§ Mrs. BrowningTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will introduce legislation to implement the EC habitats directive; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. AtkinsThe Government are firmly committed to the transposition of the directive into United Kingdom law. We expect to lay draft regulations for this purpose before Parliament soon after the Whitsun recess. The regulations will be made under section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 and will require the approval of Parliament before they can come into effect. The directive requires the necessary laws, regulations and administrative provisions to be brought into force within two years of its notification on 5 June 1992. Although this target will not quite be achieved, our first priority must be to ensure that the draft regulations, which are very complex, fulfil the directive's requirements.
The Government issued a public consultation paper in October 1993 indicating what provisions were considered necessary to implement the directive. The responses to this consultation, and that undertaken in March 1993 concerning proposed changes to permitted development rights to comply with the directive, have been considered during the process of framing the draft regulations.
Subject to parliamentary approval, the regulations will establish mechanisms for the designation and protection of sites qualifying under the EC habitats and birds directives. They will also cover species protection aspects of the habitats directive. These measures will provide a self-contained body of legislation to give effect to the directive's requirements and will build on the already comprehensive provisions for habitats and species conservation in existing law and policy.