{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/marine-works-environmental-impact-assessment-scotland-regulations-2017/regulation-2",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/marine-works-environmental-impact-assessment-scotland-regulations-2017/regulation-2.json",
  "legislation": "ssi/2017/115",
  "legislation_title": "The Marine Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/marine-works-environmental-impact-assessment-scotland-regulations-2017",
  "path": "regulation/2",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "2",
  "heading": "Interpretation",
  "text": "(1) In these Regulations—\n“the 2010 Act” means the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 ;\n“the 2007 Regulations” means the Marine Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2007;\n“additional information” means—\n(a)supplementary information required in accordance with regulation 21(2); or\n(b)any other information provided by the applicant which, in the opinion of the Scottish Ministers, is substantive information about a matter to be included in the EIA report in accordance with regulation 6(2);\n“applicant”—\n(a)means in relation to an application for a regulatory approval, the applicant; and\n(b)for the purposes of regulations 10, 11, 14 and 15, includes a person who is minded to make an application for a regulatory approval;\n“application for multi-stage regulatory approval” means an application for approval, consent or agreement required by a condition included in a regulatory approval where (in terms of the condition) that approval, consent or agreement must be obtained from the Scottish Ministers before all or part of the works permitted by the regulatory approval may be begun;\n“application website” means a website maintained by the applicant for the purpose of making publicly available information relating to applications to which these Regulations apply;\n“area beyond national jurisdiction” has the meaning given by Article 1(2) of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement;\n“BBNJ works” means the carrying out of a regulated activity that engages the United Kingdom’s obligations under Part 4 of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement (environmental impact assessments) in respect of an activity in an area beyond national jurisdiction;\n“the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement” means the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, opened for signature at New York on 20 September 2023;\n“the CCS Directive” means Directive 2009/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the geological storage of carbon dioxide and amending Council Directive 85/337/EEC, European Parliament and Council Directives 2000/60/EC, 2001/80/EC, 2004/35/EC, 2006/12/EC, 2008/1/EC and Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006;\n“consenting authority” means, in relation to a project, any authority whose consent to any activity to be undertaken in the course of the project is required under any enactment;\n“the consultation bodies” means—\n(a)any relevant local planning authority;\n(b)Scottish Natural Heritage, established under section 1 of the Natural Heritage (Scotland) Act 1991 ;\n(c)the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, established under section 20 of the Environment Act 1995 ;\n(d)Historic Environment Scotland, established by section 1 of the Historic Environment (Scotland) Act 2014 ; and\n(e)any relevant authority;\n“decision notice” has the meaning given in regulation 23;\n“the Directive” means Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment ;\n“EIA application” means an application for a regulatory approval for an EIA project;\n“EIA project” means works which are ...—\n(a)schedule 1 works; ...\n(b)schedule 2 works likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue of factors such as their nature, size or location ; or\n(c)BBNJ works where there are reasonable grounds for believing that the works may cause—\n(i)substantial pollution, or\n(ii)significant and harmful changes to,\nthe marine environment;\n“EIA report” has the meaning given in regulation 6;\n“electronic communication” has the meaning given in section 15(1) of the Electronic Communications Act 2000 ;\n“environmental impact assessment” has the meaning given in regulation 5;\n“environmental information” means—\n(a)the EIA report submitted in respect of the proposed works;\n(b)any additional information submitted in respect of the works;\n(c)any representations made by any consultation body, or other public body, consulted in respect of the works in accordance with these Regulations; ...\n(d)any representations duly made by any other person about the environmental effects of the works ; and\n(e)in relation to BBNJ works that are an EIA project, any other matter necessary to give effect to Article 31(1)(b) and (c) of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement;\n“environmental statement” has the meaning given in the 2007 Regulations as those Regulations had effect immediately prior to the date on which these Regulations came into force;\n“exempt works” means works in respect of which either—\n(a)the Scottish Ministers have made a direction under regulation 8; or\n(b)the Scottish Ministers have, under regulation 9, determined that an environmental impact assessment is not required;\n“marine licence” means a marine licence granted under Part 4 of the 2010 Act;\n“marine protected area” means an area designated as—\n(a)a nature conservation marine protected area;\n(b)a demonstration and research marine protected area; or\n(c)a historic marine protected area,\nby a designation order made by the Scottish Ministers under section 67 of the 2010 Act;\n“multi-stage regulatory approval” means an