14.—(1) The Secretary of State may from time to time appoint such persons as he thinks fit to be notified bodies for the purposes of these Regulations.
(2) An appointment—
(a)may relate to all descriptions of equipment or such descriptions (which may be framed by reference to any circumstances whatsoever) of equipment as the Secretary of State may from time to time determine;
(b)may be made subject to such conditions as the Secretary of State may from time to time determine, and such conditions may include conditions which are to apply upon or following termination of the appointment;
(c)shall, without prejudice to the generality of sub-paragraph (b) and subject to paragraph (4), require that body to carry out the procedures and specific tasks for which it has been appointed including (where so provided as part of those procedures) surveillance to ensure that the responsible person duly fulfils the obligations arising out of the relevant conformity assessment procedure;
(d)shall be terminated upon 90 days' notice in writing to the Secretary of State, at the request of the notified body; and
(e)may be terminated if it appears to the Secretary of State that any of the conditions of the appointment are not complied with.
(3) Subject to paragraphs (2)(d) and (e), an appointment under this regulation may be for the time being or for such period as may be specified in the appointment.
(4) A notified body appointed by the Secretary of State shall not be required to carry out the functions referred to in paragraph (2)(c) if—
(a)for any reason the documents submitted to it in relation to carrying out such functions are not in English or another language acceptable to that body;
(b)the person making the application has not submitted with his application the amount of the fee which the body requires to be submitted with the application pursuant to regulation 15; or
(c)the body reasonably believes that, having regard to the number of applications made to it in relation to its appointment under these Regulations which are outstanding, it will be unable to commence the required work within three months of receiving the application.
(5) If for any reason the appointment of a notified body is terminated under this regulation, the Secretary of State may—
(a)give such directions (either to the body the subject of the termination or to another notified body) for the purpose of making such arrangements for the determination of outstanding applications as he considers appropriate; and
(b)without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, authorise another notified body to take over its functions in respect of such cases as he may specify.
(6) Where a notified body is minded to refuse to issue a report or conformity certificate it shall—
(a)give notice in writing to the applicant of the reasons why it is minded to do so; and
(b)give the applicant the opportunity to make representations within a period of 28 days of the said notice being given and consider any representations made within that period by the applicant.