Ports Assets (Authorised Transactions) Act 2012

If ports assets are transferred to a subsidiary of a port SOC for the purposes of an authorised transaction, the functions of the port SOC in respect of those ports assets become either retained functions or shared functions, as follows—

retained functions are all functions of the port SOC except those that are shared functions,

shared functions are the functions of the port SOC under Part 5 (Port charges) of the Ports and Maritime Administration Act 1995 but only in respect of charges of a kind that can be fixed under that Part by the port operator of a private port.

In the case of retained functions—

the port SOC continues to have and may exercise retained functions as if the ports assets had remained vested in the port SOC, and

the subsidiary is authorised to exercise retained functions on behalf of the port SOC (with the exception of any function or class of functions that is reserved to the port SOC by a direction of the port SOC to the subsidiary), and

the subsidiary is subject to the direction and control of the port SOC in the exercise of retained functions on behalf of the port SOC, and

any retained functions exercised by the subsidiary under this section are deemed to have been exercised by the port SOC.

In the case of shared functions—

both the port SOC and the subsidiary have and may exercise shared functions, and

the subsidiary has and may exercise shared functions as if the subsidiary were the port SOC, and

Part 6 (Price monitoring scheme) of the Ports and Maritime Administration Act 1995 applies to the subsidiary in respect of port charges charged by the subsidiary in the exercise of shared functions as if it were the port operator, and

the subsidiary exercises shared functions on its own account, and

any charges collected by the subsidiary in the exercise of shared functions are for its own use and benefit.

The regulations may prescribe additional functions of a port SOC as shared functions for the purposes of this section.

This section operates only while the subsidiary in which ports assets are vested is a public sector agency.