approval, consent or agreement given pursuant to an application for multi-stage regulatory approval;\n“public” means one or more natural or legal persons and, in accordance with the law of any part of the United Kingdom or practice, their associations, organisations or groups;\n“public concerned” means the public affected or likely to be affected by, or having an interest in, environmental decision making procedures (for the purposes of this definition non-governmental organisations promoting environmental protection and meeting any requirements under the law of any part of the United Kingdom are deemed to have an interest);\n“regulated activity” means an activity for which a regulatory approval is required (see also paragraph (1B));\n“regulatory approval” means—\n(a)a marine licence granted under Part 4 of the 2010 Act; or\n(b)a variation under said Part 4 of such a marine licence;\n“relevant assessment” means, in relation to proposed works, an assessment, or verification, of effects on the environment carried out pursuant to national legislation which is relevant to the assessment of the environmental impacts of the proposed works;\n“relevant authority” means—\n(a)where a regulated activity is likely to have a significant effect on the environment of Northern Ireland, or the Northern Ireland inshore region (within the meaning of section 322 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 ), the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland; or\n(b)where a regulated activity is likely to have a significant effect on the environment of England or the English offshore region (within the meaning of section 322 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009), the Marine Management Organisation or, as the case may be, the Secretary of State;\n“relevant local planning authority” means—\n(a)any authority that is a planning authority for the purposes of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 in or adjacent to whose area the regulated activity is prepared to be carried out; and\n(b)where the regulated activity is carried out in or adjacent to a National Park , the National Park authority for the National Park;\n“relevant period” means the period beginning on 21 May 2020 and ending on the date on which Part 1 of the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 expires in accordance with section 12 of that Act;\n“Scottish marine protection area” has the meaning given in section 65 of the 2010 Act;\n“schedule 1 works” means works, other than exempt works, of a description set out in schedule 1;\n“schedule 2 works” means works, other than exempt works, of a description set out in column 1 of schedule 2 where—\n(a)any part of the works is to be carried out in a sensitive area; or\n(b)any applicable threshold or criterion in the corresponding part of column 2 of that table is respectively exceeded or met in relation to the works;\n“scoping opinion” means an opinion adopted by the Scottish Ministers as to the scope and level of detail of information to be provided in the EIA report;\n“screening opinion” means an opinion adopted by the Scottish Ministers as to whether works are, or are not, an EIA project;\n“sensitive area” means any of the following:—\n(a)a site of special scientific interest;\n(b)land in respect of which an order has been made under section 23 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 ;\n(c)a European site within the meaning of regulation 10 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 ;\n(d)a property appearing in the World Heritage List kept under article 11(2) of the 1972 UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage ;\n(e)a scheduled monument within the meaning of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 ;\n(f)a National Scenic Area as designated by a direction made by the Scottish Ministers under section 263A of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997;\n(g)an area designated as a National Park; and\n(h)a marine protected area;\n“site of special scientific interest” has the meaning given in section 58(1) of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 ;\n...\n“works” means the carrying out of activities for which a regulatory approval is required, unless the context otherwise requires;\n(1A) Terms used in paragraph (c)(i) and (ii) of the definition of “EIA project” have the same meaning that they have in the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement (see in particular Article 30(1)(b)).\n(1B) Where the requirement for a marine licence, or variation of a marine licence, under Part 4 of the 2010 Act for works in an area beyond national jurisdiction depends on the application of these Regulations (including the doing or not doing of anything under these Regulations), these Regulations have effect as if such a licence or variation were required unless and until the application of these Regulations produces a different result.\n(2) Unless the context otherwise requires, expressions not defined in paragraph (1) which are used in these Regulations and also in the Directive (whether or not also used in the 2010 Act) have the same meaning as in the Directive.\n(3) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, references to a relevant local planning authority in relation to works in, on, over or under sea, are references to such planning authority or planning authorities as the Scottish Ministers consider appropriate in respect of the proposed works.\n(4) In these Regulations, where an applicant submits a revised or a supplementary EIA report (or a report which that person refers to as such) any reference to an EIA report is to be treated as including a reference to that revised or supplementary EIA report.",
