Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 4th January, 2022.

I, DARRAGH O’BRIEN, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 (No. 27 of 1972) and for the purpose of giving further effect to Directive 91/676/EEC of 12 December 1991¹ , Directive 2000/60/EC of 23 October 2000² , Directive 2003/35/EC of 26 May 2003³ , Directive 2006/118/EC of 12 December 2006⁴ and Directive 2008/98/EC of 19 November 2008⁵ hereby make the following regulations:

PART 1 PRELIMINARY

Citation, commencement and application

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) (Amendment) Regulations 2021.

Interpretation

2. In these Regulations:

(i) “The 2017 Regulations” means the European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) Regulations 2017 ( S.I. No. 605 of 2017 ) as amended by the 2018 Regulations and the 2020 Regulations.

Amendment of 2017 Regulations

3. Article 28 (1) of the 2017 Regulations is replaced by the following:

28 (1) The Minister shall, following consultation with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and other interested parties in accordance with this Article, prepare and publish not later than 31 March 2022 and every four years thereafter, a programme of measures (hereafter in this Article referred to as “an action programme”) for the protection of waters against pollution from agriculture.

GIVEN under my Official Seal,

21 December, 2021.

DARRAGH O’BRIEN,

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation)

These Regulations amend the European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) Regulations 2017. The purpose of the amendment is to extend the Regulations from the 31^st December 2021 to the 31^st March 2022 to allow for the Nitrates Action Programme to be finalised.

1 O.J. No. L 375/1, 31 December 1991.

2 O.J. No. L 327/1, 22 December 2000.

3 O.J. No. L 156/17, 25 June 2003.

4 O.J. No. L 372/19, 27 December 2006.

5 O.J. No. L 312/3, 22 November 2008.