Consultation closes 6th September 2016, 5 p.m.
The Government is consulting on a proposal to amend the Oil Pollution Prevention and Control (OPPC) and Offshore Chemicals Regulations (OCR) to allow charging for certain regulatory services where there is currently no power to charge for these. Views from the oil and gas industry, and other stakeholders such as installation and well operators who would be affected by the new charges, are being sought.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (now Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) identified that it was not recovering the cost of particular services provided to industry as part of carrying out its statutory regulatory functions under the Offshore Petroleum Activities (Oil Pollution Prevention And Control) Regulations 2005 (as amended) and the Offshore Chemicals Regulations 2002 (as amended). The primary legislation for these Regulations is the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999 and under this Act the Secretary of State has the power to make regulations authorising the Secretary of State to make charging schemes. Before such a change can be made the Secretary of State has to consult with affected parties and if the new charging scheme procedes both the Regulations and their corresponding charging schemes will also be amended.
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