Citation and commencement

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Marine Licensing (Application Fees) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011 and come into operation on 6th April 2011.

Application

2. These Regulations apply in relation to Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland inshore region, and any application for a marine licence in relation to Northern Ireland or the Northern Ireland inshore region, for which the Department is the appropriate licensing authority(2).

Interpretation

3.-(1) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(3) applies to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.

(2) In these Regulations-

"application" means an application for a marine licence made under section 67 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009; and

"the Department" means the Department of the Environment.

Payment

4.-(1) All applications for a marine licence shall be accompanied by a fee to be paid to the Department.

(2) All fees shall be calculated in accordance with the Schedule and, in the case of an application made on or after 1st April 2012, shall be varied in accordance with regulation 5.

(3) Payment of all fees shall be made in accordance with these Regulations.

(4) Payment of a fee is deemed not to have been made until the Department has received cleared funds for the full amount due.

(5) If an application is not accompanied by the relevant fee and payment is not made to the Department in accordance with these Regulations, the Department may-

(a)refuse to proceed with the application; or

(b)refuse to proceed with it until payment of the full fee has been made.

Applications made on or after 1st April 2012

5.-(1) The fees payable in respect of applications are to be varied with effect from 1st April each year and the fee to accompany an application made on or after 1st April 2012 is to be determined in accordance with paragraph (2).

(2) The fee payable in respect of an application is to be determined in accordance with the formula -

where -

"A" is the amount that would have been payable had the application of the kind in question been made in the licensing year prior to the licensing year in which the application is made;

"B" is the Gross Domestic Product Deflator Index for February in the licensing year immediately before the licensing year in which the application is made; and

"C" is the Gross Domestic Product Deflator Index figure for February in the licensing year finishing a year before the start of the licensing year in which the application is made.

(3) In paragraph (2), "licensing year" means the period of 12 months starting on the 1st April.

Repayment, waiver or reduction of fee

6.-(1) Subject to paragraph (2), fees are non-refundable.

(2) The Department may repay any fee, or any part of a fee, if the Department sees fit.

(3) The Department may waive or reduce any fee if the Department sees fit.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of the Environment on 16th March 2011

Maggie Smith

A senior officer of the

Department of the Environment

SCHEDULETables of fees to be paid for licensable marine activities.

PART 1DESCRIPTION OF FEE TABLES (USAGE)

1. Table 1 (Marine Construction Licence) is categorised into 9 bands which reflect the size and scale of the project, in monetary terms. The applicant will be required to pay the licence fee (Column 2) on submission of an application.

2. Tables 2 (Maintenance Dredging Licence), 3 (Capital Dredging Licence), 4 (Maintenance Dredge Disposal Licence) and 5 (Capital Dredge Disposal Licence) are all categorised into bands which reflect the metric tonnages of material to be dredged or disposed of. In each case, the applicant will be required to pay the Licence Fee (Column 2) on submission of an application.

3. Tables 6 (Deposit of Tracer Dyes, Biocides and Other Such Materials Licence) and 7 (Marine Minerals Extraction Licence) each have a single band. The fee to be paid by the applicant on submission of an application is as indicated.

4. Table 8 (Marine Renewable Energy Licence) is categorised into 4 bands which reflect the size and scale of the project, in terms of its output in Megawatts. The applicant will be required to pay the Licence Fee (Column 2) on submission of an application.

PART 2FEES PAYABLE (AMOUNTS PAYABLE)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations apply in relation to any application for a marine licence in relation to which the Department of the Environment is the appropriate licensing authority under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009.

Under section 67(1)(b) of that Act the appropriate licensing authority may require that an application for a marine licence be accompanied by a fee. These Regulations provide that such a fee is chargeable as defined in the Schedule to these Regulations.

These Regulations contain additional provisions relating to the payment of such fees, variation (in line with the Gross Domestic Deflator Index figure), repayment and waiver or reduction of fees.

Guidance on the use of these Regulations can be obtained from the Marine Assessment and Licensing Team, Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Department of the Environment, 17 Antrim Road, Lisburn, Co Antrim, BT28 3AL and from the Agency's website at www.ni-environment.gov.uk.

A full Regulatory Impact Assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector is available from the Marine Policy Team, Department of the Environment, Millennium House, 17-25 Great Victoria Street, Belfast, BT2 7BN and from the Department of the Environment website, www.doeni.gov.uk.