Merchant Shipping Act 1979

2 Payments by pilotage authorities to Commission

(1) The Commission may make a scheme or schemes requiring pilotage authorities to pay to the Commission from time to time, in respect of the expenses of the Commission in performing its functions, such sums as are determined under the scheme or schemes ; and such a scheme—

(a) may provide for the payment of different sums by different authorities;

(b) must contain provision requiring the Commission to indicate how the sums to be payable under the scheme for periods determined under it are related to the Commission's estimates of its expenditure during those periods;

(c) may be revoked or varied by a subsequent scheme made by virtue of this subsection ;

but a scheme made by virtue of this subsection shall not come into force unless it has been confirmed by the Secretary of State.

(2) It shall be the duty of the Commission, immediately after it has submitted such a scheme to the Secretary of State for confirmation—

(a) to send a copy of the scheme to each pilotage authority by which sums are to be payable under the scheme; and

(b) to publish in a manner approved by the Secretary of State a notice which—

(i) states that the scheme has been so submitted, and

(ii) specifies a place where a copy of the scheme may be obtained free of charge by any licensed pilot, any harbour authority and any shipowner, and

(iii) states that any person mentioned in paragraph (a) or sub-paragraph (ii) above and any person appearing to the Secretary of State to represent any persons so mentioned may, within a period specified in the notice of not less than 42 days beginning with the date of first publication of the notice, object to the scheme by giving to the Secretary of State a statement in writing setting out his objections to the scheme and the reasons for the objections.

(3) The Secretary of State may, after considering any statement of objections and of reasons for objections to a scheme which is given to him by a person and within the period mentioned in paragraph (b)(iii) of the preceding subsection, by order confirm the scheme either without modification or, after consulting the Commission about any modifications he proposes to make to the scheme, with such modifications as he thinks fit; but the Secretary of State shall not have power to make a modification of a scheme which would increase the amount of any sum payable in pursuance of the scheme.

(4) Any sum payable to the Commission by a pilotage authority in pursuance of a scheme made by virtue of this section may be recovered by the Commission in any court of competent jurisdiction.