The Space Industry (Appeals) Regulations 2021

Made: at 9.40 a.m. on 8th July 2021

Coming into force: 29th July 2021

In accordance with section 68(6) of that Act, the draft of this instrument has been approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.

PART 1 — General

Citation, commencement and extent

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• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Space Industry (Appeals) Regulations 2021 and come into force on the twenty-first day after the day on which they are made.

• (2) These Regulations extend to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Interpretation

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In these Regulations—

• “the Act” means the Space Industry Act 2018;

• “appealable decision” means a decision taken by the regulator or by the Secretary of State under the Outer Space Act 1986[^f00002] or the Act, which is subject to a right of appeal;

• “appellant” means the person who applies for permission to bring an appeal under regulation 8;

• “applicable period” means—a period of 14 days in a standard appeal, anda period of 28 days in a complex appeal;

• “a complex appeal” means an appeal which has been determined to be a complex appeal under regulation 12(4);

• “day” means a calendar day;

• “Her Majesty’s forces” has the same meaning as in the Armed Forces Act 2006[^f00003];

• “intelligence service” means—the Security Service;the Secret Intelligence Service;the Government Communications Headquarters;any part of Her Majesty’s forces, or of the Ministry of Defence, which engages in intelligence activities;

• “panel members list” has the meaning given in regulation 3(1);

• “panel website” means the website provided for appeal panels under regulation 5(2)(b);

• “respondent” means the person who made the decision which is the subject of the appellant’s appeal;

• “respondent’s notice” means the notice served by the respondent under regulation 13(5) responding to the notice of appeal;

• “secretary” means the secretary to the appeal panels appointed under regulation 5(1);

• “sensitive information” means information which is information obtained, directly or indirectly, from a government department or an intelligence service, the disclosure of which may, in the opinion of the appeal panel—breach the international obligations of the United Kingdom, orcause damage to—national security or international relations, orthe economic interests of the United Kingdom or any part of the United Kingdom;

• “a standard appeal” means an appeal which has been determined to be a standard appeal under regulation 12(4);

• “UKSA” means the United Kingdom Space Agency, an executive agency of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

PART 2 — Appeal panels and appealable decisions

Panel members list

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• (1) The Secretary of State must appoint persons who are eligible to hear appeals in relation to appealable decisions to be members of a list (“the panel members list”).

• (2) The panel members list must consist of at least five members, drawn from UKSA and government departments.

• (3) All members of the panel members list must be senior officials in the organisations in question, and for these purposes “senior official” means—

• (a) a member of the senior civil service in a government department, but not a person who has been temporarily promoted to the senior civil service, or

• (b) a person holding an equivalent rank in UKSA.

• (4) The Secretary of State may appoint the holder of an office specified by the Secretary of State to be a member of the panel members list, provided that the holder of that office satisfies the requirement in paragraph (3).

• (5) Persons on the panel members list—

• (a) hold and vacate their appointments in accordance with the terms on which they are appointed, and

• (b) are eligible for re-appointment at the end of their period of appointment.

• (6) The terms and conditions of appointment of persons on the panel members list must be determined by the Secretary of State.

Appeal panels

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• (1) An appeal, or a request for permission to appeal[^f00004], in respect of an appealable decision, is to be determined by an appeal panel appointed by the Secretary of State under regulation 6(2).

• (2) Subject to paragraph (6), an appeal panel must consist of three or more members, including, where possible, a representative from UKSA.

• (3) One member of each appeal panel appointed must be designated by the Secretary of State as the chair of that panel.

• (4) Where an appeal may involve the consideration of sensitive information, all members of the appeal panel appointed to hear that appeal must have a level of security clearance regarded as appropriate by the government of the United Kingdom for persons with access to that material.

• (5) No member of the panel members list may be appointed to an appeal panel if that member has been involved in the decision which is being appealed or has any other conflict of interest.

• (6) Where it is not possible to appoint an appeal panel with three members in a particular case because—

• (a) there are only two members available, or

• (b) one of the proposed members has a conflict of interest,

an appeal panel may sit with two members.

• (7) In any case where an appeal panel is sitting with an even number of members, the chair is to have a second vote.

Staff and facilities

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• (1) The Secretary of State must—

• (a) appoint a secretary to the appeal panels;

• (b) make arrangements to ensure that each appeal panel receives appropriate legal and expert advice.

• (2) The Secretary of State may—

• (a) make staff and other facilities available to appeal panels;

• (b) make arrangements for a website for the appeal panels;

• (c) make payments—

• (i) by way of remuneration, allowances or expenses to members of appeal panels, or

• (ii) to cover the cost of facilities provided to appeal panels, including the costs of expert advice.

Constitution of appeal panel

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• (1) When the secretary to the appeal panels has received an application for permission to appeal under regulation 8(1), the secretary must inform the Secretary of State.

• (2) The Secretary of State must, in accordance with regulation 4, appoint an appeal panel from the panel members list to consider the application.

Prescribed decisions and people

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• (1) The following decisions are prescribed for the purposes of paragraph 4(1) of Schedule 10 to the Act—

• (a) refusal, under regulation 64 of the Space Industry Regulations 2021 (“the Regulations”)[^f00005], to approve the appointment of a training manager of a licensee;

• (b) revocation, under regulation 65 of the Regulations, of the approval of the appointment of a training manager;

• (c) refusal, under regulation 67 or 68 of the Regulations, to approve a training manual of a licensee or proposed changes to a training manual;

• (d) refusal, under regulation 81 of the Regulations, to accept a revision to a safety case;

• (e) refusal, under regulation 82 of the Regulations, to accept a revision to a risk assessment;

• (f) refusal, under regulation 156 of the Regulations, to accept a revision to a safety case;

• (g) a decision to serve a prohibition notice under regulation 249 of the Regulations;

• (h) a decision to serve a stop notice under regulation 265(2) of the Regulations;

• (i) a decision not to issue a completion certificate under regulation 267(5) of the Regulations;

• (j) a decision not to award compensation under regulation 268(1) of the Regulations;

• (k) a decision as to the amount of the compensation awarded under regulation 268(1) of the Regulations.

