Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 Explanatory Notes

Section 43 - Compliance notice

59.Section 43 provides that a person carrying out a licensed activity in a manner that breaches licence conditions can be issued with a notice requiring compliance. Such a notice is called a “compliance notice”.

60.The Scottish Ministers can issue a compliance notice where licence conditions have been breached and where the activity has not caused (nor is likely to cause) serious harm to either the environment or human health or serious interference with legitimate uses of the sea. A compliance notice may be served, for example in the case of a technical breach. The Scottish Ministers will use other enforcement tools available to them, such as a stop or remediation notice, where the breach has led to serious harm to the environment or human health.

61.A compliance notice must state the Scottish Ministers’ reasons for issuing the notice, any steps the Scottish Ministers require to be taken, and the time period within which any steps should be completed.

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