Explanatory note

These Regulations specify enactments for the purposes of section 102(5)(b) of the Water Act 2003 (c. 37). Section 102(5)(b) provides that nothing in those specified enactments prevents the Environment Agency or the Natural Resources Body for Wales (“the appropriate agency”) from granting a licence under Chapter 2 of Part 2 of the Water Resources Act 1991 (c. 57) in respect of abstractions of water described in that section.

The Regulatory Impact Assessment produced in connection with the Water Act 2003 (setting out the impacts of removing exemptions from the restriction on abstraction) is relevant to this instrument. A further impact assessment was produced in respect of new authorisations for water abstraction in October 2017. Copies of both impact assessments can be obtained from the Water Resources Management Team, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Area 3D, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR. Both are published together with an Explanatory Memorandum alongside this instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk.