The Employment Protection (Offshore Employment) (Amendment) Order 1981

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Employment Protection (Offshore Employment) (Amendment) Order 1981 and shall come into operation on 31st March 1981.

(2) In this Order:

“the Frigg Gas Field” means the naturally occurring gas-bearing sand formations of the lower Eocene age located in the vicinity of the intersection of the line of latitude 59° 53&min; North and of the dividing line between the sectors of the Continental Shelf of the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Norway and includes all other gas-bearing strata from which gas at the start of production is capable of flowing into the above-mentioned gas-bearing sand formations;

“oversea company” has the same meaning as in section 406 of the Companies Act 1948;

“the principal Order” means the Employment Protection (Offshore Employment) Order 1976(1)

Amendment of principal Order

2.  The principal Order shall be amended as follows:—

(a)in Article 1(2), there shall be inserted after the definition of “dredging” the following definition:—

“`foreign sector of the continental shelf' has the same meaning as in section 137 of the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978;”;

(b)in (1), there shall be added at the end a new sub-paragraph:—

“(c)any activities in the foreign sector of the continental shelf connected with the exploration or exploitation of the Frigg Gas Field.”;

(c)in Article 2(2), the words “the Frigg Field Reservoir or” shall be deleted;

(d)in Article 3, in place of the list of Acts there set out there shall be substituted the following:—

“(a)the Industrial Training Act 1964(2);

(b)the Trade Union and Labour Regulations Act 1974(3);

(c)the Employment Protection Act 1975;

(d)the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978;

(e)the Wages Councils Act 1979(4)

(f)the Employment Act 1980(5).”;

(e)in Article 6, there shall be added at the end a new paragraph:—

“(3) The industrial tribunals (England and Wales) and the industrial tribunals (Scotland) shall have jurisdiction in respect of matters arising in connection with employment wholly or mainly for the purposes of any activities connected with the Frigg Gas Field”.

(f)for the Schedule there set out there shall be substituted the Schedule to this Order.

Modification of principal Order

3.  In its application to any employment wholly or mainly for the purpose of any activities connected with the Frigg Gas Field (whether or not that employment wholly or mainly takes place in the foreign sector of the continental shelf) the principal Order shall be modified as follows:—

(a)the employment to which it applies is employment within Article 2 of the said Order and in respect of which the employer is:

(i)a company registered under the Companies Acts 1948 to 1980(6)

(ii)an oversea company which has established a place of business within Great Britain from which it directs the offshore operations in question, or

(iii)any other person who has a place of business within Great Britain from which he directs the offshore operations in question.

(b)the references in Article 7 to the date on which the principal Order comes into operation shall be construed as references to the date on which this Order comes into operation.