The Gas Importation and Storage Zone (Designation of Area) Order 2009

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order designates the area of the Gas Importation and Storage Zone, an area beyond the United Kingdom’s territorial sea in which exclusive rights of exploration and exploitation for gas importation and storage purposes are vested in the Crown under section 1 of the Energy Act 2008. These rights arise under Part V of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The Gas Importation and Storage Zone (“GISZ”) will be co-extensive with the area within which the United Kingdom already exercises jurisdiction with respect to marine environmental matters. The co-ordinates for the GISZ are those set out in the Schedule to the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Pollution) (Limits) Regulations 1996, as amended by the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Pollution) (Limits) Regulations 1997. The same area was designated as a Renewable Energy Zone for the purposes of section 84 of the Energy Act 2004, by the Renewable Energy Zone (Designation of Area) Order 2004.

A map of the Gas Importation and Storage Zone is available at www.ukho.gov.uk; it can be found at “Law of the Sea”, then link to “UK limits”, and can be downloaded at up to A3 size. Copies can be obtained from The Law of the Sea Division, UK Hydrographic Office, Taunton, TA1 2DN.

No impact assessment has been made of this Order, but an impact assessment was made of the Energy Bill as a whole, of which this Order was always envisaged as a key feature: http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file46023.pdf (from page 47).