7.— The Act of 1990 is amended by inserting the following after section 7:

“Fees in respect of an appeal.

7A.— (1) Subject to the approval of the Minister, An Bord Pleanála (hereafter in this section referred to as ‘the Board’) may determine that fees shall be payable in relation to appeals under section 7 and, subject to subsection (2), such a fee so determined shall be paid to the Board by the person making the appeal under section 7 at such time as the Board specifies.

(2) The power of the Board in relation to fees referred to in subsection (1) includes a power of the Board—

(a) to determine that different such fees shall be payable in respect of different classes of appeal under section 7,

(b) to exempt a person from the requirement to pay any such fee in such circumstances as it determines, and

(c) to remit or refund in whole or in part any such fee that has been paid in such circumstances as it determines,

and the exercise of the power under paragraph (b) or (c) (as distinct from the determination of the circumstances in which the power shall be exercisable) shall not require the approval of the Minister.

(3) The Board shall review the fees determined under subsection (1) from time to time, but at least every three years, having regard to any change in the consumer price index since the determination of the fees for the time being in force, and may amend the fees to reflect the results of that review, without the necessity of the Minister’s approval under subsection (1).

(4) For the purposes of this section, ‘ change in the consumer price index’ means the difference between the All Items Consumer Price Index Number last published by the Central Statistics Office before the date of the determination under this section and the said number last published before the date of the review under subsection (3), expressed as a percentage of the last-mentioned number.

(5) Where the Board determines or amends fees in accordance with this section, it shall give notice of the fees in at least one newspaper circulating in the State, not less than 8 weeks before the fees come into effect.

Provision with respect to amendment of this Act by S.I. No. 872 of 2005.

7B.— The Minister shall be deemed always to have had the power to make the regulations under section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 entitled the ‘European Communities (Energy Performance of Buildings) Regulations 2005’ (S.I. No. 872 of 2005) and, accordingly—

(a) the amendment of section 3(2) purported to have been made by those Regulations shall be deemed to have been validly made and to have been in operation as and from the date those Regulations were purported to have been made, and

(b) the Building Regulation (Amendment) Regulations 2005 (S.I. No. 873 of 2005) made in the purported exercise of the powers conferred by sections 3 and 18 shall be deemed to have been validly made and to have been in operation as and from the time that those Regulations provided that those Regulations were to come into operation.”.