The Industrial Development (Northern Ireland) Order 1982

The Industrial Development (Northern Ireland) Order 1982 This Order may be cited as the Industrial Development (Northern Ireland) Order 1982 and shall come into operation on 1st September 1982. The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 shall apply to Article 1 and the following provisions of this Order as it applies to a Measure of the Northern Ireland Assembly. In this Order— Definitions rep. by 2002 c. 1 (NI) “the Department” means the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment; “industry” includes any description of commercial activity, and references to an industry include references to any section of an industry; “INI” means Invest Northern Ireland; “scientific research” means any activity in the fields of natural or applied science for the extension of knowledge; “statutory provision” has the meaning assigned to it by section 1 (f) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954. Paras.(3) and (4) rep. by 2002 c. 1 (NI) Pt. II (Arts. 3-6) rep. by 2002 c. 1 (NI) INI may. . . provide financial assistance where, in its opinion— the financial assistance is likely to provide, maintain or safeguard employment in any part of Northern Ireland; the form and amount of the financial assistance is reasonable having regard to all the circumstances; and there are good prospects that the provision of such financial assistance will achieve one or more of the purposes set out below and is justified having regard to any of those purposes. The purposes mentioned in paragraph (1) are— to promote the development or modernisation of an industry or of any industrial undertaking; to promote the efficiency of an industry or of any industrial undertaking; to create, expand or sustain productive capacity in an industry or in any industrial undertaking; to promote the reconstruction, reorganisation or conversion of an industry or of industrial undertakings; to encourage arrangements for ensuring that any run down of an industry, or of any industrial undertaking, proceeds in an orderly way. Subject to the following provisions of this Article, financial assistance under this Article may be given on any terms or conditions, and by any description of investment or lending or guarantee, or by making grants, and may, in particular, be— investment by subscription for, or acquisition of, loan or share capital in any company including an acquisition effected by INI through that company's holding company; investment by the acquisition of any industrial undertaking or of any assets; a loan; whether secured or unsecured, and whether or not carrying interest or interest at a commercial rate; any form of insurance or guarantee to meet any contingency, and in particular to meet default on payment of a loan, or of interest on a loan, or non-fulfilment of a contract. INI may, in return for any shares or stock acquired by it under paragraph (3) (a), cancel or amend any conditions attached to a grant made by INI under any statutory provision. Where— a sum is outstanding in respect of a loan made under any statutory provision by INI to a company; and INI has power to give assistance to the company under the foregoing provisions of this Article, INI may, at its discretion, subscribe for or acquire stocks or shares in that company or its holding company in satisfaction of the sum outstanding or such part of it as may be agreed between INI and the company. Para. (6) rep. by 2002 c. 1 (NI) Subject to paragraph (8), where any amount of principal or interest or both principal and interest due on foot of any loan made under this Article is more than thirty-one days in arrear, additional interest at such rate as may from time to time be determined by an order made by the Department of Finance and Personnel subject to negative resolution shall, notwithstanding and statutory provision or rule of law to the contrary, be chargeable on that amount as from the date on which it fell due and shall be recoverable therewith. INI may. . . in such cases as it thinks fit waive the payment of such additional interest as is mentioned in paragraph (7) or any part of such additional interest. Without prejudice to the foregoing provisions of this Article, where in the case of any undertaking— financial assistance under this Article has been given by any description of investment or lending or guarantee; and INI is satisfied that, with a view to safeguarding all or part of the investment or, as the case may be, enabling all or part of any moneys paid for fulfilling the guarantee or of the moneys lent to be recovered, it is expedient to provide further financial assistance for the purposes of the undertaking. INI may. . . provide such further financial assistance of such amount and on such terms and conditions as INI may think proper. Any reference in this Article to the acquisition of stocks or shares by INI shall include a reference to such acquisition by a company as nominee of INI. For any of the purposes set out in paragraph (2), INI may. . . carry on, or establish and carry on, or develop, whether by itself or jointly with any other person, any industrial undertaking; otherwise promote or assist the establishment, maintenance or development of any industrial undertaking. the development or assistance of the economy; the promotion of industrial efficiency; the provision, maintenance or safeguarding of employment in Northern Ireland. Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (1), in the exercise of its powers under that paragraph INI may— form bodies corporate; form partnerships with other persons; acquire and dispose of plant, machinery and equipment and other property; make plant, machinery and equipment and other property available for use by other persons; provide, or assist in the provision of, advisory or other services in relation to finance, management, administration, marketing or organisation of industry. INI may. . . encourage and give financial assistance to industrial undertakings in the carrying out of research and development and in the marketing of their products; encourage and give financial assistance to scientific research and further the dissemination and practical application in industry of the results of scientific research. In order to provide or facilitate the provision in Northern Ireland of premises for occupation by industrial undertakings carried on or to be carried on, or for otherwise meeting the requirements of such undertakings, or for meeting the requirements (including the training) of persons employed or likely to be employed therein, INI may— by agreement acquire or take on lease any land or, subject to paragraph (3), acquire land compulsorily; do anything (whether by itself or in pursuance of an agreement entered into with another person) which is required in order to develop land so acquired or taken on lease; and dispose of any land so acquired or taken on lease. INI may, for the purposes mentioned in paragraph (1),— enter into an agreement with any person to develop any land, whether or not INI has any estate in that land, and do anything which is required in order to develop that land in accordance with such agreement. Schedule 2 applies in relation to the acquisition of land otherwise than by agreement under paragraph (1). Para. (4) rep. by 2002 c. 1 (NI) Without prejudice to the generality of the power thereby conferred, the power conferred by paragraphs (1) (b) and (2) (b) shall include power— to erect or extend buildings; to carry out works; to provide, or facilitate the provision of, means of access, services and other facilities; to modernise, alter, rebuild, repair or keep in repair any premises; to provide in any such premises such plant or other equipment, fittings or fixtures of a permanent or semi-permanent nature as INI considers necessary for the proper occupation of the premises. Without prejudice to paragraph (1) (c) or to any other power of disposal, INI may. . . subject to such terms and conditions as INI may think fit, dispose of any land acquired or taken on lease under this Article for the purpose of the provision of any basic service. Para. (7) rep. by 2002 c. 1 (NI) In exercising its functions under Articles 7, 8, and 10 INI shall have regard to any circumstances which, in the opinion of INI, render it desirable that an industrial undertaking should be established, carried on or developed in some particular locality. In exercising its functions under Articles 7 and 8, it shall be the duty of INI to promote the private ownership of interests in industrial undertakings by the disposal of securities and other property held by INI or any of its subsidiaries. Where it appears to any Northern Ireland department that adequate provision has not been made for meeting the requirements of industrial undertakings carried on or to be carried on (including the requirements of persons employed or likely to be employed in such undertakings) in respect of any basic service for which that department is responsible, that department may, in accordance with arrangements approved by the Department of Finance and Personnel and without prejudice to any powers exercisable under any other statutory provision, make grants or loans, or both, towards the cost of providing or improving such basic service in such manner and subject to such terms and conditions (including, in the case of a grant, conditions for repayment in specified circumstances) as it may consider expedient for enabling those provisions or improvements to be made. incur such expenditure as it considers necessary for the purpose of— obtaining advice as to the exercise of its functions under this Part; promoting, or assisting the promotion of, publicity relating to any of the functions of INI under this Part; making known the scope for industrial development in Northern Ireland, including providing visits to Northern Ireland for any persons if the visits may promote the establishment, carrying on or development of an industrial undertaking likely to provide employment; carry out or give financial assistance towards the carrying out of such inquiries, investigations and research as INI considers will further the purposes of this Part; make such charge for any of its services under this Part as it thinks fit. sections 979 to 982 of the Companies Act 2006 (power to acquire shares of shareholders dissenting from scheme or contract approved by majority) shall have effect in relation to the transfer of shares or any class of shares in a company to INI and references to a transferee company in that section shall be construed accordingly. A person authorised in writing (stating the particular purpose or purposes for which the entry is authorised) by INI or the Northern Ireland department in respect