These Regulations amend the Protection of Water Against Agricultural Nitrate Pollution Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996, (“the 1996 Regulations”) which made provision in relation to Council Directive 91/676/EEC concerning the protection of waters against pollution by nitrates from agricultural sources.

Regulation 2(3) replaces existing regulation 3 of the 1996 Regulations with a new regulation setting out the duty in the Directive to identify nitrate polluted waters and to designate as nitrate vulnerable zones all known areas of land which drain into the identified waters and contribute to the nitrate pollution. The designation of nitrate vulnerable zones has to be reviewed every 4 years and revised and added to if necessary. To avoid having to amend regulation 3 every time there is a review new regulation 3 imposes a duty to carry out the reviews and adjustments to the nitrate vulnerable zone designations but provides for the actual designations to be made pursuant to the regulation rather than by means of setting out the designations in the regulation itself.

Regulation 2(4) replaces existing regulation 5 of the 1996 Regulations with a new regulation. Existing regulation 5 establishes the code of good agricultural practice required by the Directive. New regulation 5 instead sets out the duty to establish the code rather than establishing the code itself. This will enable the code to be reviewed and updated without having to amend regulation 5.

Regulation 2(7) inserts a new Schedule into the 1996 Regulations containing the provisions which have to be contained in the code. Regulation 2(6) makes an amendment which is consequential ion new Regulation 5.