The Gas (Northern Ireland) Order 1996

Power of Department to impose requirements with respect to examination, repair, etc., of pipe-lines

53.—(1) In the case of any pipe-line, the Department may at any time by notice served on the owner thereof impose such requirements with respect to all or any of the following matters as the Department thinks it expedient to impose in the interests of safety, namely,—

(a) the examination, repair, maintenance, adjustment and testing of the line;

(b) the inspection of the route taken by the line.

(2) If, in the case of any pipe-line or length thereof, the Department thinks it expedient in the interests of safety to do so, the Department may by notice served on the owner of the line—

(a) require that the line shall be so operated that the pressure of its contents, or, as the case may be, the pressure of the contents of that length of it, will at no point exceed such pressure as may be specified in the notice; or

(b) prohibit the use (either absolutely or for the conveyance of gas other than gas of a particular kind specified in the notice) of the line or, as the case may be, that length of it, until there have been effected thereto such alterations as may be so specified.

(3) Paragraphs (3) to (5) of Article 50 shall apply in relation to a notice served under paragraph (1) of this Article as they apply in relation to a notice served under paragraph (1) of that Article.

(4) In the event of a failure, in relation to a pipe-line or a length of a pipe-line, to comply with a requirement or prohibition imposed by a notice served under paragraph (1) or (2), the owner of the line shall be guilty of an offence.

(5) Where, in consequence of the effecting of alterations to a pipe-line or a length of a pipe-line in consequence of the service of a notice under paragraph (2) a person, other than the person on whom the notice was served, suffers loss by reason of damage to, or disturbance in the enjoyment of, any land or chattels, he shall be entitled to compensation in respect of that loss from the person on whom the notice was served.