Radiation Control Act 1990

The Authority may exempt a person from compliance with all or any specified provision of this Act or the regulations, in the circumstances referred to in subsection (2).

An exemption may be granted in—

an emergency (such as an emergency clean-up following a spill of a radioactive substance), or

circumstances where—

the Authority is satisfied that it is not practicable to comply with the relevant provision, and

the Authority is satisfied that non-compliance with the provision will not have any significant adverse effect on human health, property or the environment, and

if the exemption is for a period exceeding 60 days, the Authority has sought and taken into consideration the advice of the Council about the proposed exemption.

The regulations may prescribe the manner in which a person must apply for an exemption under this section.

An exemption—

is effected by order made by the Authority and published in the Gazette, and

takes effect from the date the order is published or a later date specified in the order, and

has effect for the period specified in the order.

In the case of an exemption granted in an emergency, the order may take effect when it is made or on a later date specified in the order. The order is to be published in the Gazette as soon as practicable after it is made.

An exemption may be unconditional or may be subject to conditions specified in the order.

An exemption may be revoked, varied or renewed by a further order made and published in accordance with this section.

An exemption may not be granted or renewed so as to have effect for a total period exceeding 5 years. A further exemption granted within 5 years after the expiry of an earlier exemption (being a further exemption that is the same in substance as the earlier exemption) is to be treated as a renewed exemption for the purposes of this subsection.

If an exemption is granted, any person may make a written request to the Authority for the reasons for the exemption and the Authority is to provide a written statement of the reasons to the person. The regulations may make provision with respect to any such statement of reasons, including—

the time within which a request for reasons must be made or within which the statement of reasons must be provided, and

the matters to be set out in a statement of reasons, and

the cases in which a statement of reasons is not required to be provided.