  "extent": "S",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Words in reg. 2(1) inserted (30.6.2017) by The Environmental Impact Assessment (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 (S.S.I. 2017/168), regs. 1, 6(2)(a)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Words in reg. 2(1) inserted (9.8.2026) by Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Act 2026 (c. 6), ss. 24(2)(a), 32(2) (with s. 30); S.I. 2026/827, reg. 2(j)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "Words in reg. 2(1) inserted (30.6.2017) by The Environmental Impact Assessment (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 (S.S.I. 2017/168), regs. 1, 6(2)(b)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F4",
      "text": "Word in reg. 2(1) omitted (9.8.2026) by virtue of Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Act 2026 (c. 6), ss. 24(2)(b)(i), 32(2) (with s. 30); S.I. 2026/827, reg. 2(j)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F5",
      "text": "Word in reg. 2(1) omitted (9.8.2026) by virtue of Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Act 2026 (c. 6), ss. 24(2)(b)(ii), 32(2) (with s. 30); S.I. 2026/827, reg. 2(j)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F6",
      "text": "Words in reg. 2(1) inserted (9.8.2026) by Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Act 2026 (c. 6), ss. 24(2)(b)(iii), 32(2) (with s. 30); S.I. 2026/827, reg. 2(j)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F7",
      "text": "Word in reg. 2(1) omitted (9.8.2026) by virtue of Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Act 2026 (c. 6), ss. 24(2)(c)(i), 32(2) (with s. 30); S.I. 2026/827, reg. 2(j)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F8",
      "text": "Words in reg. 2(1) inserted (9.8.2026) by Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Act 2026 (c. 6), ss. 24(2)(c)(ii), 32(2) (with s. 30); S.I. 2026/827, reg. 2(j)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F9",
      "text": "Words in reg. 2(1) substituted (30.6.2017) by The Environmental Impact Assessment (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 (S.S.I. 2017/168), regs. 1, 6(2)(c)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F10",
      "text": "Words in reg. 2(1) inserted (31.12.2020) by The Marine Environment (EU Exit) (Scotland) (Amendment) Regulations 2019 (S.S.I. 2019/55), regs. 1, 5(2)(a)(i); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F11",
      "text": "Words in reg. 2(1) inserted (9.8.2026) by Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Act 2026 (c. 6), ss. 24(2)(d), 32(2) (with s. 30); S.I. 2026/827, reg. 2(j)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F12",
      "text": "Words in reg. 2(1) inserted (20.5.2020 at 1.45 p.m.) by The Marine Works and Marine Licensing (Miscellaneous Temporary Modifications) (Coronavirus) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (S.S.I. 2020/157), regs. 1, 3(2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F13",
      "text": "Words in reg. 2(1) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Marine Environment (EU Exit) (Scotland) (Amendment) Regulations 2019 (S.S.I. 2019/55), regs. 1, 5(2)(a)(ii); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F14",
      "text": "Reg. 2(1A)(1B) inserted (9.8.2026) by Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Act 2026 (c. 6), ss. 24(2)(e), 32(2) (with s. 30); S.I. 2026/827, reg. 2(j)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F15",
      "text": "Reg. 2(2) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Marine Environment (EU Exit) (Scotland) (Amendment) Regulations 2019 (S.S.I. 2019/55), regs. 1, 5(2)(b); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)"
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M1",
      "text": "2010 asp 5."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M2",
      "text": "1991 c.28."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M3",
      "text": "1995 c.25."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M4",
      "text": "2014 asp 19."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M5",
      "text": "OJ L 26, 28.1.2012, p.1 as amended by Directive 2014/52/EU."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M6",
      "text": "2000 c.7. Section 15(1) was amended by the Communications Act 2003 (c.21), schedule 17, paragraph 158."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M7",
      "text": "2009 c.23."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M8",
      "text": "1997 c.8."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M9",
      "text": "National Parks are designated by designation orders made by the Scottish Ministers under section 6(1) (making of designation orders) of the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000 (asp 5)."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M10",
      "text": "2004 asp 6."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M11",
      "text": "S.I. 1994/2716. Regulation 10 is amended by S.S.I. 2004/474 and S.S.I. 2007/80."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M12",
      "text": "See Command Paper 9424."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M13",
      "text": "1979 c.46."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M14",
      "text": "Section 263A was inserted by section 50 of the Planning etc. (Scotland) Act 2006 (asp 17)."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M15",
      "text": "Section 58(1) was relevantly amended by section 37(4)(a) of the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011 (asp 6)."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2017/115/regulation/2",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-28T21:19:09.708852+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}