16Renewal of licence

16 Renewal of licence (1) A licensee (other than a licensee under a licence granted after the commencement of the Energy Pipelines Amendment Act 2003) may, from time to time, make an application for the renewal of his licence. Energy Pipelines Act 1981 20 (2) An application under subsection (1): (a) shall, subject to subsection (3), be made not less than 6 months before the day the licence will otherwise cease to be in force; (b) shall be made in a form and manner approved by the Minister; (c) shall be accompanied by the fee prescribed by regulation; and (d) may, if the period for which the renewal is sought is less than 21 years, indicate that lesser period and give reasons for so doing. (3) The Minister may, for reasons he thinks fit, receive an application for the renewal of a licence less than 6 months before it will otherwise cease to be in force, but not in any case after the day on which the licence ceases to be in force. (3A) The Minister may, on receiving an application under this section, renew the licence to which the application relates. (3B) The Minister may renew a licence under subsection (3A) subject to the conditions to which the licence was subject immediately before the renewal, or those conditions varied, omitted or added to as the Minister thinks fit and specifies on the renewed licence. (3C) Before renewing a licence on additional or varied conditions, the Minister must consult with the licensee and have regard to representations made by the licensee in relation to the proposed additional or varied conditions. (4) The Minister shall not refuse an application for the renewal of a licence unless he has: (a) by instrument in writing served on the licensee, given not less than 90 days notice of his intention to refuse the application; (c) in the instrument: (i) given the reason for his intention to refuse the (ii) specified a date on or before which the licensee or a person on whom a copy of the instrument is served may, by instrument in writing served on the Minister, submit matters that he wishes the Minister to consider; and Energy Pipelines Act 1981 21 (d) taken into account the matters submitted to him under paragraph (c)(ii) on or before the specified date. (6) Where: (a) an application for the renewal of a licence is made under this section; and (b) the licence otherwise ceases to be in force before the application is granted or refused, the licence shall be deemed to continue in force in all respects until the application is granted or refused.