S.I. No. 325/1997:

HARBOURS ACT, 1996 INITIAL ORGANISATION OF PILOTAGE SERVICES) REGULATIONS, 1997

HARBOURS ACT, 1996 INITIAL ORGANISATION OF PILOTAGE SERVICES) REGULATIONS, 1997

I, Michael Woods, Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 (5) of the Harbours Act, 1996 (No. 11 of 1996), as adapted by the Marine (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order, 1997 ( S.I. No. 301 of 1997 ), hereby make the following regulations:

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Harbours Act, 1996 (Initial Organisation of Pilotage Services) Regulations, 1997.

2. In these Regulations--

"the Act" means the Harbours Act, 1996 (No. 11 of 1996);

"the relevant period" shall be construed in accordance with Regulation 3 of these Regulations.

3. (1) Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1 ) of Section 56 of the Act, a company referred to in that subsection may, immediately after the commencement of that section in relation to it, organise and ensure the provision of pilotage services in the pilotage district concerned referred to in that subsection by the means specified in paragraph (b) of that subsection for such period as it considers appropriate (in these Regulations referred to as the "relevant period") and then, on the expiration of that period, either

( a ) continue to organise and ensure the provision of the said services by the said means,

or

( b ) organise and ensure the provision of the said services by the means specified in paragraph (a) of the said subsection.

(2) The relevant period shall not exceed a period of 12 months from the date of the making of these Regulations.

4. During the relevant period that a company organises and ensures the provision of pilotage services in the pilotage district concerned by the means specified in paragraph (b) of section 56(1) of the Act but during that period only

( a ) the company shall not be obliged to enter into a pilotage agreement under section 59 of the Act,

( b ) the company shall have the same powers and be subject to the same duties in relation to any fund, scheme or arrangements referred to in Regulation 6 of these Regulations as the former pilotage authority for its pilotage district had or was subject to under the Pilotage Act, 1913.

5. If, on the expiration of the relevant period concerned, a company organises and ensures the provision of pilotage services in the pilotage district concerned by the means specified in paragraph (a) of section 56(1) of the Act, subsection (2) of the said section 56 shall apply in like respects as it would have applied if the company had organised and ensured the provision of those services by the said means immediately after the commencement of the said section in relation to it but with the following modification, namely, as if after the words in the said subsection (2), "in relation to the company", there were inserted the words "or granted under section 58(1) by the company and which was in force immediately before the making of the said decision".

6. If by reason only of the operation of anything in the Harbours Act, 1996 (Commencement) (No. 2) Order, 1997 ( S.I. No. 253 of 1997 ), any pilot's licence, pilotage certificate or bye-laws granted or made under the Pilotage Act, 1913, or any pilots' benefit fund, superannuation scheme or arrangements referred to in section 41 (6) of the Act was or were not in force or, as the case may be, existence immediately before the date of the making of these Regulations, the said licence, certificate, bye-laws, fund, scheme or arrangements shall, for the purposes of the Act, be deemed to have been in force or, as the case may be, existence immediately before the said date.

7. Section 41(7)(b) of the Act shall have effect subject to the following modification, namely, after the words "in relation to the company" in that provision there shall be inserted the words ", or, as the case may be, after the expiration of the relevant period concerned (within the meaning of the Harbours Act, 1996 (Initial Organisation of Pilotage Services) Regulations, 1997),".

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 26th day of July, 1997.

Michael Woods

Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These Regulations make provisions in relation to the initial organisation of pilotage services by companies to which the Harbours Act, 1996 (Commencement) (No. 3) Order, 1997 applies.