Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974

3After section 4A, there shall be inserted the following section—

“4BPower of Secretary of State to approve types of building, etc.

(1)The following provisions of this section shall have effect with a view to enabling the Secretary of State, either on an application made to him in that behalf or of his own accord, to approve any particular type of building as conforming, either generally or in any class of case, to particular provisions of the building standards regulations.

(2)An application for the approval under this section of a type of building shall be made in the prescribed manner.

(3)Where under subsection (1) above the Secretary of State approves a type of building as conforming to particular provisions of the building standards regulations either generally or in any class of case, he may issue a certificate to that effect specifying—

(a)the type of building to which the certificate relates;

(b)the provisions of the building standards regulations to which the certificate relates ; and

(c)where applicable, the class or classes of case to which the certificate applies.

(4)A certificate under this section shall, if it so provides, cease to have effect at the end of such period as may be specified in the certificate.

(5)If, while a certificate under this section is in force, it is found, in any particular case involving a building of the type to which the certificate relates, that the building in question is of that type and the case is one to which the certificate applies, that building shall in that particular case be deemed to conform to the provisions of the building standards regulations to which the certificate relates.

(6)The Secretary of State may from time to time vary a certificate under this section either on an application made to him in that behalf or of his own accord ; but in the case of a certificate issued on an application made by a person under subsection (1) above, the Secretary of State, except where he varies it on the application of that person, shall before varying it give that person reasonable notice that he proposes to do so.

(7)A person making an application under subsection (1) or (6) above shall pay to the Secretary of State such fee as may be prescribed ; and regulations made by virtue of this subsection may prescribe different fees for different cases:

Provided that the Secretary of State may in any particular case remit the whole or part of any fee payable by virtue of this subsection.

(8)The Secretary of State may at any time revoke a certificate issued under this section, but before doing so shall give the person, if any, on whose application the certificate was issued reasonable notice that he proposes to do so.

(9)Where the Secretary of State issues a certificate under this section or varies or revokes a certificate so issued, he shall publish notice of that fact in such manner as he thinks fit.

(10)If at any time a certificate under this section ceases to have effect by virtue of subsection (4) above or is varied or revoked under the preceding provisions of this section, that fact shall not affect the continued operation of subsection (5) above by virtue of that certificate in any case in which before that time an application for a warrant in connection with the construction of a type of building to which the certificate relates was, in accordance with regulations made under section 2 of this Act, lodged with a buildings authority.

(11)For the purposes of subsection (3) above or any variation of a certificate under subsection (6) above, a class of case may be framed in any way that the Secretary of State thinks fit.”