The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 19543 shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.

In these Regulations –

• “agriculture” includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy farming, livestock breeding or keeping, the use of land as grazing land, meadowland, osier land, reed beds, market gardens and nursery grounds;

• “application” means –

  1. a

     except in regulation 4, an application for, or variation of, a consent pursuant to regulation 7; and

  2. b

     in regulation 4, an application to the Department for a determination pursuant to that regulation;

• “Commission” means the Water Appeals Commission established under Article 7 of the Water and Sewerage Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1973;

• “consent” means a consent granted under Part III;

• “consultation body” means a person likely to have an interest in a project by reason of his specific environmental responsibilities or hold any information relevant to a project;

• “the Department” means the Department of the Environment;

• “the Directive” means Council Directive 85/337/EEC, concerning the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC;

• “relevant project” has the meaning given by regulation 3.

Other expressions used both in these Regulations and in the Directive have the same meaning in these Regulations as they have in the Directive.

An environmental impact assessment shall be carried out in accordance with these Regulations in relation to a relevant project.