Section 27 — Interpretation

(1) In this Act— “Article 12(3) identifier” means an identifier generated in relation to marine genetic resources as described in Article 12(3) of the Agreement (“BBNJ” standardised batch identifiers); “civil sanction” means— (a) a monetary penalty, (b) a stop notice, or (c) a compliance notice; “commercialisation”, in relation to research and development, means the making available of a relevant product— (a) in the course of a commercial activity, and (b) other than for the purposes of trialling the effectiveness of the product; “compliance notice” means a notice imposing on a person, in relation to a failure to comply with a provision made by or under this Act, a requirement to take such steps as may be specified in the notice, within such period as may be specified, to secure that the non-compliance does not continue or recur; “Conference of the Parties” means the Conference of the Parties established under Article 47(1) of the Agreement; “craft” includes any vessel, machine, structure or other item; “digital sequence information”, in relation to marine genetic resources, has such meaning as the Secretary of State may provide in regulations; “relevant 2-year period” has the meaning given by section 7(2); “relevant product”, in relation to research and development, means a product developed through or as a result of that research and development; “relevant research and development” means research and development within Article 1(14) of the Agreement (meaning of “utilization”); “stop notice” means a notice prohibiting a person from carrying on an activity specified in the notice until the person has taken such steps as may be specified in the notice; “UK craft” means— (a) a ship that is a British ship by virtue of section 1(1)(a) or (d) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 (ships registered in the United Kingdom and certain small ships with qualifying owners), (b) a Government ship within the meaning given by section 308(4) of that Act, or (c) any other craft to which the Agreement applies and which has a qualifying UK connection (see subsection (2)); “UNCLOS” means the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (Cmnd 8941); “United Kingdom person” means— (a) an individual who is a British citizen or habitually resident in the United Kingdom, or (b) a person that is incorporated or formed under the law of any part of the United Kingdom; “utilisation”, in relation to marine genetic resources or digital sequence information, means— (a) the use of those resources or that information in carrying out relevant research and development, or (b) the commercialisation of relevant research and development carried out using those resources or that information; “utilisation project” has the meaning given by section 3(1).

(2) For the purposes of paragraph (c) of the definition of “UK craft” in subsection (1), a craft has “a qualifying UK connection” if—

(a) it is not a British ship by virtue of section 1(c) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 (ships registered under the law of a relevant British possession),

(b) it is not, and has not been deployed from, a ship which has been granted the nationality of a state other than the United Kingdom in accordance with Article 91 of UNCLOS, and

(c) it is—

(i) owned or operated by a United Kingdom person, or

(ii) being used after being deployed from the United Kingdom or from a ship within paragraph (a) or (b) of the definition of “UK craft” in subsection (1).

(3) The Secretary of State may by regulations amend or otherwise modify the meaning of “a qualifying UK connection”.

(4) For the purposes of interpreting references in this Act to areas beyond national jurisdiction, a relevant maritime zone of any of the British overseas territories is to be treated as if it were an exclusive economic zone within the meaning of UNCLOS (see Article 55).

(5) In subsection (4), “relevant maritime zone” includes—

(a) an exclusive fishing zone,

(b) an ecological protection zone, and

(c) any other zone in relation to which the territory in question asserts or exercises any rights or jurisdiction of the sort referred to in Article 56(1) of UNCLOS.

(6) Regulations under subsection (1) that are made for the purposes of the definition of “digital sequence information” are subject to the negative procedure.

(7) Regulations under subsection (3) that amend this section are subject to the affirmative procedure.

(8) Any other regulations under subsection (3) are subject to the negative procedure.