Schedule 3: The Office for Environmental Protection: Northern Ireland Part 1: The OEP’s Northern Ireland functions Duty of the OEP to involve the relevant department
Paragraph 14 ensures that the relevant department, i.e. the Northern Ireland department with policy responsibility for the area in question (see definition in paragraph 7(11)), is made aware of a relevant information or decision notice or of a review application.
	Where the recipient of an information or decision notice is not a Northern Ireland department, sub-paragraph (1)(a) requires the OEP to provide a copy of the notice to the relevant department, as well as a copy of any correspondence between the OEP and the recipient of the notice that relates to the notice. Sub-paragraph (1)(b) requires the OEP to also provide the recipient of a notice with a copy of any correspondence it has with the relevant department regarding the notice.
	Sub-paragraph (2) provides that the OEP is not obliged to provide copies of notices or correspondence set out in sub-paragraph (1) if it considers that to do so would not be in the public interest.
	Where the OEP makes a review application under paragraph 12, or an application for judicial review under paragraph 13(1), against a relevant public authority which is not a Northern Ireland department, sub-paragraph (3) requires the OEP to provide the relevant department with a copy of the application and a statement which sets out the OEP’s opinion on whether the relevant department should participate in the review proceedings.