14.—(1) The Secretary of State may from time to time appoint such persons as she thinks fit to be approved bodies for the purposes of these Regulations.
(2) Such appointment—
(a)may relate to all descriptions of product or such descriptions (which may be framed by reference to any circumstances whatsoever) of product as the Secretary of State may from time to time determine;
(b)may be made subject to such conditions as the Secretary of State may from time to time determine, which may include conditions which are to apply upon or following termination of the appointment;
(c)shall without prejudice to the generality of sub-paragraph (b) and subject to paragraph (4), require that body to carry out the procedures and specific tasks for which it has been appointed including (where so provided as part of those procedures) surveillance to ensure that the manufacturer duly fulfils the obligations arising out of the relevant conformity assessment procedure;
(d)shall be terminated upon 6 months notice in writing to the Secretary of State, at the request of the approved body; and
(e)may be terminated at any time by the Secretary of State if it appears to the Secretary of State that any of the conditions of the appointment are not complied with.
(3) Subject to paragraphs (2)(d) and (e), an appointment under this regulation may be for the time being or for such period as may be specified in the appointment.
(4) An approved body appointed by the Secretary of State shall not be required to carry out the functions referred to in paragraph (2)(c) if—
(a)the documents subject to it in relation to carrying out such functions are not in English or another language acceptable to that body;
(b)the person making the application has not submitted with its application the amount of the fee which the body requires to be submitted with the application pursuant to regulation 15; or
(c)the body reasonably believes that, having regard to the number of applications made to it in relation to its appointment under these Regulations which are outstanding, it will be unable to commence the required work within 3 months of receiving the application.
(5) If for any reason the appointment of an approved body is terminated under this regulation, the Secretary of State may—
(a)give such directions (either to the body the subject of the termination or another approved body) for the purposes of making such arrangements for the determination of outstanding applications as she considers appropriate; and
(b)without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, authorise another approved body to take over its functions in respect of such cases as she may specify.
(6) If an approved body, to whom an application has been made for an EC type-examination certificate pursuant to the EC type-examination procedure (set out in Schedule 7 hereto), is not satisfied that the requirements for such a certificate are met and refuses to issue an EC type-examination certificate it shall inform all other approved bodies of this.
(7) If an approved body withdraws an EC type-examination certificate it shall inform the Secretary of State.