17.—(1) The Secretary of State must notify the Commission of—
(a)an assessment under regulation 10 within 3 months of the determination of the characteristics of good environmental status under regulation 11;
(b)the determination of the characteristics of good environmental status under regulation 11 within 3 months of that determination;
(c)the environmental targets and indicators established under regulation 12 within 3 months of the establishment of those targets and indicators;
(d)the monitoring programme established under regulation 13 within 3 months of its establishment;
(e)the programme of measures published under regulation 14 within 3 months of its publication;
(f)any changes made to any element of the marine strategy within 3 months of the publication of any review;
(g)a list of the competent authorities specified for the purposes of these Regulations, together with the information required by Annex 2, by 15th January 2011; and
(h)any change to the information provided under sub-paragraph (g) within 6 months of such a change coming into effect.
(2) The Secretary of State must provide the Commission with a brief interim report describing the progress made in implementing the programme of measures within 3 years of the publication of that programme and within 3 years of any update to that programme.
(3) The Secretary of State must also send any information under paragraph 1(f) to other relevant member States and to the OSPAR Commission(1) within the same time limit.
The Ospar Commission was established under article 10 of the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-east Atlantic (known as the “Ospar Convention”).