APPLICATION OF CIVIL LAW (Hansard, 24 June 1982)

§ Mr. John Moore
I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.

Mr. Deputy Speaker
With this, we are to take Lords amendments Nos. 31 to 38, 41, and 51 to 54.

§ Mr. Moore
Lords amendments Nos. 30 and 31 are closely linked, and both serve to widen the scope of clause 22.
This clause is designed to replace section 3(2) of the Continental Shelf Act 1964, to ensure that the remedies of civil law can be made available in relation to a wide range of offshore activitiies, including specifically accommodation and gas storage, and in particular to ensure that the remedies of civil law are available to those who work in the foreign sectors of cross-boundary fields.
Although clause 22 as previously drafted included some specific activities, it was not the Government's intention to reduce in practice the scope of the power to apply civil law offshore contained in section 3(2) of the 1964 Act. A critical reappraisal of the draft, in the light of the amendments concerning social security, employment and patents legislation which were inserted in schedule 3 during the Committee stage in this House and which refer to clause 22, has resulted in these drafting amendments. The reappraisal centred on the scope of the clause, and also on particular doubts about whether people such as divers who are doing work connected with an installation would have the remedies of civil law available to them. The new drafting does away with these doubts, while maintaining all the essential elements of section 3(2) of the 1964 Act.
The remaining amendments in this group, Nos. 32 to 38, 41 and 51 to 54, are all either directly consequential upon these main amendments or are minor drafting improvements in consequence.