Regulation 2 General interpretation and applicationI1

In these Regulations—

• “Department” means the Department of Economic Development;

• “distribution main” means any main through which a supplier or a transporter is for the time being distributing gas and which is not being used only for the purpose of conveying gas in bulk;

• “emergency control” means a valve for shutting off the supply of gas in an emergency, being a valve operable by a consumer of gas;

• “flue” means a passage for conveying the products of combustion from a gas appliance to the external air and includes any part of the passage in a gas appliance duct which serves the purpose of a flue;

• “gas” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 4(4) of the Offshore, and Pipelines, Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1992^f1;

• “gas appliance” means an appliance designed for use by a consumer of gas for heating, lighting, cooking or other purposes for which gas can be used, but it does not include a portable or mobile appliance supplied with gas from a cylinder, or the cylinder, pipes and other fittings used for supplying gas to that appliance, save that, for the purposes of regulations 3, 35 and 36, it does include a portable or mobile space heater supplied with gas from a cylinder, and the cylinder, pipes and other fittings used for supplying gas to that heater;

• “gas fittings” means gas pipework, valves (other than emergency controls), regulators and meters, and fittings, apparatus and appliances designed for use by consumers of gas for heating, lighting, cooking or other purposes for which gas can be used (other than the purpose of an industrial process carried out on industrial premises), but it does not include—

  1. (a)

     any part of a service pipe;

  2. (b)

     any part of a distribution main or other pipe upstream of the service pipe;

  3. (c)

     a gas storage vessel; or

  4. (d)

     a gas cylinder or cartridge designed to be disposed of when empty;

  5. (e)

     “gas storage vessel” means a storage container designed to be filled or refilled with gas at the place where it is connected for use or a refillable cylinder designed to store gas, and includes the vapour valve; but it does not include a cylinder or cartridge designed to be disposed of when empty;

  6. (f)

     “gas water heater” includes a gas fired central heating boiler;

  7. (g)

     “installation pipework” means any pipework for conveying gas for a particular consumer and any associated valve or other gas fitting, but it does not include—

     1. (a)

        a service pipe;

     2. (b)

        a pipe comprised in a gas appliance;

     3. (c)

        any valve attached to a storage container or cylinder; or

     4. (d)

        service pipework;

  8. (h)

     “meter by pass” means any pipe and other gas fittings used in connection with it through which gas can be conveyed from a service pipe or service pipework to installation pipework without passing through the meter;

  9. (i)

     “premises” shall not include any place which is within United Kingdom territorial waters adjacent to Northern Ireland;

  10. (j)

      “primary meter” means the meter nearest to and downstream of a service pipe or service pipework for ascertaining the quantity of gas supplied through that pipe or pipework by a supplier;

  11. (k)

      “refillable cylinder” means a cylinder which may be filled other than at the place where it is connected for use;

  12. (l)

      “the responsible person”, in relation to any premises, means the occupier of the premises or, where there is no occupier or the occupier is unavailable, the owner of the premises or any person with authority for the time being to take appropriate action in relation to any gas fitting therein;

  13. (m)

      “room-sealed appliance” means an appliance whose combustion system is sealed from the room in which the appliance is located and which obtains air for combustion from a ventilated uninhabited space within the premises or from the open air outside the premises and which vents the products of combustion to open air outside the premises;

  14. (n)

      “service pipe” means a pipe for supplying gas to premises from a distribution main, being any pipe between the distribution main and the outlet of the first emergency control downstream from the distribution main;

  15. (o)

      “service pipework” means a pipe for supplying gas to premises from a gas storage vessel, being any pipe between the gas storage vessel and the outlet of the emergency control;

  16. (p)

      “service valve” means a valve (other than an emergency control) for controlling a supply of gas, being a valve—

      1. (a)

         incorporated in a service pipe;

      2. (b)

         intended for use by a supplier or transporter of gas; and

      3. (c)

         not situated inside a building;

  17. (q)

      “supplier” in relation to gas means—

      1. (a)

         a person who supplies gas to any premises through a primary meter;

      2. (b)

         a person who provides a supply of gas to a consumer by means of the filling or refilling of a storage container designed to be filled or refilled with gas at the place where it is connected for use whether or not such container is or remains the property of the supplier; or

      3. (c)

         a person who provides gas in refillable cylinders for use by a consumer whether or not such cylinders are filled or refilled directly by that person and whether or not such cylinders are or remain the property of that person, but a retailer shall not be deemed to be a supplier when he sells a brand of gas other than his own;

  18. (r)

      “transporter” in relation to gas means a person, other than a supplier, who conveys gas through a distribution main;

  19. (s)

      “work” in relation to a gas fitting includes any of the following activities carried out by any person, whether an employee or not, that is to say—

      1. (a)

         installing the fitting;

      2. (b)

         maintaining, servicing, permanently adjusting, repairing, altering or renewing the fitting or purging it of air or gas;

      3. (c)

         where the fitting is not readily movable, changing its position; and

      4. (d)

         removing the fitting.

For the purposes of these Regulations—

Subject to paragraphs (4) to (6), these Regulations shall apply to or in relation to gas fittings used in connection with gas which has been conveyed to premises through a distribution main or from a gas storage vessel.

Save for regulation 37, these Regulations shall not apply in relation to the supply of gas to, or anything done in respect of, a gas fitting at the following premises, that is to say—

but they shall apply in relation to such premises or part thereof used for domestic or residential purposes or as sleeping accommodation.

Nothing in these Regulations shall apply in relation to the supply of gas to, or anything done in respect of, a gas fitting on:

Nothing in these Regulations shall apply in relation to—