Air Navigation and Transport Act 2022

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PART 3

Fees and Charges of IANS

Charges by IANS in respect of air navigation and aeronautical communications services

40. (1) (a) (i) Subject to subsection (3), the IANS may, with the consent of the IAA, by regulations require the payment to Eurocontrol, the IANS or the Minister of such charges, at such rates and in such currencies as may be prescribed by the IANS in respect of air navigation services and aeronautical communications services which, whether pursuant to international arrangements or otherwise, are provided for aircraft by Eurocontrol, the IANS or the Minister.

(ii) Regulations made under this section may provide for charges payable by virtue of such regulations to be so payable elsewhere than in the State and to be recoverable in the State wherever they are payable (without prejudice to their recovery elsewhere).

(iii) Regulations made under this section may contain such incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as appear to the IANS to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the regulations.

(b) Charges prescribed by regulations made under this section may relate to all or part of the period or to all or part of an area of airspace in or in relation to which air navigation services or aeronautical communications services referred to in paragraph (a) are provided for aircraft.

(2) (a) Liability for the payment of any charge payable by virtue of regulations made under this section may be imposed upon the operators of aircraft for which the services concerned are made available which are being operated in a place where they are made available or upon the owners of such aircraft (whether or not, in either case, they are actually used or could be used with the equipment installed in the aircraft) or upon the managers of aerodromes used by such aircraft or upon any 2 of those persons or upon all of them.

(b) In paragraph (a), “owners”, in relation to an aircraft, means the persons who are registered as the owners of the aircraft in—

(i) the register established under the Air Navigation and Transport Act 1946 ,

(ii) a register established under section 60 of the Act of 1993, or

(iii) a corresponding register established in a state other than the State.

(3) The rates of charge prescribed under this section shall—

(a) in the case of charges payable to Eurocontrol, be such rates as may be specified pursuant to tariffs approved under any international agreement to which the State is a party, and

(b) in the case of charges payable to the Minister, be such rates as the IANS may determine with the consent of the Minister,

and there may be so prescribed different rates of charge in respect of aircraft of different classes or descriptions or in respect of aircraft used in different circumstances, and the regulations may provide for the payment, with any charges or separately, of interest on the charges in respect of any period during which the charges were due but not paid and may dispense with the payment of charges or interest on charges in such cases as may be specified by or determined under the regulations.

(4) For the purpose of facilitating the assessment and collection of charges payable by virtue of regulations made under this section, the regulations may make provision for requiring operators of aircraft or managers of aerodromes—

(a) to make such records of the movements of aircraft, and of such other particulars relating to aircraft, as may be specified in the regulations and to preserve those records for such period as may be so specified,

(b) to produce for inspection at such times and by such officers of Eurocontrol as may be specified in the regulations, authorised officers, or officers of the IANS authorised by the IANS for the purposes of this section, records which are required by the regulations to be preserved by those operators or managers, and

(c) to give to Eurocontrol, the IAA, the IANS or the Minister such particulars of any such records as may be specified in the regulations.

(5) (a) In any proceedings to which this subsection applies, any record made by any such person as may be designated by regulations made under this section, or by a person acting under the control of such a person, being a record purporting to state—

(i) the position of any aircraft at any material time, or

(ii) the terms or contents of any message or signal transmitted to any aircraft, either alone or in common with other aircraft, or received from any aircraft, by the first-mentioned person, or by a person acting under the control of that person,

shall, if produced from the custody of the first-mentioned person, be evidence of the matters stated in the record.

(b) This subsection applies to proceedings in a court for the recovery of any charges payable by virtue of regulations made under this section or for an offence under this Act consisting of a contravention of regulations made under subsection (4).

(c) The references in paragraph (a) to a record made by or by a person acting under the control of any person include references to a document or article purporting to be a copy of a record so made, and certified to be a true copy by the person who made the record or a person acting under his or her control; and, in relation to such a copy, that paragraph shall have effect as if the words “, if produced from the custody of the first-mentioned person,” were omitted.

(6) Liability for compliance with regulations made under this section may be imposed in relation to aircraft registered in the State and aircraft not so registered and whether or not the aircraft concerned are in or over the State at the time when the services to which charges prescribed by such regulations relate are provided and whether or not those services are provided from a place in the State.

(7) Charges payable to the Minister or the IANS under regulations made under this section may be recovered by the Minister or the IANS, as the case may be, from the person by whom they are payable as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.

(8) Until regulations made under subsection (1) are in force providing for the payment by the users thereof of charges in respect of services provided by the IANS at State aerodromes, the amount of any costs incurred by the IANS in providing the services shall be paid by the IAA to the IANS subject to the deduction by the IAA of such amount as may be agreed on by it and the IANS in respect of the cost of the collection of those charges.

(9) Regulations made under this section may make such provision as the IANS considers necessary or expedient for the purpose of complying with a direction given under section 42 (1)(a)(ii).