Water Industry Act 1991

39 Procedure for regulations under section 38

(1) The Secretary of State shall not make any regulations under section 38 above unless—

(a) the Director has made to the Secretary of State a written application complying with subsection (2) below;

(b) the Secretary of State is satisfied that a copy of the application has been served by the Director on every water undertaker specified in the application;

(c) such period as the Secretary of State considers appropriate has been allowed for the making—

(i) by the Director; and

(ii) by any affected water undertaker,

of representations or objections with respect to the Director’s proposals and any modifications proposed by the Secretary of State; and

(d) the Secretary of State has considered both the Director’s reasons for his proposals and every representation or objection which has been duly made with respect to those proposals, or any proposed modifications of those proposals, and has not been withdrawn.

(2) An application made by the Director to the Secretary of State complies with this subsection if it—

(a) sets out draft provisions proposed by the Director for inclusion in regulations under section 38 above;

(b) specifies the water undertaker or undertakers in relation to which it is proposed those provisions should apply; and

(c) summarises the Director’s reasons for his proposals.

(3) The Secretary of State shall not make any regulations under section 38 above except where—

(a) the only provisions of the regulations are the provisions proposed by the Director in his application or those provisions with such modifications as the Secretary of State considers appropriate; and

(b) each of the modifications (if any) of the Director’s proposals to which effect is given by the regulations is a modification the proposal to make which has been notified—

(i) to the Director; and

(ii) to any water undertaker appearing to the Secretary of State to be likely to be affected by the modifications.