The Employment Relations (Offshore Employment) Order 2000

Application of provisions

2.—(1) The provisions of the 1992 Act and of the 1996 Act specified in paragraphs (5) and (6) (“the applied provisions”) apply to and in relation to employment for the purposes of activities—

(a) in the territorial waters of the United Kingdom (other than an area or part of an area to which the law of Northern Ireland applies);

(b) connected with the exploration of the sea-bed or its subsoil, or the exploitation of their natural resources, in the United Kingdom sector of the continental shelf (other than an area or part of an area to which the law of Northern Ireland applies); or

(c) in the foreign sector of the continental shelf connected with the exploration or exploitation of the Frigg Gas Field, where the employer is—

(i) a company registered under the Companies Act 1985,

(ii) an oversea company which has an established place of business within Great Britain from which it directs the activities in question, or

(iii) any other person who has a place of business within Great Britain from which he directs the activities in question.

(2) The applied provisions do not apply to or in relation to any employment wholly or mainly for the purposes of any activities connected with the Ekofisk Field.

(3) The applied provisions do not apply to or in relation to employment in connection with a ship which is in the course of navigation or a ship which is engaged in dredging or fishing.

(4) In paragraph (3) “dredging” does not include the excavation of the sea-bed or its subsoil in the course of pipe laying.

(5) The provisions of the 1992 Act are—

(a) sections 70A, 70B, and 70C and Schedule A1 (recognition of trade unions)(1);

(b) sections 222 to 224 (exclusion from protection for certain acts in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute); and

(c) sections 226 to 235 (requirement of ballot etc. before industrial action) and section 246 (definitions) as it applies to those sections(2).

(6) The provisions of the 1996 Act are those of Part X (unfair dismissal), for the purposes of paragraphs 161 to 165 of Schedule A1 to the 1992 Act, (dismissal for reasons connected with recognition), to the extent that the provisions would not otherwise apply for those purposes.

(1)

Sections 70A and Schedule A1 were inserted by section 1 of the Employment Relations Act 1999 (c. 26); sections 70B and 70C were inserted by section 5 of that Act.

(2)

Sections 226, 229 and 230 were amended by the Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Act 1993 (c. 19) (“the 1993 Act”) and by the Employment Relations Act 1999 (“the 1999 Act”); sections 232 and 235 were amended by the 1993 Act: sections 227 and 234 were amended by the 1999 Act; sections 226B and C and 231A and B were inserted by the 1993 Act; sections 226A and 234A were inserted by the 1993 Act and amended by the 1999 Act; section 228 was substituted by the 1999 Act; sections 228A and 232A and B were inserted by the 1999 Act.