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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland >> The Sulphur Content of Liquid Fuels Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007 No. 272 URL: http://www.bailii.org/nie/legis/num_reg/2007/20070272.html |
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Made | 3rd May 2007 | ||
Coming into operation | 31st May 2007 |
but excluding marine fuel, diesel fuels (as defined in Article 2(2) of Council Directive 98/70/EC relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuels[3] and fuels used in non–road mobile machinery and agricultural tractors;
but excluding marine fuel and gas oil;
(2) In paragraph (1)—
(3) Expressions used in these Regulations that also appear in Council Directive 1999/32/EC relating to a reduction in the sulphur content of certain liquid fuels as amended by Directive 2005/33/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council[9] have the same meaning as they do in that Directive.
(4) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954[10] shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to the Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Application
3.
These Regulations do not apply to heavy fuel oil or gas oil intended for—
Maximum sulphur content of heavy fuel oil
4.
—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), no person shall use any heavy fuel oil which has a sulphur content that exceeds 1 per cent by mass.
(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to the use of heavy fuel oil—
(c) in a combustion plant other than a new or existing plant to which sub-paragraphs (a) or (b) apply which is operated in accordance with a permit which contains a condition which prohibits the emissions of sulphur dioxide from the plant exceeding 1,700 mg/Nm3 at an oxygen content in the flue gas of 3 per cent by volume on a dry basis; or
(d) in combustion plants forming part of a refinery other than—
and where the combustion plants are operated in accordance with a permit which contains a condition that their monthly average of emissions of sulphur dioxide averaged over all plants in the refinery, irrespective of the fuel or fuel combination used, does not exceed 1,700 mg/Nm3.
(3) An enforcing authority which grants a permit referred to in paragraph (2) shall carry out appropriate monitoring of emissions of sulphur dioxide to ensure that the limitations on emissions contained in that permit are met.
(4) In this regulation—
(ii) a sulphur content of liquid fuels permit which—
(5) Schedule 1 (Sulphur content of liquid fuel permits) has effect.
Maximum sulphur content in gas oil
5.
No person shall use gas oil—
Sampling and analysis
6.
—(1) The Department shall take all necessary measures to ensure that sampling is carried out of heavy fuel oil and gas oil to check that the use of those fuels complies with, respectively, regulation 4(1) and regulation 5.
(2) Sampling shall be carried out with sufficient frequency and in such a way that the Department is satisfied that the samples are representative of the fuels examined.
(3) Sampling in respect of compliance with regulation 5(b) shall commence no later than 1st July 2008.
(4) Schedule 2 shall have effect in relation to the technical requirements for determining the sulphur content of fuel sampled under paragraph (1).
Offences and penalties
7.
—(1) A person is guilty of an offence if he contravenes regulation 4(1) or 5, or causes or permits another person to do so.
(2) Any person guilty of an offence under paragraph (1) shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 2 on the standard scale.
(3) For the purposes of these Regulations section 20(2) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 applies with the omission of the words "the liability of whose members is limited" and where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, applies in relation to the acts or defaults of a member in connection with his functions of management as if he were a director of the body corporate.
Revocation and saving
8.
—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the Sulphur Content of Liquid Fuels Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 are revoked.
(2) Where an operator of a combustion plant—
such application shall continue to be determined under those Regulations.
Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of the Environment on
3rd May 2007.
L.S.
Wesley Shannon
A senior officer of the Department of the Environment
2.
An application under paragraph 1 shall be in writing and accompanied by a fee prescribed in relation to that application by a scheme under Article 8(2) of the 1997 Order and shall contain—
3.
An applicant may withdraw his application at any time before it is determined.
4.
An enforcing authority which receives a duly made application under paragraph 1 shall grant a sulphur content of liquid fuels permit subject to the condition identified in the application.
5.
A sulphur content of liquid fuels permit may be transferred by the holder of the permit to a person who intends to operate the plant to which the permit relates in place of the holder.
6.
The person to whom a sulphur content of liquid fuels permit is transferred as permitted by paragraph 5 shall—
7.
The holder of a sulphur content of liquid fuels permit may surrender it to the enforcing authority which granted it and such a surrender—
8.
In this Schedule "enforcing authority" in relation to the discharge of functions under these Regulations, means either the chief inspector or district council by whom the functions are determined to be exercisable.
9.
Regulation 7 of the 2003 Regulations (Discharge and scope of functions) shall apply to functions under these Regulations as it applies to functions under the 2003 Regulations.
10.
Article 8 of the 1997 Order shall apply for the purpose of prescribing a fee in respect of an application under paragraph 1 as it applies for the purposes of prescribing a fee in respect of an application for an authorisation granted under Article 6 of the Order.
2.
The arbitration method shall be PrEN ISO 14596.
3.
The statistical interpretation of the verification of the sulphur content of the gas oils used shall be carried out in accordance with ISO standard 4259 (1992)[16].
[3] OJ L 350, 28.12.1998, p.58.back
[4] ISO 8217 (1996) is described in the British Standard entitled, "Specification for Petroleum Fuels for marine oil engines and boilers", published under the numbers BS MA 100 and ISO 8217:1996, which came into effect on 15th August 1996.back
[5] S.I. 1997/2777 (N.I. 18)back
[7] The ASTM method is described in the 1999 Annual Book of the ASTM Standards: Section 5-Petroleum Products, Lubricants and Fossil Fuels, published by the American Society for Testing and Materials, November 1999.back
[8] The Integrated Customs Tariff of the United Kingdom (2000 edition) is published by HMSO (ISBN 0117818054).back
[9] OJL 191 22.7.2005, p. 59back
[11] OJL 309, 27.11.2001, p. 1 as amended by the 2003 Act of Accessionback
[13] S.I. 2002/3153 (N.I.)back
[14] ISO method 8754 (1992) is described in the British Standard entitled, "Petroleum Products-Determination of Sulphur content-Energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence methods", published under the numbers BS EN ISO 8754:1995 and ISO 8754:1992, which came into effect on 31st July 1995. PrEN ISO 14596 is described in the British Standard entitled, "Petroleum Products-Determination of Sulphur content-Wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry", published under the numbers BS EN ISO 14596:1998 and ISO 14596:1998, which came into effect on 15th December 1998.back
[15] EN method 4260 (1987) is described in the British Standard entitled, "Petroleum Products and Hydrocarbons-Determination of Sulphur Content-Wickbold combustion method", published under the numbers BS EN 24260:1994 and ISO 4260:1987, which came into effect on 30th September 1994.back
[16] Described in the British Standard entitled, "Petroleum Products-Determination and Application of precision data in relation to methods of test", published under the numbers BS EN ISO 4259:1996 and ISO 4259:1992, which came into effect on 15th February 1996.back