The Marine Licensing (Application Fees) Regulations 2014

• Citation: S.I. 2014/615
• Sections: 11

Section 1 Citation and commencement

These Regulations—

(a) may be cited as the Marine Licensing (Application Fees) Regulations 2014; and

(b) come into force on 6th April 2014.

Section 2 Interpretation

In these Regulations—

“ the Act ” means the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009;

“the 2011 Regulations ” means the Marine Licensing (Application Fees) Regulations 2011 ;

“activity” means a licensable marine activity; and

“licence” means a marine licence granted under section 71(1)(a) or (b) of the Act.

Section 3 Application

These Regulations apply in relation to any application for a licence in relation to which the Secretary of State is the appropriate licensing authority under section 113 of the Act, other than any activity relating to an activity falling within the subject-matter of—

(a) the Petroleum Act 1998 ; or

(b) Part 1 (gas importation or storage), 4 (provisions relating to oil and gas) or 4A (works detrimental to navigation) of the Energy Act 2008 .

Section 4 Fees for applications for licences

(1) The fee payable for determining an application for a licence is comprised of—

(a) an application fee, as calculated in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (4); and

(b) if appropriate, a travel fee, as calculated in accordance with paragraph (5).

(2) Subject to paragraph (3)—

(a) the application fee for an application which falls within Band 1 in the Schedule is £50; and

(b) the application fee for an application which falls within Band 2 or Band 3 in the Schedule is the product of £122 and the total number of hours worked.

(3) Where the application fee that would otherwise be payable under paragraph (2), taken together with the fee (if any) charged under section 67(5) of the Act, would exceed the maximum fee in relation to an application of the kind in question, the amount payable in respect of both such fees taken together is the maximum fee.

(4) For the purposes of paragraph (3), the maximum fee payable in respect of an application falling within any band specified in the first column of the table in paragraph 1 of the Schedule (and of the kind described in the second column of that table) is specified in relation to that band in the third column of that table.

(5) The travel fee is comprised of—

(a) a travel time charge which is the product of £122 and the total number of hours of travel undertaken by each relevant person; and

(b) the total amount of the reasonable travelling costs and related incidental expenditure incurred in respect of each relevant person.

(6) For the purposes of paragraphs (2)(b) and (5)(a), the total number of hours worked or travelled (as applicable) may be expressed as a fraction where it cannot be expressed as a whole number.

(7) In paragraph (5), “relevant person” means a person acting on behalf of the Secretary of State in relation to an application.

Section 5 Payment of fees

(1) All fees are payable on demand to the Secretary of State.

(2) Payment of any fee may be made by electronic means.

(3) Payment of a fee is not received until the Secretary of State has received cleared funds for the full amount due.

(4) Any unpaid fee may be recovered by the Secretary of State as a civil debt.

Section 6 Deposits in cases where fee payable at hourly rate

(1) In relation to an application which falls within Band 2 or Band 3 in the Schedule, the Secretary of State may require an applicant to pay a deposit of such amount as the Secretary of State may determine on account of the fee payable.

(2) Subject to paragraph (3), the amount of the deposit must be calculated by reference to the estimated duration of the work likely to be required in relation to the application and the hourly rate payable.

(3) In relation to any application which falls within Band 3 in the Schedule, the amount of the deposit may not exceed £10,000.

(4) If an applicant fails to comply with a requirement to pay a deposit made under paragraph (1), the Secretary of State may—

(a) refuse to proceed with the application, or

(b) refuse to proceed with it until the deposit is paid in full.

Section 7 Repayment, waiver or reduction of fee

(1) The Secretary of State must refund any payment made in excess of the fee payable, but fees paid are not otherwise refundable.

(2) The Secretary of State may waive or reduce any fee if the Secretary of State sees fit.

Section 8 Revocation of the 2011 Regulations

Subject to regulation 9, the 2011 Regulations are revoked.

Section 9 Transitional and saving provisions

(1) Paragraph (2) applies in respect of any licence application that was received by the Secretary of State before 6th April 2014 but which was not determined by the Secretary of State before that date.

(2) The 2011 Regulations continue to have effect in relation to the application, subject to the exception in paragraph (3) and the modification in paragraph (4).

(3) Where the application falls within the description in Band 1 or Band 2 in the Schedule to the 2011 Regulations and the amount of the fee, if it were determined in accordance with the 2011 Regulations, would be greater than the amount of the fee if it were determined in accordance with these Regulations, the fee is to be determined in accordance with these Regulations.

(4) The fee in respect of an application falling within the description in Band 3 in the Schedule to the 2011 Regulations is to be determined as if, for “£80 per hour or part thereof”, there were substituted “£80 per hour or part thereof worked before 6th April 2014 and £94 per hour or part thereof worked on or after that date”.

(5) For the purposes of paragraph (1), an application is not received until an applicant has supplied such information or produced such articles as in the opinion of the Secretary of State may be necessary or expedient to enable the Secretary of State to determine the application.

Section 1

The bands and (where applicable) maximum fees are as follows—

Any application relating to:

the burial of a body at sea;

erecting scaffolding for discrete maintenance projects;

removing poles, girders, joists and objects of a similar nature unattached to the seabed or any structure;

resurfacing a slipway;

repairing joints of any structure; or

any activity of a similarly minor nature

Section 2

(1) In paragraph 1, “specified activity” means any activity falling within item 1 (deposits within the UK marine licensing area etc ), 7 (construction, alteration or improvement of works etc) or 8 (use of vehicle to remove substances etc) of section 66(1) of the Act, but does not include any such activity where it is—

(a) to be carried out in the course of an Annex I project;

(b) to be carried out in the course of an Annex II project, if it is likely because of its size, nature or location to have significant effects on the environment;

(c) a plan or project likely (either alone or in combination with other plans or projects) to have a significant effect on a European site;

(d) capable of affecting (other than insignificantly)—

(i) the protected features of an MCZ ; or

(ii) any ecological or geomorphological process on which the conservation of any protected feature of an MCZ is (wholly or in part) dependent;

(e) likely to have a significant effect on a Ramsar site; or

(f) an activity with respect to which an environmental impact assessment is required by virtue of regulation 5 (requirement of assessment by agreement) of the EIA Regulations .

(2) In paragraph 2(1)(a) and (b)—

(a) “Annex I project” means a project of a type specified in Annex I to Council Directive 2011/92/ EU on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment ; and

(b) “Annex II project” means a project of a type specified in Annex II to that Directive.

(3) In paragraph 2(1)(c)—

“European site” means a European site within the meaning of regulation 8(1) of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 or a European offshore marine site within the meaning of regulation 18 of the Conservation of Offshore Marine Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 ; and

“plan or project” has the same meaning as in Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora .

(4) In paragraph 2(1)(d)—

(a) “an MCZ” means a marine conservation zone from time to time designated by an order made under section 116 of the Act; and

(b) “protected feature” has the meaning given by section 147(1) of the Act.

(5) In paragraph 2(1)(e) “Ramsar site” means a site designated under paragraph 1 of Article 2 of the Ramsar Convention by the Secretary of State, the Scottish Ministers, the Welsh Ministers or, in Northern Ireland, the Department of the Environment .

(6) In paragraph 2(1)(f)—

(a) “EIA Regulations” means the Marine Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2007 ; and

(b) “environmental impact assessment” means an assessment under Part 3 of the EIA Regulations.