The Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

River basin management plans

12.—(1) The Department shall prepare a river basin management plan for the river basin district and shall ensure co-ordination with the relevant competent authority in the Republic of Ireland with the aim of producing a single plan for the whole of each international river basin district.

(2) Where it appears to the Department that a single plan for an international river basin district cannot be produced, the Department shall prepare a river basin management plan for the part of the international river basin district falling within Northern Ireland.

(3) A river basin management plan shall –

(a)relate to such period as the Department may determine, except in the case of a single plan for an international river basin district where it shall relate to such period as the Department may determine in consultation with the relevant competent authority in the Republic of Ireland; and

(b)include the information specified in the relevant provisions of the Directive.

(4) A determination under paragraph (3)(a) shall be published by the Department –

(a)in the Belfast Gazette; and

(b)at least once in each of two successive weeks in one or more newspapers circulating in the river basin district or the part of the international river basin district to which the determination relates.

(5) The relevant provisions of the Directive for the purposes of this regulation are –

(a)Article 9(2) and (4) (recovery of the costs of water services);

(b)Annex II, point 1.3(vi) (exclusion of elements from the assessment of ecological status);

(c)the following provisions of Annex V –

(i)points 1.3 and 1.3.4 (confidence and precision in monitoring surface water);

(ii)point 2.4.1 (confidence and precision in monitoring groundwater); and

(iii)points 2.4.5 and 2.5 (presentation of monitoring results for groundwater); and

(d)Annex VII, Part A (elements to be covered in river basin management plans).