S.L. 549.77 Art. 24Application fee for new permits, variations,transfer, renewal or surrender.

(1) An application fee for any new permit, variation, transfer, renewal or surrender thereof, shall be paid to the competent authority on submission of the application.

(2) The fees for new permits stipulated in Schedule 5 shall apply.

(3) Where an operator applies to transfer ownership of a permit or for a variation to a permit, a fee of 10% of the application fee in Schedule 5 shall be paid to the competent authority. The fee for a variation shall not be payable if the variation is imposed by the competent authority and not requested by the operator.

(4) Where an operator applies for a renewal of a permit, a fee of 50% of the application fee in Schedule 5 shall be paid to the competent authority.

(5) Where an operator applies for the surrender of a permit, a fee of 25% of the application fee in Schedule 5 shall be paid to the competent authority.

(6) An annual fee of 10% of the application fee in Schedule 5 shall be paid to the competent authority on the anniversary of the date of issue of the permit. Installations having environmental management certification recognised by the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority shall pay a reduced annual fee of 5%.

(7) All inspection costs, whether for scheduled or additional inspections, shall be paid by the operator to the competent authority at a standard rate of two hundred euro (€200) per inspection. Such inspection costs shall be added to the annual fee.

(8) The competent authority may engage consultancy services to obtain specialised expertise on specific applications (including the variation, transfer, renewal or surrender thereof), to obtain assistance in carrying out compliance audits (including monitoring and, or analysis of samples) and to carry out enforcement of specific permits. The cost of the consultancy services will be communicated to the applicant prior to the consultancy services being engaged and will be borne by the applicant.

(9) In cases where an application for a permit (or variation, transfer, renewal or surrender thereof) is withdrawn by the applicant within ten working days of submission, 50% of the fees paid shall be refunded. No refund shall be granted after ten working days of submission. No refund shall be granted in respect of consultancy fees as specified in sub-regulation (8).

(10) In the case where an application for a permit (or variation, transfer, renewal or surrender thereof) is refused by the competent authority, the fees paid shall not be refunded.

(11) With regard to pending applications submitted before the coming into force of these regulations, the fees in accordance with these regulations shall be payable prior to issue of the permit, and in respect of permitted installations, fees for variation, renewal, transfer, surrender and annual fees shall be due prior to the next variation, renewal, transfer, surrender or anniversary of the permit, respectively.