The Environmental Impact Assessment and Natural Habitats (Extraction of Minerals by Marine Dredging) (England and Northern Ireland) Regulations 2007

Electronic communications

30.—(1) A requirement in these Regulations that any application, approval, decision, determination, notice, opinion or request should be in writing is fulfilled where the recipient consents to receive it electronically and the document meets the criteria in paragraph (4), and “written” is to be construed accordingly.

(2) Where an application is made to the Secretary of State or to the regulator for any approval, decision, determination, or opinion, under these Regulations using electronic communications, the person making the application shall be taken to have agreed—

(a)to the use of such communications for all purposes relating to the application which are capable of being carried out electronically;

(b)that the address for the purpose of such communications is the address incorporated into, or otherwise logically associated with, the application; and

(c)that the deemed agreement under this paragraph shall subsist until that person gives notice to revoke the agreement.

(3) Where a person is no longer willing to accept the use of electronic communications in relation to any application under these Regulations, that person shall give notice to the regulator and such revocation shall be final and shall take effect on a date specified by the person in the notice, but not less than seven days after the date on which the notice is given.

(4) The criteria referred to in paragraph (1) are that the document transmitted by the electronic communication is—

(a)capable of being accessed by the recipient;

(b)legible in all material respects; and

(c)sufficiently permanent to be used for subsequent reference.

(5) In paragraph (4), “legible in all material respects” means that the information contained in the document is available to the recipient to no lesser extent than it would be if sent or given by means of a document in printed form.

(6) Nothing in this regulation shall prevent the regulator from requiring an applicant for permission under regulation 10 or the applicant in relation to any application under regulations 6(1), 7(2), 16(2), or 18(1) or the owner or holder of a permission in the case of a proposed revocation or variation under regulation 21, to provide such number of printed copies of any document as the regulator shall reasonably require, notwithstanding that the document has already been transmitted to the regulator electronically.

(7) Where the electronic communication is received by the recipient outside the recipient’s business hours, it shall be taken to have been received on the next working day; and for this purpose “working day” means a day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, Bank Holiday or other public holiday.

(8) In this regulation—

(a)the expression “address” includes any number or address used for the purpose of such communications or storage; and

(b)“electronic communication” has the meaning given in section 15(1) of the Electronic Communications Act 2000(1).