Part 1

Water industry
CHAPTER 1

Water supply licences and sewerage licences

Licensing arrangements between England and Wales and Scotland

Arrangements with the Water Industry Commission for Scotland
6
1
The Water Industry Act 1991 is amended as follows.
2
After section 17F (procedure for granting and varying licences) there is inserted—

Applications forwarded by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland
17FA
1
The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision about—
a
treating a 2005 Act application for the grant of a water services licence under section 6 of the 2005 Act as being also an application under section 17F for the grant of a water supply licence giving only a retail authorisation or a restricted retail authorisation or both;
b
treating a 2005 Act application for the grant of a sewerage services licence under section 6 of the 2005 Act as being also an application under section 17F for the grant of a sewerage licence giving only a retail authorisation.
2
The regulations may in particular make provision about—
a
the circumstances in which, and the conditions subject to which, a 2005 Act application is to be treated as an application under section 17F for a water supply or sewerage licence giving a particular authorisation or particular authorisations;
b
the time at which an application is to be treated as having been made;
c
the processing of an application by the Authority.
3
Provision under subsection (2)(a) may require a 2005 Act application that is forwarded to the Authority—
a
to contain, or to be accompanied by, such information or information of such description as is specified by the regulations;
b
to be accompanied by such documents or documents of such descriptions as are specified by the regulations;
c
to be accompanied by a fee, or a fee of a description, specified by the regulations.
4
In this section and section 17FB—
- “the 2005 Act” means the Water Services etc. (Scotland) Act 2005;
- “2005 Act application” means an application under paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 to the 2005 Act.

Applications forwarded to the Water Industry Commission for Scotland
17FB
1
If the conditions in subsection (2) are satisfied, the Authority must—
a
forward to the Commission a copy of an application under section 17F for the grant of a water supply licence or sewerage licence, and
b
send to the Commission such information and such fee as appear to the Authority to be required in order that the application may be treated by the Commission as a 2005 Act application for the grant of—
i
a water services licence under section 6 of the 2005 Act, or
ii
a sewerage services licence under section 6 of the 2005 Act, as the case may be.
2
The conditions are that—
a
the Authority is requested to do so by the applicant;
b
the application under section 17F appears to the Authority to be an application that would be treated by the Commission as a 2005 Act application for the grant of—
i
a water services licence under section 6 of the 2005 Act, or
ii
a sewerage services licence under section 6 of the 2005 Act, as the case may be;
c
the applicant has given the Authority—
i
such information as is mentioned in subsection (1)(b), and
ii
a means of sending to the Commission such fee as is mentioned in subsection (1)(b).
3
The Authority must—
a
forward a copy of the application, and
b
send such information and fee as are mentioned in subsection (1)(b),
before the end of the agreed period for an application of that description.
4
In this section—
- “the agreed period”, in relation to an application under section 17F of a particular description, means the period agreed between the Authority and the Commission as the period applying to an application of that description for the purposes of subsection (3);
- “the Commission” means the Water Industry Commission for Scotland.