Petroleum (Amendment No.3) (Jersey) Law 201- and Petroleum Substances (Jersey) Regulations 201-

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A decision made 28 May 2012:

Decision Reference: MD-HA-2012-0048

Decision Summary Title :

Petroleum Law Amendments

Date of Decision Summary:

23 May 2012

Decision Summary Author:

Deputy Chief Fire Officer

Decision Summary:

Public or Exempt?

(State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)

Public

Type of Report:

Oral or Written?

Written

Person Giving

Oral Report:

n/a

Written Report

Title :

Petroleum Law Amendments

Date of Written Report:

23 May 2012

Written Report Author:

Deputy Chief Fire Officer

Written Report :

Public or Exempt?

(State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)

Public

Subject:

The Petroleum (Amendment) (Jersey) Law 201- and the Petroleum Substances (Jersey) Regulations 201- .

Decision(s):

The Minister approved the Petroleum (Amendment) (Jersey) Law 201- and the Petroleum Substances (Jersey) Regulations 201- and requested that arrangements be made for them to be lodged ‘au Greffe’ for consideration by the States before the summer recess.

Reason(s) for Decision:

To provide a definition of petroleum spirit to aid regulation and enforcement. The definition hitherto applied no longer exists.

Resource Implications:

None.

Action required:

The Executive Officer, Home Affairs, to request the Greffier of the States to arrange for the draft Law to be lodged ‘au Greffe’ for consideration by the States before the summer recess.

Signature:

Position:

Date Signed:

Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Petroleum (Amendment No. 3) (Jersey) Law 201-

Ministerial Report

To: Senator I. Le Marquand, Minister for Home Affairs

Senator L. Farnham, Assistant Minister for Home Affairs

S. W. Austin-Vautier, Chief Officer, Home Affairs

Chief Fire Officer M. James

From: Deputy Chief Fire Officer P. Brown

Cc: Group Manager M. Maguire, Director of Safer Communities

Date: 23 May 2012

Subject: Amendments to Petroleum Legislation

1. Purpose

1.1 The purpose of this Ministerial Report is to apprise the Minister of the reasons for an amendment to the Petroleum (Jersey) Law 1984 and the making of Regulations in relation to the definition of petroleum spirit.

2. Background

2.1 The Petroleum (Jersey) Law 1984 concerns the keeping, storage, conveyance, handling and use of petroleum spirit and other substances.

2.2 At Article 1 (Interpretation), petroleum spirit is defined. The definition used is imported from UK law however the technical definition used in the UK has changed in line with EEC directives along with the technical method for testing of petroleum spirit. The effect of the UK change is to render the local definition outdated.

3. Amendment to the Petroleum Law

3.1 The Petroleum (Amendment No. 3) (Jersey) Law 201- amends the Petroleum (Jersey) Law 1984 by importing a new definition for petroleum spirit. The definition is again linked to that used in the Petroleum (Consolidation) Act 1928 of the United Kingdom. Unlike in the original 1984 law (the principal law) the amended law will simply link the local definition to that used in the UK Act and will not provide technical detail so as to avoid any changes in EEC and UK definitions from rendering local definitions out of date.

4. Making of Petroleum Substances (Jersey) Regulations 201-

4.1 If approved by the States Assembly and given assent by Her Majesty in Council the amended principal law will be adequate in itself to resolve the issue of the change in technical definition of petroleum spirit. Such progress notwithstanding, there will, in any event, be a period of some months before the amended principal law will be brought into force during which time the local definition will not be applicable as it refers to a further definition which no longer exists.

4.2 To provide an interim mechanism to provide a technical definition, the intention is that the States make Regulations which extend the scope of the principal law to cover petroleum spirit in the form as defined in the updated UK legislation and used locally.