Regulation 33 Permanent withholding or reduction of annual closure payments
Where the Department is satisfied that there has been a material or repeated failure by a closure participant to comply with these Regulations during any 12 month period and the annual closure payment for that 12 month period has not been paid, the Department may take one or more of the following actions—
permanently withhold a proportion of the closure participant’s annual closure payment which corresponds to the proportion of that 12 month period during which the closure participant failed so to comply,
reduce a closure participant’s annual closure payment for that 12 month period or for the 12 month period immediately following.
Within 21 days of a decision to permanently withhold or to reduce an annual closure payment, the Department must send a notice to the closure participant specifying, as applicable—
the reason why an annual closure payment is being withheld or reduced,
the period in respect of which any annual closure payment is to be withheld or reduced,
the level of any reduction, and
details of the closure participant’s right of review including any relevant time-limits.
Where reducing an annual closure payment in accordance with paragraph (1)(b), the Department may decide the level of the reduction up to a maximum reduction of 100 per cent of the annual closure payment in question.