document in printed form.

(6) Nothing in this regulation shall prevent the Scottish Ministers from requiring an applicant for permission under regulation 9 or the applicant in relation to any application under regulation 6(1), 7(2), 15(2) or 17(1) or the owner or holder of a permission in the case of a proposed revocation or variation under regulation 20, to provide such number of printed copies of any document as the Scottish Ministers shall reasonably require, notwithstanding that the document has already been transmitted to the Scottish Ministers electronically.

(7) Where the electronic communication is received by the recipient outside the recipient’s business hours, it shall be taken to have been received on the next working day; and for this purpose “working day” means a day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, a Bank Holiday in Scotland, or any other day which is a local or public holiday in an area in which the electronic communication is received.

(8) In this regulation–

(a) the expression “address” includes any number or address used for the purpose of such communications or storage; and

(b) “electronic communication” has the meaning given in section 15(1) of the Electronic Communications Act 2000(1).

(1)

2000 c. 7. Section 15 was amended by the Communications Act 2003 (c. 21), Schedule 17, paragraph 158.