The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs has made the Conservation (Natural Habitats, etc.) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026, with the rule made on 17 June 2026 and due to come into operation on 8 July 2026. The instrument amends the long-standing 1995 habitats regulations rather than replacing them, so this is a targeted legal update to decision-making powers and drafting. The statutory rule states that DAERA is acting under section 14 of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023. The explanatory notes to that Act say section 14 allows a relevant national authority to revoke or replace secondary retained EU law. (legislation.gov.uk)
The central change is a redraw of who holds certain functions inside the 1995 framework. In several provisions, references to the Secretary of State are replaced with references to the Department, and regulation 30 is also rewritten so that authorised persons act on the Department's behalf rather than on behalf of the Secretary of State. That said, the Secretary of State is not removed entirely. The new text inserted into regulation 6 means DAERA cannot designate a site as a European Site without the Secretary of State's agreement, and the substitute wording in regulation 8A means DAERA cannot classify a European marine site without the Secretary of State's consent.
The amending rule also strips out a series of older provisions. Regulation 8B(5), regulation 9A(5) and regulation 36A(4) are omitted, paragraph (4) of regulation 29 is removed, and subparagraph (d) of regulation 30(2) disappears. In regulation 66(1), the words referring in the alternative to the Secretary of State are dropped. A smaller but still useful edit removes an older reference in regulation 29(1) to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. That matters because it reduces the amount of outdated departmental language left in the statute book and makes the current lines of responsibility easier to read.
The explanatory note is brief but clear on purpose. It says the amendments adjust the Secretary of State's role in designating or classifying European marine sites so that the procedure is aligned with the Marine Act (Northern Ireland) 2013 approach to Marine Conservation Zones. The explanatory notes to the 2013 Act say the Department has the power to designate Marine Conservation Zones and describe a role for the Secretary of State in that process. Read alongside this statutory rule, the policy aim appears to be procedural consistency across the marine protection regime rather than a change in the level of habitat protection itself. (legislation.gov.uk)
For practitioners, the practical effect is that DAERA becomes the clearer operational decision-maker in more parts of the habitats regime, while Westminster consent remains built in for a narrower set of high-value site decisions. That should make the legal route easier to follow for regulators, planning authorities, conservation bodies and developers dealing with designated areas. DAERA's own published guidance states that European marine sites remain part of Northern Ireland's post-EU habitats framework, and the Department's 2019-2024 implementation report says projects affecting a European site require assessment against the site's conservation objectives. Those wider controls are not removed by this instrument. (daera-ni.gov.uk)
The absence of an impact assessment is also telling. The explanatory note says none has been produced because no, or no significant, effect on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. That points to an administrative and governance amendment, not a new compliance burden for land managers, public bodies or marine operators. In plain terms, the rule does not announce new protected areas, new ecological tests or new offences. It mainly redistributes functions, deletes spent or duplicate wording, and updates the drafting around who can act.
The broader legal setting is the continuing clean-up of retained EU-derived legislation after Brexit. Here, DAERA is using the 2023 Act to adjust how Northern Ireland's 1995 conservation rules operate in practice, while keeping the older framework in place rather than starting again from scratch. (legislation.gov.uk) From 8 July 2026, the point for most readers is straightforward. The habitats regime stays in force, DAERA's role is more direct in several provisions, and Secretary of State approval is retained where the regulation now expressly requires it for European Sites and European marine sites.