S.L. 549.68 Art. 3Interpretation.

(1) Unless otherwise stated in these regulations, the definitions in the Act shall apply.

(2) In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires: "the Act" means the Malta Resources Authority Act; "closure of a storage site" means the definitive cessation of CO2 injection into that storage site; "CO plume" means the dispersing volume of CO in the 2 2 geological formation; "CO stream" means a flow of substances that results from CO 2 2 capture processes;

*See regulation 1(4) of these Regulations as originally promulgated. "the Commission" means the European Commission as established by the Treaty on the European Union as amended by subsequent Treaties; "the Community" means the European Community as established by the Treaty on the European Union as amended by subsequent Treaties;

"the competent authority" means the Office of the Prime Minister, and such other body or person as the Prime Minister may prescribe and designate as the competent authority for different purposes in terms of different provisions of these regulations; "corrective measures" means any measures taken to correct significant irregularities or to close leakages in order to prevent or stop the release of CO from the storage complex; 2 "Environment and Resources Authority" means the Environment and Resources Authority established under article 6 of the Environment Protection Act;

"exploration" means the assessment of potential storage complexes for the purposes of geologically storing CO by means 2 of activities intruding into the subsurface such as drilling to obtain geological information about strata in the potential storage complex and, as appropriate, carrying out injection tests in order to characterise the storage site; "exploration permit" means a written and reasoned decision authorising exploration, and specifying the conditions under which it may take place, issued by the competent authority pursuant to the requirements of these regulations and any other applicable law; "geological formation" means a lithostratigraphical subdivision within which distinct rock layers can be found and mapped; "geological storage of CO " means injection accompanied by 2 storage of CO streams in underground geological formations; 2 "hydraulic unit" means a hydraulically connected pore space where pressure communication can be measured by technical means and which is bordered by flow barriers, such as faults, salt domes, lithological boundaries, or by the wedging out or outcropping of the formation; "leakage" means any release of CO from the storage complex; 2 "migration" means the movement of CO within the storage 2 complex;

"operator" means any natural or legal, private or public person who operates or controls the storage site or to whom decisive economic power over the technical functioning of the storage site has been delegated according to applicable legislation; "post-closure" means the period after the closure of a storage site, including the period after the transfer of responsibility to the competent authority;

"significant irregularity" means any irregularity in the injection or storage operations or in the condition of the storage complex itself, which implies the risk of a leakage or risk to the environment or human health;

"significant risk" means a combination of a probability of occurrence of damage and a magnitude of damage that cannot be disregarded without calling into question the purpose of these regulations for the storage site concerned; "storage complex" means the storage site and surrounding geological domain which can have an effect on overall storage integrity and security; that is, secondary containment formations;

"storage permit" means a written and reasoned decision or decisions authorising the geological storage of CO in a storage 2 site by the operator, and specifying the conditions under which it may take place, issued by the competent authority pursuant to the requirements of these regulations and any other applicable law;

"storage site" means a defined volume area within a geological formation used for the geological storage of CO and associated 2 surface and injection facilities; "substantial change" means any change not provided for in the storage permit, which may have significant effects on the environment or human health; "transport network" means the network of pipelines, including associated booster stations, for the transport of CO to the storage 2 site;

"waste" shall have the same meaning as in the Waste Regulations;

"water column" means the vertically continuous mass of water from the surface to the bottom sediments of a water body.