Telecommunications (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1996

Transfer of functions from Minister to Director.

4.—(1) The administration and business in connection with the exercise, performance or execution of any of the functions transferred by subsection (2) are hereby transferred to the Director.

(2) Subject to subsection (8), there are hereby transferred to the Director the functions vested in the Minister by or under—

(a) each of the provisions mentioned in column (3) of Part I of the Second Schedule of the Acts mentioned in column (2) of that Part opposite the mention of that provision, and

(b) each of the statutory instruments mentioned in Part II of the Second Schedule .

(3) Anything commenced before the commencement of this section by or under the authority of the Minister may, in so far as it relates to functions transferred by this section, be carried on or completed on or after such commencement by the Director.

(4) Where, immediately before the commencement of this section, any legal proceedings are pending to which the Minister is the plaintiff or the prosecutor and the proceedings have reference to functions transferred by this section to the Director, the name of the Director shall, in so far as the proceedings relate to any functions transferred by this section, be substituted in those proceedings for that of the Minister, or added in those proceedings as may be appropriate, and those proceedings shall not abate by reason of such substitution.

(5) Where, immediately before the commencement of this section, any legal proceedings are pending to which the Minister is a defendant and the proceedings have reference to any functions transferred to the Director by this section, the Director shall not be substituted for the Minister in those proceedings notwithstanding the transfer of functions under this Act.

(6) Every document (including any certificate or licence) granted or made in the exercise of a function transferred by this section shall, if and in so far as it was operative immediately before the commencement of this section, have effect on and after the commencement as if it had been granted or made by the Director.

(7) References to the Minister, other than in subsection (6) of section 7 , in an Act or an instrument (including a licence made thereunder) relating to any functions transferred by this section to the Director shall be construed, on and after the commencement of this section, as references to the Director.

(8) Regulations shall not be made by the Director under section 6 of the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1926 , other than with the consent of the Minister.

(9) The Minister may from time to time specify public service requirements and those requirements so specified shall be published in the Iris Oifigiúil.

(10) Notwithstanding section 111 (2B) (e) (inserted by the European Communities (Mobile and Personal Communications) Regulations, 1996 ( S.I. No. 123 of 1996 )), of the Principal Act, any licence (within the meaning of the said section) granted by the Director shall include the public service requirements published by the Minister under subsection (9).

(11) In this section “public service requirements” includes requirements relating to conditions of permanence, availability and quality of the service in accordance with Article 3 of Commission Directive 90/388/EEC on competition in the market for telecommunications services(1) .

(1)OJ. No. LI92/10 24.7.90