Energy Act 2023

17 Termination of licence

(1) If the economic regulator considers that a termination event has arisen, or is likely to arise, the economic regulator must notify the persons mentioned in subsection (2) as soon as reasonably practicable.

(2) Those persons are—

(a) the Secretary of State;

(b) the Scottish Ministers, if an activity authorised by the licence is within Scottish devolved competence;

(c) the Welsh Ministers, if an activity authorised by the licence is within Welsh devolved competence;

(d) the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland, if an activity authorised by the licence is within Northern Ireland devolved competence;

(e) the Oil and Gas Authority;

(f) any affected persons not falling within paragraphs (a) to (e) that the economic regulator considers appropriate.

(3) A notice under subsection (1) must specify—

(a) in a case where a termination event has arisen, the date on which the economic regulator proposes to revoke the licence, and

(b) in any case, the date by which any representations must be made.

(4) For the purposes of this section an activity authorised by a licence—

(a) is within Scottish devolved competence if provision about that activity would be within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament if it were contained in an Act of that Parliament;

(b) is within Welsh devolved competence if provision about that activity would be within the legislative competence of Senedd Cymru if it were contained in an Act of the Senedd (ignoring any requirement for the consent of a Minister of the Crown imposed under Schedule 7B to the Government of Wales Act 2006);

(c) is within Northern Ireland devolved competence if provision about that activity—

(i) would be within the legislative competence of the Northern Ireland Assembly if it were contained in an Act of that Assembly, and

(ii) would not, if it were contained in a Bill in the Northern Ireland Assembly, result in the Bill requiring the consent of the Secretary of State under section 8 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

(5) In this section—

• “affected person” means a person that the economic regulator considers may be affected by the decision as to whether the licence should be terminated;

• “termination event” means a state of affairs in which the economic regulator is authorised to revoke the licence.