Antarctic Regulations 1995
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1995/490 |
| Year | 1995 |
1995 No. 490
ANTARCTICA
The Antarctic Regulations 1995
Made 20th February 1995
Laid before Parliament 1st March 1995
Coming into force in accordance with regulation 1
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, in exercise of his powers under sections 9(1), 10(1), 11(1), 14(1), 15(c), 25(1) and (3), 29 and 32 of the Antarctic Act 19941, and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:
PART 1
GENERAL
Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Antarctic Regulations 1995 and shall come into force on such day as the Secretary of State may by order appoint and different days may be appointed for different provisions and different purposes.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these Regulations “the Act” means the Antarctic Act 1994, and expressions used in these Regulations have, unless the contrary intention appears, the meaning which they bear in the Act.
(2) Any reference in these Regulations to a communication “in writing” shall include a reference to a communication by telex, facsimile or other similar instantaneous means which produces a document containing a text of the communication.
(3) Any reference in these Regulations to the Secretary of State with respect to the application, grant, production, revocation or suspension of a permit for the purposes of section 11 or 12 of the Act shall include a reference to any person exercising the powers of the Secretary of State for those purposes in accordance with a delegation given under section 16 of the Act.
(4) Any reference in these Regulations to a numbered regulation shall be construed as a reference to the regulation bearing that number in these Regulations.
(5) Any period of time specified in these Regulations by reference to days, working days or months—
(a)
(a) where such period is expressed to begin after a particular date, shall begin on the first day after that date, and shall be inclusive of the last day unless that day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday or any other day appointed by law to be a bank holiday in any part of the United Kingdom, in which case the period shall run to the immediately following working day; and
(b)
(b) where such period is expressed to run or to expire before a particular date or event, the period shall be calculated to expire on the last working day before the particular date or the date of that event.
(6) In computing any period of time specified in these Regulations by reference to working days there shall be disregarded the whole of any Saturday, Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday or any other day appointed by law to be a bank holiday in any part of the United Kingdom.
Service of documents
3.—(1) Anything required to be served on any person under these Regulations or the Act shall be set out in a notice in writing which may be served either—
(a)
(a) by delivering it to that person;
(b)
(b) by leaving it at his proper address;
(c)
(c) by sending it by post to that address; or
(d)
(d) by sending it to him at that address by telex, facsimile or other similar instantaneous means which produces a document containing a text of the communication, in which event the document shall be regarded as served when it is transmitted,
and where the person is a body corporate the document may be served, by any of these means, upon the Secretary of that body.
(2) When a document is sent by post it shall be deemed to have been received 3 working days after despatch if posted to an address within the United Kingdom and 7 working days if posted to an address elsewhere.
(3) For the purposes of this regulation the proper address of any person shall in the case of a body corporate be the registered or principal office of that body and in any other case shall be the last known address of the person.
PART 2
PERMITS
Applications for permits under sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Act
4.—(1) An application for a permit under section 3, 4, 5 or 6 of the Act shall be made to the Secretary of State in such form, and accompanied by such number of copies, as he may require.
(2) No later than 7 days after making the application, the applicant shall cause notice of the application to be published in the London Gazette in such form and containing such information as the Secretary of State may require.
(3) The applicant shall during the period the application is pending—
(a)
(a) make available a copy of the application for inspection during normal office hours by any person who may so request; and
(b)
(b) provide copies of the application to any person on receipt of a request in writing, subject to payment of reasonable charges for supplying the copies, including postage.
Initial Environmental Evaluation
5.—(1) If the Secretary of State considers that the activity for which an application has been made under regulation 4 is likely to have more than a negligible impact on the environment of Antarctica, he shall, unless he has required the applicant to submit a draft Comprehensive Environmental Evaluation in accordance with regulation 6(1), require the applicant to submit to him an Initial Environmental Evaluation.
(2) An Initial Environmental Evaluation shall be in such form, and accompanied by such number of copies, as the Secretary of State may require and shall contain sufficient information for the Secretary of State to be able to assess—
(a)
(a) the scale of the impact which the proposed activity may have on the environment of Antarctica;
(b)
(b) whether, in the light of existing and known planned activities, it may have a cumulative impact; and
(c)
(c) whether there may be alternative ways of carrying out the proposed activity which might lessen the environmental impact or possible cumulative impact.
(3) The applicant shall during the period the application is pending—
(a)
(a) make available a copy of the Initial Environmental Evaluation for inspection during normal office hours by any person who may so request; and
(b)
(b) provide copies of the Initial Environmental Evaluation to any person on receipt of a request in writing, subject to payment of reasonable charges for supplying the copies, including postage.
(4) The Secretary of State shall cause to be published annually a list of the Initial Environmental Evaluations submitted to him in accordance with this regulation during the preceding 12 months.
Comprehensive Environmental Evaluation
6.—(1) If the Secretary of State at any time after the making of an application considers that the activity which is the subject of the application is likely to have more than a minor or transitory impact on the environment of Antarctica, he shall require the applicant to submit to him a draft Comprehensive Environmental Evaluation.
(2) Such draft Comprehensive Environmental Evaluation shall be in such form, and accompanied by such number of copies, as the Secretary of State may require and shall contain sufficient information for the Secretary of State to be able to consider or determine—
(a)
(a) possible alternatives to the proposed activity, including the alternative of not proceeding with it;
(b)
(b) the initial environmental reference state with which predicted changes are to be compared, and the likely future environmental state in the absence of the proposed activity;
(c)
(c) whether the methods and data used to forecast the impacts of the proposed activity are satisfactory for that purpose;
(d)
(d) the nature, extent, duration and intensity of the likely direct impacts of the proposed activity;
(e)
(e) possible indirect or second order impacts of the proposed activity;
(f)
(f) any cumulative impacts of the proposed activity in the light of existing activities and other known planned activities;
(g)
(g) the measures which could be taken to minimize or mitigate impacts of the proposed activity, and whether a monitoring programme to verify foreseen impacts or detect unforeseen impacts, and provide early warning of any adverse effects of the activity, should be provided for;
(h)
(h) the measures which could be taken to deal promptly and effectively with accidents;
(i)
(i) whether there may be any unavoidable impacts of the proposed activity;
(j)
(j) the effects of the proposed activity on the conduct of scientific research and on other existing uses and values; and
(k)
(k) whether there are gaps in knowledge or uncertainties with regard to the possible impact of the proposed activity.
(a)
(a) (3) When so required by the Secretary of State, the applicant shall submit to him a final Comprehensive Environmental Evaluation in such form, and accompanied by such number of copies, as the Secretary of State may require.
(b)
(b) When making such a requirement the Secretary of State shall provide the applicant with
(i) any comments in writing on the draft Comprehensive Environmental Evaluation which have been received by the Secretary of State from any person in accordance with paragraph (5);
(ii) any comments on such Evaluation from another Contracting Party;
(iii) any advice in respect of such Evaluation from the Committee for Environmental Protection established under the Protocol; and
(iv) an account of the consideration by the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting of such Evaluation in the light of such advice,
and the applicant shall, in preparing the final Comprehensive Environmental Evaluation, take into account such comments, advice and account and include or summarize them in the final Comprehensive Environmental Evaluation.
(4) The Secretary of State shall, while an application is pending and for one year thereafter, make available the draft and the final Comprehensive Environmental Evaluation for inspection during normal office hours by any person who may so request in...
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