Petroleum and Submarine Pipe-lines Act 1975

32 Regulations

(1) It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State, before he makes any regulations in pursuance of this Part of this Act, to consult such organisations in the United Kingdom as he considers are representative of persons who will be affected by the regulations.

(2) It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State, in making regulations in pursuance of section 26 or 27 of this Act, to have regard to the extent of the jurisdiction which belongs to the United Kingdom under international law.

(3) Any regulations in pursuance of this Part of this Act may provide—

(a) for the creation of offences which, subject to the following paragraph, are punishable on summary conviction by a fine not exceeding £400 and on conviction on indictment by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years and a fine ;

(b) for the maximum punishment for an offence created by the regulations to be less than that authorised by the preceding paragraph and for such an offence to be punishable only on summary conviction;

(c) for the matters which are to be a defence to a charge of an offence created by the regulations.

(4) Regulations in pursuance of this Part of this Act—

(a) may be limited so as to apply only in prescribed cases or may exclude prescribed cases from the application of the regulations;

(b) may specify the conditions which must be satisfied in order that a case may be excluded from the application of the regulations and may provide for any exclusion to cease to operate in a case where the conditions are contravened;

and the Secretary of State may, by directions given to such persons as he considers appropriate, provide for a case specified in the directions to be excluded from the application of any such regulations and specify the conditions which must be satisfied in order that the exclusion may take effect and provide for the exclusion to cease to operate if the conditions are contravened.