Section 26 — Amendments to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023

In the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023, in Part 6 (environmental outcomes reports), section 154 (power to define “relevant consent” and “relevant plan” etc) is amended as follows—

(a) in subsection (9), for “or a relevant offshore area” substitute “, a relevant offshore area or, where subsection (10) applies, an area beyond national jurisdiction”;

(b) after subsection (9) insert— (10) This subsection applies where the activity within any of paragraphs (a) to (e) of subsection (9) is or involves a licensable marine activity within the meaning of— (a) section 66 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, or (b) section 21 of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 (asp 5). (11) In this section, “area beyond national jurisdiction” has the meaning given by Article 1(2) of the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, opened for signature at New York on 20 September 2023.