Section 6 Consideration of applications
As soon as reasonably practicable after the date specified in a notice under paragraph 4(1) as the closing date for applications the Ministers shall–
identify those applications made in pursuance of that notice which satisfy the foregoing provisions of this Scheme,
divide the bid included in each such application by the number of capacity units of the vessel concerned, and
place each such application in rank according to the result of the calculation referred to in subparagraph (b) above.
The Ministers may reject any application for grant under this Scheme if they consider the amount of the bid in the application to be unreasonable, having regard to–
the extent to which approval of the application would contribute towards the objectives of the United Kingdom’s multiannual guidance programme for its fishing fleet as approved in Commission Decision 92/593;
the amount of money allocated for this Scheme.
The Ministers shall reject any application for grant under this Scheme if they have reasonable grounds for suspecting that there has been any fixing or adjustment of the amount of a bid by or under or in accordance with any agreement (whether legally binding or not) or arrangement with another person.
Subject to subparagraphs (2) and (3) above, the Ministers shall approve applications by proceeding through the rank referred to in subparagraph (1)(c) above from the application incorporating the lowest amount bid per capacity unit towards the application incorporating the highest amount bid per capacity unit until the maximum amount of money allocated for the Scheme is reached.
Where as a result of the procedure referred to in subparagraph (4) above there are two or more identical bids per capacity unit which are higher than the amount of any other bid which has been approved, and there is insufficient money to meet all of them, in deciding which bid or bids to accept the Ministers may take into account the amount of time spent at sea on fishing trips in Community waters by each of the vessels concerned during the calendar years 1992 and 1993 with a view to giving preference to vessels that spent more time at sea in those years.