Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977

PART IIQualifying Conditions

1On 31st July 1974 each of the companies specified in Part I of this Schedule fulfilled the following conditions, namely,—

(a)the company was incorporated and had its principal place of business in Great Britain, and

(b)the company fulfilled the criteria in any one of paragraphs 2 to 4 below as a shipbuilding company, a manufacturer of slow speed diesel marine engines or a training company, and

(c)the company was not a wholly owned subsidiary of a company which fulfilled both of the preceding conditions.

2(1)For the purposes of paragraph 1 above a company is a shipbuilding company if—

(a)it was, on 31st July 1974, entitled, either alone or together with another company which was then a member of the same group of companies, to an interest in possession in a shipyard which on that date was being used for the construction of ships ; and

(b)the aggregate of the total tonnage of the ships completed in that shipyard and in any associated shipyards during the period of three years ending on 31st July 1974 exceeded the specified minimum.

(2)The specified minimum tonnage referred to in sub-paragraph (1) above is—

(a)750 standard displacement tons in respect of warships, or

(b)15,000 gross tons in respect of other ships, or

(c)500 standard displacement tons in respect of warships and 10,000 gross tons in respect of other ships.

(3)For the purposes of paragraph (b) of sub-paragraph (1) above, a shipyard is associated with one in which a company falling within paragraph (a) of that sub-paragraph has an interest in possession on 31st July 1974 if, on that date, either that company or another company which was then a member of the same group of companies was entitled, either alone or together with another company which was then a member of the same group, to an interest in possession in it.

3For the purposes of paragraph 1 above, a company is a manufacturer of slow speed diesel marine engines if on 31st July 1974 it was engaged in the business of manufacturing diesel engines—

(a)designed for use for the main propulsion of ships; and

(b)designed to deliver continuously, at a crankshaft speed of less than 160 revolutions per minute, a power output greater than 4,000 horsepower, as measured under the operating conditions specified in the British Standard Specification published on 19th February 1958 under the number B.S.649:1958 (specification for the performance of reciprocating compression-ignition (diesel) engines, utilising liquid fuel only, for general purposes).

4For the purpose of paragraph 1 above, a company is a training company if on 31st July 1974—

(a)it was engaged in the business of training persons in any of the skills required for the repairing, refitting, conversion, maintenance and construction of ships ; and

(b)it was a member of a group of companies of which another member was a company which fulfilled the conditions in paragraph 1 above but does not fall within this paragraph.

5(1)In this Part of this Schedule “ship ” means a floating or submersible vessel with an integral hull and, except in the case of a warship, of over 100 gross tons, but does not include a hovercraft or a mobile offshore installation; and for the purposes of this Part of this Schedule—

(a)the gross tonnage of a ship shall be determined in the same manner as for registration under the [1894 c. 60.] Merchant Shipping Act 1894 (whether or not the ship is in fact so registered); and

(b)the standard displacement tonnage of a warship means that tonnage as determined in accordance with the Treaty for the Limitation of Naval Armament signed in London on 25th March 1936.

(2)In sub-paragraph (1) above “mobile offshore installation” has the same meaning as in Part III of the [1972 c. 63.] Industry Act 1972, namely, any installation which is intended for underwater exploitation of mineral resources or exploration with a view to such exploitation and can move by water from place to place without major dismantling or modification, whether or not it has its own motive power.