of whose responsibilities the entry is required may, at all reasonable times, on giving— in the case of entry under this Article for the sole purpose of examination, at least twenty-four hours' prior notice of his intention to the occupier or owner; and in the case of entry under this Article for any other purpose, at least six days' prior notice in writing of his intention to the occupier and to the owner, if the owner is known, or, in either case, such lesser period of notice as may be agreed between the person so authorised and the occupier or the owner, and, in any case, on production (if so required) of his authority, enter for the purpose of survey, valuation or examination— any land which INI proposes to acquire compulsorily under powers conferred upon it by this Part; any land, where it appears to INI or the Northern Ireland department that survey, valuation or examination is necessary in order to determine whether any powers under this Part should be exercised in respect of that land; and any power conferred by this Article to survey land shall be construed as including power to search and bore for the purposes of ascertaining the court of any sewers or drains or of ascertaining the nature of the subsoil or the presence of minerals therein, or both, and to take and carry away, for the purpose of examination, specimens of the subsoil or minerals, or both, found therein. If any person, other than the owner or occupier of the land, obstructs a person so authorised in the performance of anything which the second-mentioned person is so required or authorised to do, he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £200. If any person, being the owner or occupier of land, prevents a person authorised under paragraph (1) from duly carrying into effect any survey, valuation or examination of the land, or from doing thereon anything authorised by that paragraph, a court of summary jurisdiction on proof thereof may order the first-mentioned person to permit to be done on the land all things requisite for carrying into effect the survey, valuation or examination or for doing such other things as aforesaid; and, if he fails to comply with the order, he shall be guilty of an offence and shall, for every day during which the failure continues, be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £200. Where any property is damaged in the exercise of a right of entry conferred under this Article or in the making of any survey or examination or the doing of any thing for the purpose of which any such right of entry has been so conferred, compensation in respect of that damage may be recovered from INI or (as the case may be) the Northern Ireland department by any person interested in the property. Any question of dispute compensation under this Article shall be referred to and determined by the Lands Tribunal for Northern Ireland. Any reference in this Article to an occupier or to an owner shall be construed as including a reference to a person appointed in writing by such occupier or owner as his representative for purposes which include all or any of the purposes of this Article. In this Part— “basic service” means the provision of— means of communication; power, lighting or heating; or any other service on which undertakings depend, including housing, water supplies, drainage and other facilities for meeting the requirements of persons employed in industrial undertakings; “holding company” and “subsidiary” have the meanings given by section 1159 of the Companies Act 2006; “public utility undertaking” includes any company or authority which carries on a gas, electricity or public transport or harbour undertaking. In this Part references to the guaranteeing of a loan shall be construed as references to guaranteeing (whether wholly or in part and whether solely or jointly with other guarantors) the payment either of the interest or of the principal, or of both, of the loan. Part IV (Arts. 16-25) rep. with saving by 1988 NI 6 Pt. V (Arts. 26-29) rep. by 2002 c. 1 (NI) The Department may make to— Sub-para. (a) rep. by 2002 c. 1 (NI) any. . . body or person specified in an order made, subject to affirmative resolution, by the Department with the consent of the Department of Finance and Personnel, grants of such amount and on such terms and conditions (including conditions for repayment) as the Department may consider proper, for the purpose of enabling that body or person to stimulate or assist industrial enterprise, the development of industry or the provision of employment. If the Department is satisfied that a body or person to whom it has made a grant under paragraph (1) is unable to fulfil any written contract entered into or written offer or written undertaking made for the purpose mentioned in that paragraph, the Department may make such arrangements as it considers expedient for the purpose of safeguarding the interests of any other person who has entered into a written contract with that body or person or has incurred liabilities in pursuance of a written undertaking or written offer made by that body or person. The Department shall have power to accept, in accordance with arrangements approved by the Department of Finance and Personnel, the transfer to the Department of any publicly owned securities on such terms and conditions as may be agreed to in relation to the transfer. For the purposes of this Article