Gas (Amendment) Act, 2000
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Supplementary provisions to be included in regulations with respect to forfeitures. |
5.—(1) Regulations shall include a provision specifying that if the relevant rights of a person stand forfeited under the provision of the regulations referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) of section 2 (6), the Commission may select one or more persons as the person or persons who shall have, or who shall each have, relevant rights as respects such an amount of the capacity of the natural gas network in relation to which the first-mentioned person had relevant rights as is determined by the Commission. | |
(2) The provision referred to in subsection (1) shall provide that— | ||
(a) unless the Commission opts to adopt the procedures referred to in subsection (3), the Commission shall select as the person or, as it may think appropriate, the persons who shall have, or who shall each have, relevant rights as aforesaid the person or persons whose application or applications was or were ranked, in the order of precedence last mentioned in section 3 (3), immediately after the application of the person lastly selected in accordance with the method referred to in that section, | ||
(b) if the selection of a person referred to in paragraph (a) would, in the opinion of the Commission, result in the promotion of competition in the market for the generation and supply of electricity being adversely affected, the Commission shall, subject to paragraph (c), not select that person and instead shall select whichever person of the persons whose applications were ranked, in the order of precedence last mentioned in section 3 (3), after that other person's application whose application ranks the nearest to that other person's application and whose selection will not result in the promotion of such competition being adversely affected, | ||
(c) if the Commission is of opinion that the exercise of the powers referred to in paragraph (b) would ultimately result in demand for the supply of electricity in the State not being met, it shall select the first-mentioned person in that paragraph or, if it is not necessary that that person be selected in order to ensure, so far as is practicable, that demand as aforesaid is met, whichever person of the second-mentioned persons in that paragraph whose application ranks the nearest to that first-mentioned person's application and whose selection will ensure, so far as is practicable, that such demand is met, | ||
(d) such of the other provisions of the regulations as are specified in the provision shall, with any necessary modifications, apply to a person selected in accordance with the provision as they apply to a person selected in accordance with the method referred to in section 3 (3). | ||
(3) Regulations shall include a provision specifying that the Commission may, instead of employing the procedure referred to in subsection (2) for the purposes of selecting a person or persons who shall have, or who shall each have, relevant rights as provided for by the provision referred to in subsection (1), opt to employ again the provisions generally of the regulations with regard to the selection of persons and, where the Commission so opts, that those provisions shall apply, accordingly, with any necessary modifications. |