Revocation and transitional provisions
24.—(1) The Environmental Assessment (Forestry) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998(1) (in this regulation called “the 1998 Regulations”) are revoked.
(2) Paragraph (1) shall not effect the continued application of the 1998 Regulations in respect of any matter relating to—
(a)a breach of regulation 3 of those Regulations which occurred before the date of coming into operation of these Regulations; or
(b)an enforcement notice issued under regulation 15 of those Regulations; and these Regulations shall not apply to such a matter.
(3) Where, before the date of coming into operation of these Regulations, a request for an opinion under regulation 4 of the 1998 Regulations has been received by the Department but the Department has not given its opinion in relation to that application—
(a)the application shall be treated as an application under regulation 5(1);
(b)any notification of the Department under regulation 4(3) of the 1998 Regulations shall be treated as a notification under regulation 5(3) (but without prejudice to its power to make a further notification under the latter regulation);
(4) Where, before the date of coming into operation of these Regulations, the Department has received a request under regulation 6(1) of the 1998 Regulations but has not made any decision in relation to that request—
(a)the application shall be treated as an application under regulation 7(1);
(b)any notification by the Department under regulation 6(3) of the 1998 Regulations shall be treated as a notification under regulation 7(3) of these Regulations (but without prejudice to the power to make a further notification under the latter regulation);
(5) Where before the date of coming into operation of these Regulations, an application under regulation 7 of the 1998 Regulations has been received by the Department but the Department has not given determined the application—
(a)the application shall be treated as an application under regulation 10;
(b)any notification by the Department under regulation 8 of the 1998 Regulations shall be treated as a notification under regulation 11 (but without prejudice to the Department’s power to make a further notification under the latter regulation);
(6) Where, before the date of coming into operation of these Regulations, a request to the Department to reconsider its decision under regulation 13 of the 1998 Regulations has been made but the Department has not reconsidered its decision, the request shall be treated as if it had been made under regulation 17.
(7) Where—
(a)a case falls to be treated under these Regulations by virtue of paragraph (3), (4) or (6); and
(b)part or all of a period of time specified in regulation 6(1), 7(4) or (as appropriate) 17(4) (“the relevant provision”) expired before the date of the coming into operation of these Regulations,
the whole of the specified period shall be taken into account for the purposes of these Regulations in the same way as if the relevant provision had been in force on the date specified in the relevant provision as the date on which the period began to run.
(8) An opinion of the Department given under regulation 5 of the 1998 Regulations or reconsidered under regulation 6 of the 1998 Regulations that a particular project was not a relevant project for the purpose of those Regulations—
(a)shall be treated after the coming into operation of these Regulations as determining that the project specified in the reconsideration or opinion (but only that project) is not a relevant project for the purposes of these Regulations; but
(b)shall cease to have the effect stated in sub-paragraph (a) (without prejudice to the availability of a further reconsideration or opinion under these Regulations) on the expiry of the period of five years beginning with the date of coming into operation of these Regulations if the work relating to the project has not been completed within that period.
(9) Where an application for a grant under section 2(1) of the Forestry Act (Northern Ireland) 1953(2) has been received by the Department before the coming into operation of these Regulations, any environmental information provided, consultations undertaken or other things done under the 1998 Regulations for the purpose of the Department’s taking into consideration environmental information in respect of the project that is the subject of the application, shall be treated as having been provided, undertaken or done under the corresponding provision of these Regulations as if the application were an application for consent.
(10) Where an application for a grant under section 2(1) of the Forestry Act (Northern Ireland) 1953 in respect of any relevant project has been approved by the Department before the date of coming into operation of these Regulations—
(a)the relevant project shall be deemed to have consent subject to conditions as required by regulation 18 (and on the basis that the Department had specified the maximum times permitted by that regulation) in addition to the conditions (if any) to which the grant is subject; and
(b)consent shall be deemed to have been given when the Department made its decision to make the grant for the project.