The Act – Section by Section Part 1 – Protection of the water environment Section 14 – River basin management plans: review
61.Subsection (1) requires SEPA to review and update each approved river basin management plan, no later than 6 years, or such lesser period as Scottish Ministers may direct, from the date on which the plan was approved under section 13.
62.Subsection (2) gives the Scottish Ministers a power to direct SEPA, following a review, to prepare and submit a revised river basin management plan to the Scottish Ministers by a given date.
63.Subsection (3) provides that a revised plan must contain the matters set out in Part 2 of schedule 1, over and above the requirements in relation to content of the plan set out in section 10. The terms of Part 2 of schedule 1 largely mirror the terms of Part B of Annex VII to the Directive.
64.Subsection (4) provides that the specified provisions of the Act apply to a revised plan in the same way they do to an original plan. This will give Ministers the same control of the process as they have for the original plan.
65.This section will enable the Scottish Ministers to implement Article 13(7) of the Directive.