Section 212: Charging schedule: examination
344.This section contains a number of provisions relating to the independent examination of a draft charging schedule. Before a charging schedule is approved under section 213, a draft of it must have been examined by a person appointed for that purpose by the charging authority. Moreover, the charging authority must satisfy itself that this person is independent of it and has appropriate qualifications and experience (subsection (2)). Subsection (9) means that those persons who have made representations about the draft of the schedule have a right to be heard before the examiner (subject to any requirements in regulations about when and how this right is acquired).
345.Subsection (4) requires the draft charging schedule submitted to the examiner to be accompanied by a declaration that the charging authority has complied with a number of requirements. These include procedural requirements relating to the preparation of the draft, requirements under section 211 as to how the contents of the schedule are to be determined and that the charging authority has used appropriate evidence to inform the draft. The purpose here is to ensure that the charging authority have satisfied themselves that the draft schedule is ready and in an appropriate form to be examined.
346.The examiner is required to make recommendations (having considered the matters in subsection (4)) relating to whether the schedule should be approved (with or without modification) or rejected and to give reasons for those recommendations. The charging authority must publish both the recommendations and the reasons (subsections (7) and (8)).