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BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION ACT 2016 - SECT 6.28 Deferred credit retirement arrangements

BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION ACT 2016 - SECT 6.28

Deferred credit retirement arrangements

6.28 Deferred credit retirement arrangements

(1) With the approval of the Environment Agency Head, a requirement to retire biodiversity credits under this or any other Act (including under an instrument, approval or agreement) in relation to proposed development, activity or clearing may be subject to an arrangement (a
"deferred credit retirement arrangement" ) under which--
(a) the requirement to retire some or all of the biodiversity credits is deferred pending the completion of restorative actions that will be taken to restore or improve the biodiversity values affected by the development, activity or clearing or the completion of other actions prescribed by the regulations, and
(b) the biodiversity credits whose retirement is deferred pending the completion of those restorative or other actions are required to be transferred to the Environment Agency Head.
(2) Subject to this Act, the Environment Agency Head is to hold any such biodiversity credits under a deferred credit retirement arrangement pending completion of the relevant restorative or other actions and is not permitted to transfer, retire or otherwise deal with the biodiversity credits.
(3) The biodiversity assessment method may make provision with respect to deferred credit retirement arrangements, including--
(a) the types of restorative actions in respect of which deferred credit retirement arrangements are available, and
(b) the number and class of biodiversity credits that may be transferred back to a former holder of biodiversity credits (or to any person who acquires the rights of a former holder to apply for such a transfer) on completion of those actions.
(4) The provisions of this Act relating to the cancellation or suspension of biodiversity credits, and the payment of contributions towards the administration of the biodiversity offsets scheme, apply in respect of a biodiversity credit transferred to the Environment Agency Head under a deferred credit retirement arrangement as if a reference to the holder of the biodiversity credit were a reference to the former holder of the biodiversity credits.
(5) A former holder of a biodiversity credit may, on the completion of any restorative or other actions the subject of a deferred credit retirement arrangement, apply to the Environment Agency Head (subject to and in accordance with the regulations) for the transfer to the former holder of any biodiversity credits held by the Agency Head under that arrangement.
(6) The Environment Agency Head--
(a) is to transfer to the former holder of biodiversity credits those biodiversity credits required under the deferred credit retirement arrangement to be so transferred, and
(b) may retire any remaining biodiversity credits held by the Agency Head under the deferred credit retirement arrangement after giving at least 28 days notice of the proposed retirement to the former holder of the biodiversity credits.
The Environment Agency Head is not to transfer a biodiversity credit back to the former holder of the credit without the concurrence of the person or body that imposed the requirement for the retirement of the credit.
(7) If a deferred credit retirement arrangement provides for a period at the end of which the retirement arrangement ceases to have effect, the Environment Agency Head may, at the end of that period, retire any biodiversity credits transferred to and held by the Agency Head under the arrangement after giving at least 28 days notice of the proposed retirement to the former holder of the biodiversity credits.
(8) In this section--


"former holder" of a biodiversity credit means--
(a) the person who held the biodiversity credit immediately before the biodiversity credit was transferred to the Environment Agency Head under a deferred credit retirement arrangement, or
(b) a person who acquires the rights of that person to apply for a transfer under this section in respect of the biodiversity credit.