5.— Section 6 of the Act of 1990 is amended—

(a) in subsection (2)(a)(ii), by deleting “and”, after “provisions of building regulations as may be prescribed,”,

(b) in subsection (2)(a)(iii), by substituting “the requirements of building regulations,” for “the requirements of building regulations;”,

(c) in subsection (2)(a), by inserting the following after subparagraph (iii):

“(iv) the submission (before grant of the relevant fire safety certificate) of a notice in writing to a building control authority (in this Act referred to as a ‘7 day notice’) by a person who intends to commence work on the construction of a building or an extension of or a material alteration to a building, giving not less than 7 days notice of that person’s intention to carry out those works, and requiring that such notice shall be accompanied by a valid application for a fire safety certificate,

(v) the submission to a building control authority by a person who submits a 7 day notice of a statutory declaration (in this Act referred to as a ‘7 day notice statutory declaration’) made by that person stating that the application for the relevant fire safety certificate has been completed in all respects and complies with the relevant provisions of the building control regulations, that any works that have been commenced before the grant of such certificate will comply with the building regulations and that the person will, within such period as may be specified by the building control authority, carry out any modification of such works that is required by or under the fire safety certificate, including any condition attached to it, when it is granted by the building control authority concerned,

(vi) where an application for a fire safety certificate in respect of the construction of a building or an extension of or a material alteration to a building has been submitted before planning permission has been granted in respect of such construction, extension or alteration, the submission, if required by the subsequent grant of such planning permission, of a further application to a building control authority for a fire safety certificate (in this Act referred to as a ‘revised fire safety certificate’) for the purpose of ensuring that the revised design arising from the grant of planning permission (including any condition attached to it) complies with the provisions of building regulations relating to fire safety,

(vii) where work has been commenced or completed in respect of the construction of a building or an extension of or a material alteration to a building, and no application has been made for a fire safety certificate that is required under building control regulations for such construction, extension of or material alteration to a building, the submission to a building control authority of an application for a certificate (a ‘regularisation certificate’) which shall be accompanied by drawings of the relevant works (as they have been constructed) and a statutory declaration from the applicant stating that such works comply with the provisions of the building regulations relating to fire safety, and enabling the authority to specify in a regularisation certificate that the regularisation certificate shall not have effect unless, within 4 months after its being granted, any conditions attached to it by the authority (including conditions as to the carrying out of additional works) are complied with,

(viii) a building control authority to inspect (before it decides whether to grant such a certificate) a building in respect of which an application has been submitted for a regularisation certificate and enabling the authority to grant, if it considers it appropriate, in its discretion, to do so, a regularisation certificate specifying that in its opinion the works, as constructed in accordance with plans, documents and information submitted with the application for the certificate, comply with the provisions of building regulations relating to fire safety, subject to compliance (within the period of 4 months there mentioned) with any conditions attached to the certificate of the kind mentioned in subparagraph (vii),

(ix) the submission to a building control authority of an application for a certificate of compliance with respect to requirements under the building regulations for provision of access to a building for persons with disabilities (a ‘disability access certificate’) and enabling the building control authority to grant such certificate if in its opinion the design of the building or the extension of or material alteration to the building in respect of which the submission is made would comply (subject to any relevant dispensation or relaxation already granted under section 4 or 5 or to any appeal under section 7 which has been allowed) with the relevant requirements of the building regulations,

(x) the submission to a building control authority of an application for a fire safety certificate (in this Act also referred to as a ‘revised fire safety certificate’) or a disability access certificate (in this Act referred to as a ‘revised disability access certificate’) if significant revision is made to the design or works of a building or an extension of or a material alteration to a building in respect of which a fire safety certificate or a disability access certificate has been granted by a building control authority, and

(xi) that a new building, or an existing building in respect of which an extension or a material alteration has been made, shall not be opened, operated or occupied or permitted to be opened, operated or occupied—

(I) unless a fire safety certificate or disability access certificate (or, as the case may require, a revised certificate of either kind) or a regularisation certificate required by regulations under this Act has been granted by the building control authority in relation to the building, or

(II) if such an appeal is made to it, pending the determination by An Bord Pleanála of an appeal under section 7 relating to a refusal to grant any of the certificates or revised certificates referred to in clause (I) or the attachment of conditions to any of them;”,

(d) in subsection (2)(b), by substituting the following for subparagraph (i):

“(i) the form and content of—

(I) certificates of compliance,

(II) applications for fire safety certificates, revised fire safety certificates, regularisation certificates, disability access certificates and revised disability access certificates,

(III) each of the certificates referred to in clause (II),

(IV) 7 day notices and 7 day notice statutory declarations,

(V) applications for certificates of approval and certificates of approval,”,

(e) in subsection (2)(b)(ii), by inserting “7 day notices, 7 day notice statutory declarations, revised fire safety certificates, regularisation certificates, disability access certificates, building energy rating certificates, revised disability access certificates” after “fire safety certificates,”,

(f) in subsection (2)(h)(ii), by inserting “, 7 day notices, 7 day notice statutory declarations, revised fire safety certificates, regularisation certificates, disability access certificates, revised disability access certificates” after “fire safety certificates”,

(g) in subsection (2), by inserting the following paragraph after paragraph (h):

“(ha) the exemption, in specified circumstances, from fees referred to in paragraph (h);”,

(h) in subsection (2)(k), by substituting “regulations;” for “regulations.”,

(i) by inserting after subsection (2) the following:

“(2A) References in subsection (2)(a)(iv) to (xi) to a material alteration of a building include references to a material change of use of a building and, for the purposes of those provisions as they apply in relation to such a material change of use, references in those provisions to—

(a) work,

(b) relevant works, or

(c) the design of works,

shall, in so far as they are applicable to such a material change of use, be construed as references to—

(i) the doing of the acts that constitute the material change of use or, as appropriate, those acts when they are done, or

(ii) in the case of references to the design of works, the various aspects of the material change of use or, as appropriate, any particular aspect of that change of use,

and references to construction of works and cognate references shall be construed accordingly.”,

(j) in subsection (5), by inserting “, 7 day notice, revised fire safety certificate, regularisation certificate, disability access certificate, revised disability access certificate” after “fire safety certificate” in both places where it occurs in that subsection, and

(k) in subsection (6), by inserting “, 7 day notice, revised fire safety certificate, regularisation certificate, disability access certificate, revised disability access certificate” after “fire safety certificate”.