Explanatory note

This Order provides for the charging of fees in respect of approval of the apparatus specified in the Schedule to the Order for connection to the telecommunication systems specified in the approval. Licences granted under section 7 of the Telecommunications Act 1984 may require apparatus which is connected, whether directly or indirectly, to public telecommunication systems to be approved for such connection under section 22 of the Act.

The Secretary of State after carrying out the consultation required by the Act intends to appoint the British Approvals Board for Telecommunications (BABT) to exercise the functions conferred on him in respect of the approval of apparatus. The Secretary of State further intends under section 25(1) to authorise BABT to retain the fees which are provided for in this Order and which, following its appointment, BABT will charge in respect of exercising the Secretary of State’s approval functions under section 22.

The fees provided for in this Order are payable in respect of the activities at BABT necessary for the exercise of the approval function. It is contemplated that these activities may include, as appropriate establishing the technical standard to which apparatus must conform, preparing Special Investigation Test Schedules, evaluating test results to establish the conformity of apparatus to standard, establishing that samples of apparatus are representative of the run of production and granting approval to connect to specified telecommunication systems.

Section 22(4) provides that an approval may be subject to conditions with which the applicant must comply, and a condition may impose on the applicant an ongoing requirement in respect of the apparatus which is the subject of an approval. One such condition requires the annual renewal of the approval for the apparatus.