Facilitating marine nature restoration through legislation

This consultation is structured into two Parts:

Part 1: Registration for restoration projects

Part 2: Amendments to the use of Marine Conservation Orders

Each part has an introductory section which sets out the general proposal, followed by sections with more detail and questions.

Throughout this consultation we will talk about primary and secondary legislation. Primary legislation is an Act of the Scottish Parliament. While being developed, an Act is referred to as a Bill; it becomes an Act of Parliament when it is passed. Secondary legislation is ‘delegated legislation’ made under the authority of primary legislation. Secondary legislation includes regulations and Orders,  including Scottish Statutory Instruments. Scottish Ministers need powers in primary legislation to be able to make secondary legislation, and both are subject to consultation and Parliamentary scrutiny.

The proposals in this consultation will require some amendments to primary legislation, specifically the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010. These proposals will include powers to enable further implementation, with the details contained in secondary legislation. In this consultation we set out our current thinking about how these proposals would work in practice. We will make it clear in the relevant sections which part of the proposals will be developed further in secondary legislation and subject to further consultation.

The Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 covers Scotland’s marine inshore waters, meaning any area which is underwater at mean high spring water tide, out to 12 nautical miles (nm), and this is the area these proposals relate to.