Schedule 3: The Office for Environmental Protection: Northern Ireland Part 1: The OEP’s Northern Ireland functions Decision notices
Paragraph 10 enables the OEP to take further enforcement action in the form of a "decision notice".
	The OEP may issue a decision notice under sub-paragraph (1) if it is satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that the relevant public authority has failed to comply with relevant environmental law, and it considers that the failure is serious.
	Sub-paragraph (2) requires a decision notice to describe the failure to comply with relevant environmental law and the steps the relevant public authority should take in relation to the failure. Sub-paragraph (2) also requires the decision notice to explain why the OEP considers that the failure is serious.
	Under sub-paragraph (3) the relevant public authority is required to respond in writing to a decision notice within two months from the date the notice was given, or by any later date as specified by the OEP in the notice.
	Sub-paragraph (4) requires the written response from the relevant public authority to state whether the authority agrees that there has been a failure to comply with the law and, whether it will take the steps set out in the notice. The response must also specify what other steps (if any) the relevant public authority intends to take in relation to the failure described in the notice.
	Sub-paragraph (5) requires the OEP to have issued at least one information notice relating to the compliance failure before it can issue a decision notice (sub-paragraph (5)(a)). It also allows the OEP to withdraw a decision notice (sub-paragraph (5)(b)).