securities are publicly owned if they are held— by or on behalf of the Crown; or by a company all of whose shares are held by or on behalf of the Crown or by a wholly owned subsidiary of such a company; or by any corporation constituted by or under any statutory provision under which an industry is carried on by that corporation under national ownership or control; or by a wholly owned subsidiary of any such corporation. In this Article “wholly owned subsidiary” has the meaning given by Article 4(2) of the Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1986. Art. 32 rep. by 2002 c. 1 (NI) Art. 33 rep. by 2002 c. 1 (NI) The expenses incurred by the Department or by any other Northern Ireland department under this Order shall, except as otherwise provided by this Article, be defrayed out of moneys appropriated by Measure. Paras. (2), (3) rep. by 2002 c. 1 (NI) Para. (4) rep. by 1988 NI 6 Where any Northern Ireland department recommends that the whole or any part of the principal or interest of any loan made under Part III by that department should be written off by reason that the same is not likely to be recovered and the Department of Finance and Personnel directs that the amount shall be written off, such amount shall be treated as a loss to the Consolidated Fund, but nothing in this paragraph shall affect the liability of any person to pay to such department the principal of, or interest on, any such loan or part thereof. Paras. (6), (7) rep. by 2002 c. 1 (NI) Any amount which is repayable to any Northern Ireland department under this Order may, without prejudice to any other means of recovery, be recovered by deduction from any grant or other sum payable out of moneys appropriated by Measure or by that or any other Northern Ireland department to the undertaking from which, or the person from whom, the amount is due, and that grant or other sum shall be abated accordingly. Art. 35 rep. by 2002 c. 1 (NI) Schedule 1 rep. by 2002 c. 1 (NI) Where INI proposes to acquire, otherwise than by agreement, any land required for the purposes referred to in Article 10(1), it may apply to the Department for an order ( “a vesting order”) vesting that land in INI and the Department shall have power to make a vesting order. The power of acquiring land compulsorily under this Schedule includes power to acquire, by the creation of a new right, an easement or other right over land. The power to make a vesting order under paragraph 1 in respect of land— which is the property of any public body which has power under any statutory provision to acquire land compulsorily; or which is declared by or under any statutory provision to be inalienable, shall not, where representations objecting to the proposal for making the order have been duly made by the owner of the land and have not been withdrawn, be exercised in relation to that land unless the proposal for making the order has been approved by a resolution of the Assembly. In this paragraph “public body” means a body established by or under any statutory provision. Nothing in this Schedule shall authorise the acquisition of any land of an industrial undertaking to which this paragraph applies which is in use for the purposes of that undertaking. This paragraph applies to an undertaking which provides employment which is substantial having regard to the extent of the land used for its purposes and the nature of the undertaking. Nothing in this Schedule shall authorise the acquisition, without the consent of the Department of the Environment, of any land on or in which there is, to the knowledge of the Department, any historic monument or archaeological object. In this paragraph “historic monument” and “archaeological object” have the same meanings as in the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (NI 9). Schedule 6 to the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 (c.9) shall apply for the purposes of the acquisition of land by means of a vesting order made under paragraph 1 in the same manner as it applies to the acquisition of land by means of a vesting order made under that Act subject to the following modifications— for any reference to the council there shall be substituted a reference to INI; for any reference to the Department concerned there shall be substituted a reference to the Department; for any reference to that Act there shall be substituted a reference to this Act; in paragraph 6(2) for the words from “the fund” onwards there shall be substituted “ funds of INI (in this Schedule referred to as “the compensation fund”), and shall be discharged by payments made by INI ”; and in paragraph 12(2) for “the clerk of the council” there shall be substituted “ such person as may be designated for the purposes of this Schedule by INI ”. Schedules 3-5 rep. by 2002 c. 1 (NI) 1954 c. 33 (NI) 2002 c. 1 (NI) functions transf. by 2002 c. 1 (NI) Words in art. 13(2) substituted (1.10.2007) by Companies Act 2006 (Commencement No. 3, Consequential Amendments, Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2007 (S.I. 2007/2194), arts. 1(3)(a), 10(1), Sch. 4 para. 36 (with savings in art. 12) 1990 NI 10 Words in art. 15(1) in definition of "holding company" and "subsidiary" substituted (1.10.2009) by Companies Act 2006 (Consequential Amendments, Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2009 (S.I. 2009/1941), art. 2(1), Sch. 1 para. 53 (with art. 10)