European Union (Framework for Maritime Spatial Planning) Regulations 2016.

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Year: 2016
• Citation: IR SI 352/2016

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 8th July, 2016.

I, SIMON COVENEY, Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 (No. 27 of 1972) and for the purpose of giving effect to Directive No. 2014/89/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 20141 establishing a framework for maritime spatial planning, hereby make the following regulations:

Citation and commencement

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Union (Framework for Maritime Spatial Planning) Regulations 2016.

Interpretation

2. (1) In these Regulations—

“baseline” has the meaning it has in section 85 of the Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006 (No. 8 of 2006);

“coastal waters”, in relation to the State, means surface water on the landward side of a line, every point of which is at a distance of one nautical mile on the seaward side from the nearest point of the baseline from which the breadth of territorial seas is measured, extending where appropriate up to the outer limit of transitional waters;

“competent authority” shall be read in accordance with Regulation 4;

“foreshore” has the meaning it has in the Foreshore Act 1933 (No. 12 of 1933);

“Framework Directive for Maritime Spatial Planning” means Directive 2014/89/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 establishing a framework for maritime spatial planning1;

“Marine Strategy Framework Directive” means Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 establishing a framework for community action in the field of marine environmental policy2 ;

“maritime area” means, subject to Regulation 3(2), the area of sea comprising—

(a) the foreshore,

(b) the exclusive economic zone of the State, and

(c) any area for the time being standing designated by order under section 2 of the Continental Shelf Act 1968 (No. 14 of 1968);

“maritime spatial planning” means the process by which the competent authorities within the State duly analyse and organise human activities in marine areas to achieve ecological, economic and social objectives;

“maritime spatial plan” means a plan or plans prepared and published as a result of a maritime spatial planning process or processes;

“Minister” means the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government;

“North-East Atlantic marine region” means the marine region to which the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic, done at Paris on 22 September 1992, relates;

“public body” means—

(a) except in paragraph (2) of Regulation 10, a Minister of the Government other than the Minister and, in that paragraph, a Minister of the Government,

(b) a local authority, within the meaning of the Local Government Act 2001 (No. 37 of 2001), as amended by the Local Government Reform Act 2014 (No. 1 of 2014),

(c) a body established by any enactment other than—

(i) under the Companies Act 2014 (No. 38 of 2014),

(ii) an existing company (within the meaning given by section 2(1) of that Act), or

(iii) under the Joint Stock Companies Acts (within the meaning so given),

or

(d) a body established under any provision of an Act to which paragraph (c) relates in pursuance of powers conferred by or under another enactment, and financed wholly or partly, whether directly or indirectly, by means of moneys provided, or loans made or guaranteed, by a Minister of the Government or the issue of shares held by or on behalf of a Minister of the Government,

but does not apply to a public body to the extent of any matter that paragraph (2) or (3) of Regulation 3 relates;

“territorial seas” has the meaning it has in section 82 of the Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006 ;

“transitional waters” means those bodies of surface water in the vicinity of river mouths which are partly saline in character as a result of their proximity to coastal waters but which are substantially influenced by freshwater flows.

(2) For the purposes of these Regulations, and having regard to the definition of “marine waters” in Article 3(4) of the Framework Directive for Maritime Spatial Planning, the marine waters to which these Regulations apply are—

(a) the waters, the seabed and subsoil in respect of which—

(i) subparagraph (a) of the definition of “marine waters” in Article 3(1) of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive applies, and

(ii) the State has sovereign rights and jurisdiction over,

and

(b) the coastal waters (including their seabed and subsoil) of the State.

(3) A word or expression that is used in these Regulations and is also used in the Framework Directive for Maritime Spatial Planning has, unless the contrary intention appears, the same meaning in these Regulations as it has in that Directive.

Extent of maritime spatial planning

3. (1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), maritime spatial planning and maritime spatial plans apply to the maritime area.

(2) Nothing in these Regulations applies to or affects so much of the coastal waters or transitional waters that are subject to and within the scope of the planning provisions of Part II of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (No. 30 of 2000).

(3) These Regulations do not apply to activities, the sole purpose of which is defence or national security.

Designation of competent authority

4. (1) The Minister is the competent authority for the purposes of the Framework Directive for Maritime Spatial Planning.

(2) Without prejudice to paragraph (1) but subject to paragraphs (4) to (6), the Minister may designate one or more than one public body to be a competent authority for the purposes of the Framework Directive for Maritime Spatial Planning and any such designation may be in respect of one or more of the following:

(a) all or specified activities of a competent authority for the purposes of that Directive;

(b) acting as a coordinating body for some or all of the competent authorities or for some of their activities;

(c) one or more designated geographical areas.

(3) A public body designated as a competent authority shall be deemed to have all the functions necessary to perform functions for the purposes of the designation concerned.

(4) Where the Minister proposes to designate a public body as a competent authority and the body is—

(a) a Minister of the Government, or

(b) any other public body that, in the opinion of the Minister, is a body directly or indirectly responsible to a Minister of the Government,

then the Minister shall not so designate the public body without the consent of the Minister of the Government concerned.

(5) Where the Minister proposes to designate a public body as a competent authority then, without prejudice to paragraph (4) where applicable, the Minister shall consult with that body before so designating it.

(6) The Minister may—

(a) amend the terms of a designation made under this Regulation or revoke a designation so made, and

(b) provide for any matters consequential to such...