S.L. 646.12 Art. 14Competent authority.

(1) It shall be the duty of the agencies of which the competent authority is composed to ensure that the overall functions of the competent authority as set out in these regulations are carried out in close collaboration and as efficiently as possible:

Provided that the Occupational Health and Safety Authority shall take the lead in co-ordinating the administrative actions of the competent authority: Provided further that anything required to be sent by an operator of an establishment to the competent authority pursuant to these regulations shall be sent to the competent authority at an office of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority, and any information thus supplied and acknowledged, shall be considered to have been sent to all the agencies comprising the competent authority.

(2) The competent authority shall within a reasonable period of receiving a safety report -

(a) communicate the conclusions of its examination of the report to the operator of the establishment concerned; or

(b) prohibit the operation or bringing into operation of the establishment or installation concerned or any part thereof in accordance with regulation 15.

(3) Without prejudice to sub-regulation (1), any additional information requested by a competent authority and supplied separately and in writing to any of the agencies comprising the competent authority shall, for the purpose of these regulations, be considered to have been supplied to all the other agencies.

(4) Without prejudice to the operator’s responsibilities, the competent authority shall, if necessary, appoint individuals or set-up bodies to assist the competent authority at technical level.

(5) In the case of the occurrence of a major accident -

(a) the Civil Protection Department shall take the lead, as provided in the Civil Protection Act, to ensure that any immediate, urgent, medium and long-term measures which may prove necessary are taken by whosoever has such an obligation;

(b) the competent authority shall jointly:

(i) ensure that any urgent, medium-term and long-term measures which may prove necessary are taken;

(ii) collect, by inspection, investigation or other appropriate means, the information necessary for a full analysis of the technical, organisational and managerial aspects of the accident;

(iii) take appropriate action to ensure that the operator takes any necessary remedial measures;

(iv) make recommendations on future preventive measures; and

(v) inform the persons likely to be affected, of the accident which has occurred and, where relevant, of the measures undertaken to mitigate its consequences.

(6) The competent authority shall charge the operator a fee for performing its functions under these regulations according to regulation 8, provided that such fee shall not exceed the sum of the costs reasonably incurred by the competent authority in performing the functions referred to in sub-regulation (1) in relation to the establishment concerned.

(7) When requiring payment, the competent authority shall send or give to the operator a detailed statement of the work done and costs incurred including the dates of any visits to the establishment and the period to which the statement relates; and the fee, which shall be recoverable only as a civil debt, shall become payable one month after the statement has been sent or given.

(8) The competent authority may also charge the operator other fees under such provisions as specified in sub-regulations (6) and (7), for performing any other functions under these regulations. This may include, but shall not be limited to, any costs reasonably incurred by the competent authority in arranging for any emergency services to participate in the testing of the off-site emergency plan.

(9) The competent authority shall accept equivalent information submitted by operators in accordance with other relevant Union legislation, which fulfils any of the requirements of these regulations for the purposes of these regulations. In such cases the competent authority shall ensure that the requirements of these regulations are complied with.

(10) The competent authority shall take steps to provide mechanisms and tools for exchanging experience and consolidating knowledge, and to participate in such mechanisms at Union level where appropriate.