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Section 41HC: Competitive tenders for licences for new licensable activities

Gas Act 1986 · 1986 c. 44View on legislation.gov.uk

Part I: Gas Supply

The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision for a determination on a competitive basis of the person to whom a licence in respect of new licensable activities is to be granted.

In this section "new licensable activities" means one or more activities which are the subject of an order under section 41HA(1)(a).

The regulations may—

provide for the determination to be made by the Secretary of State or the Authority;
provide, in prescribed cases, for the publication of a proposal to grant a licence in respect of the new licensable activities;
provide for the inclusion in such a proposal of an invitation to apply for such a licence;
impose conditions in relation to the making of an application for a licence;
impose restrictions in relation to persons who may apply for a licence;
impose requirements as to the period within which applications must be made;
make provision for regulating the manner in which applications are to be considered or determined;
authorise or require the Secretary of State or the Authority, when determining to whom a licence is to be granted, to have regard to the person's suitability for being granted both the licence and an electricity licence;
confer on the Authority or the Secretary of State functions in connection with tender exercises.

The regulations may also include provision—

enabling the Secretary of State or the Authority to require prescribed persons, in relation to a tender exercise, to make payments, in the form and manner prescribed, in respect of tender costs;
about the effect on a person's participation in the tender exercise of a failure to comply with a requirement imposed by virtue of paragraph (a), and the circumstances in which the tender exercise is to stop as a result of such a failure.

In this section—

  • "electricity licence" means a licence for an activity to which an order under section 56FA(1)(a) of the Electricity Act 1989 applies;

  • "prescribed" means prescribed in or determined under regulations under this section;

  • "tender costs", in relation to a tender exercise, means any costs incurred or likely to be incurred by the Authority or the Secretary of State for the purposes of the exercise;

  • "tender exercise" means the steps taken in accordance with regulations with a view to determining to whom a particular licence is to be granted.

Any sums received by the Secretary of State or the Authority under regulations made by virtue of this section are to be paid into the Consolidated Fund.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.