Application for producer registration
6.—(1) Subject to paragraph (3) below, a producer who is required by regulation 5 to be registered and who is not registered shall, on or before 1st April in a relevant year, make an application for producer registration to the appropriate Agency, being—
(a)the Agency, where at the beginning of the relevant year the applicant’s registered office or principal place of business is in England or Wales;
(b)SEPA, where at the beginning of the relevant year the applicant’s registered office or principal place of business is in Scotland; or
(c)either the Agency or SEPA where at the beginning of the relevant year the applicant does not have a registered office or principal place of business in Great Britain.
(2) Where the producer is a partnership, where the principal place of business of the partnership is in England or Wales, the application shall be made by all the partners, and where the principal place of business of the partnership is in Scotland, the application shall be made by any partner acting on behalf of the partnership.
(3) Where—
(a)the relevant year is the year 1997, the application for registration shall be made on or before 31st August 1997; or
(b)any of the following occurs in a relevant year—
(i)the application for registration of a scheme of which the applicant was a member is refused,
(ii)the registration of a scheme of which the applicant was a member is cancelled,
(iii)the applicant’s membership of a scheme is discontinued,
(iv)the applicant becomes a producer in respect of that year, or
(v)an application to register made within the time limit in paragraph (1) or sub-paragraph (a), above, is refused,
an application for registration shall be made within 28 days of the occurrence.
(4) An application for producer registration shall—
(a)be made in writing;
(b)contain the initial information set out in Part I of Schedule 4;
(c)subject to paragraphs (7) and (8) below, be accompanied by the further information specified in, and provided on a form corresponding to, the form set out in Part II of Schedule 4, or provided on a form substantially to that effect,
(d)be accompanied by the fee referred to in regulation 9; and
(e)where the applicant is a partnership whose principal place of business is in England and Wales, be accompanied by a statement as to which partner is able to accept notices and act on behalf of the partnership as provided in regulation (2).
(5) An application for producer registration shall be granted where—
(a)the producer has complied with paragraph (4)(a), (b), (d) and (e) above and, where applicable, paragraph (8) below;
(b)the Agency is satisfied that the information provided in accordance with paragraph (4)(c) above, or (8) below, has been provided in accordance with paragraph (7) below; and
(c)the producer has given the undertakings referred to in regulation 7, which have been required by the appropriate Agency;
and shall otherwise be refused.
(6) Where an application for producer registration is granted—
(a)the appropriate Agency shall, within 28 days of it being granted confirm to the producer in writing that he is registered with it; and
(b)the producer shall be treated as having been registered from the beginning of the relevant year or, where the producer has applied to be registered for part of a year, from the date specified in the confirmation, until any cancellation of the producer’s registration in accordance with regulation 11.
(7) The further information shall—
(a)where the application for registration, or compliance with regulation 8, is in respect of any of the years 1997, 1998 1999, be provided using the producer’s reasonable estimates of the information required; and
(b)where the application for registration, or compliance with regulation 8, is in respect of the year 2000 or any subsequent year, the information provided shall be as accurate as reasonably possible.
(8) Where the application to register is made in one of the circumstances set out in paragraph (3)(b) above, the further information referred to in paragraph (4)(c) above need not accompany the application but shall be provided within 56 days of the application being made.