Application to register producers
20.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), an operator of a scheme who is required by regulation 19 to register the scheme members of that scheme shall for the purpose of registering scheme members for any compliance period, or any part of a compliance period, make an application to the appropriate authority on or before 31st October in the year immediately preceding the commencement of that compliance period.
(2) Where a producer becomes a member of a scheme after 15th October in the year immediately preceding the commencement of the relevant compliance period, the operator of the scheme shall make an application to register that producer to the appropriate authority within 28 days of the date when that producer becomes a member of the scheme.
(3) Where the operator of the scheme is a partnership, an application for registration made under paragraphs (1) and (2) shall be made by any partner acting on behalf of the partnership.
(4) An application for registration made under paragraph (1) or (2) shall—
(a)be in writing;
(b)contain the information set out in Schedule 6, which shall be submitted in the format published by the appropriate authority under regulation 60; and
(c)be accompanied by evidence that the operator of the scheme has been approved by the appropriate authority under regulation 41.
(5) An application for registration shall be granted where—
(a)the operator of the scheme has complied with the requirements of paragraph (4);
(b)the scheme has been approved by the appropriate authority under regulation 41; and
(c)the producer who is the subject of the application is not already registered with an appropriate authority under this regulation in relation to the relevant compliance period.
(6) Where an application for registration is granted in respect of any compliance period, the appropriate authority shall, on or before 1st December of the year immediately preceding the commencement of that compliance period—
(a)confirm to the operator of the scheme in writing that specified scheme members are registered with it for that compliance period; and
(b)subject to paragraph (10), issue an EEE producer registration number for each registered scheme member.
(7) Where an application for registration made under paragraph (1) is granted, the registration of any scheme member who is the subject of that application shall take effect for the whole of the compliance period in respect of which the application was made.
(8) Where an application for registration made under paragraph (2) is granted, the registration of any scheme member who is the subject of that application shall take effect from the date the application is granted or the date of the commencement of the relevant compliance period, whichever is the later, until the end of the relevant compliance period.
(9) Any information provided to the appropriate authority under this regulation shall be as accurate as reasonably possible.
(10) Where a scheme member has been issued with an EEE producer registration number by an appropriate authority in respect of a previous application made under this regulation within the last five years, the appropriate authority shall not issue a new EEE producer registration number but shall confirm to the operator of the scheme that that scheme member will retain his previous EEE producer registration number.