• (2) The following persons are prescribed persons for the purposes of paragraph 4(2) of Schedule 10 to the Act—

• (a) the licensee, or applicant for a licence, who applied for approval of the appointment of the training manager concerned, in relation to an appeal against the decisions referred to in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph (1);

• (b) the licensee, or applicant for a licence, who applied for approval of a training manual, in relation to an appeal against the decision referred to in sub-paragraph (c) of paragraph (1);

• (c) the holder of the operator licence, in relation to an appeal against the decision referred to in sub-paragraph (d) of paragraph (1);

• (d) the holder of the operator licence, in relation to an appeal against the decision referred to in sub-paragraph (e) of paragraph (1);

• (e) the holder of the spaceport licence, in relation to an appeal against the decision referred to in sub-paragraph (f) of paragraph (1);

• (f) the person to whom a prohibition notice was given, in relation to an appeal against the decision referred to in sub-paragraph (g) of paragraph (1);

• (g) the person on whom a stop notice was served, in relation to an appeal against the decision referred to in sub-paragraphs (h), (i), (j) and (k) of paragraph (1).

PART 3 — Permission to appeal

Application for permission to appeal

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• (1) An application for permission to appeal must be made to the secretary within 14 days after the day on which the decision which is being appealed was made and, for these purposes, the application is made on the date on which the notice of application for permission to appeal is received by the secretary.

• (2) The appeal panel may not extend the time limit set out in paragraph (1) unless—

• (a) the appellant demonstrates that it did not receive notice of the decision until a date within the period of 14 days before the application for permission to appeal was made, or

• (b) the appeal panel is satisfied that the circumstances are exceptional.

• (3) The application must be made by notice of application for permission to appeal which states—

• (a) the name and address of the appellant,

• (b) the name and address of the representative, if any, of the appellant,

• (c) an email address or a postal address in the United Kingdom where documents for the appellant may be sent or delivered, and

• (d) the name and address of the respondent to the proceedings.

• (4) The notice of application for permission to appeal must contain—

• (a) a concise statement of the facts,

• (b) details of the decision to which the proceedings relate, including a copy of that decision,

• (c) a summary of the grounds for appeal,

• (d) a statement as to whether, if permission to appeal is given, the appellant wishes to have an oral hearing, and

• (e) a statement of truth in accordance with regulation 15.

• (5) When the application is being made on behalf of the appellant by a representative other than a legal representative, the application must be accompanied by a duly authenticated document from the appellant confirming that the representative is authorised to make the application on behalf of the appellant.

• (6) The secretary must—

• (a) serve the notice of application for permission to appeal, together with all accompanying documents, on each respondent as soon as practicable, and in any event not later than seven days after the date on which the notice was received by the secretary;

• (b) publish the notice of application for permission to appeal and the date on which it was received on the panel website, unless paragraph (7) applies.

• (7) This paragraph applies if publishing the notice would, in the opinion of the secretary—

• (a) breach any international obligations of the United Kingdom,

• (b) involve the disclosure of sensitive information, or information which is commercially sensitive, or

• (c) breach data protection legislation, and for these purposes, “data protection legislation” has the meaning given in section 3(9) of the Data Protection Act 2018[^f00006].

Fees

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• (1) The fees set out in the second column of the following table are payable in respect of the items described in the first column.

Description of fee	Amount of fee
Application for permission to appeal	£116
Application for permission to intervene	£50
Application for directions	£50
Application to amend a notice of appeal	£116
Determination of a standard appeal without a hearing	£154
Determination of a standard appeal with a hearing	£385
Determination of a complex appeal without a hearing	£240
Determination of a complex appeal with a hearing	£528

• (2) Fees for making an application are payable by the applicant to the Secretary of State, and must be sent by the applicant to the secretary when the application is made.

• (3) Fees for the determination of the appeal are payable by the applicant to the Secretary of State, and must be sent by the appellant to the secretary within the applicable period beginning with the day after the day on which permission to appeal is given.

• (4) If the fee for making an application is not sent with the application, the application must be rejected by the secretary.

• (5) If the fee for determination of an appeal is not paid within the period referred to in paragraph (3), the appeal must be struck out.

Response to application for permission to appeal

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• (1) The respondent may serve a response to the application for permission to appeal on the secretary within 14 days beginning with the day after the day on which the respondent received notice of the application for permission to appeal under regulation 8(6)(a).

• (2) If a response is served under paragraph (1)—

• (a) it must contain—

• (i) the name and address of the respondent,

• (ii) the name and address of the representative, if any, of the respondent,

• (iii) an email address or postal address in the United Kingdom where documents for the respondent may be sent or delivered,

• (iv) a summary of the reasons for the decision,

• (v) representations in relation to the application for permission to appeal, and

• (vi) a statement of truth in accordance with regulation 15, and

• (b) it must state whether the appeal will involve consideration of sensitive information.

• (3) The secretary must serve a copy of the response on all other parties to the appeal as soon as practicable, and in any event not later than seven days after the day on which the response was received by the secretary.

Application to intervene

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• (1) A person with sufficient interest in the decision which is the subject of the appeal may apply to the appeal panel for permission to intervene in the appeal.

• (2) An application under paragraph (1) must be made within the period of 14 days beginning with the day after the day on which notice of the application for permission to appeal was published on the panel website and sent to the secretary.