diff --git a/tests/functional/cylc-get-site-config/06-cylc-conf-path.t b/tests/functional/cylc-get-site-config/06-cylc-conf-path.t
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2058908ca9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/functional/cylc-get-site-config/06-cylc-conf-path.t
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# THIS FILE IS PART OF THE CYLC SUITE ENGINE.
+# Copyright (C) NIWA & British Crown (Met Office) & Contributors.
+# 
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# ensure that CYLC_CONF_PATH works correctly
+. "$(dirname "$0")/test_header"
+#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+set_test_number 7
+#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+mkdir foo
+mkdir bar
+echo 'process pool size = 1' > 'foo/flow.rc'
+echo 'process pool size = 1234' > 'foo/mess.rc'
+
+# if we point CYLC_CONF_PATH at a dir Cylc should load the
+# flow.rc within it
+TEST_NAME="${TEST_NAME_BASE}-dir"
+export CYLC_CONF_PATH=foo
+run_ok "${TEST_NAME}" cylc get-site-config --sparse
+cmp_ok "${TEST_NAME}.stdout" << __HERE__
+process pool size = 1
+__HERE__
+
+# if we point CYLC_CONF_PATH at a particular file Cylc should load
+# that particular file
+TEST_NAME="${TEST_NAME_BASE}-file"
+export CYLC_CONF_PATH=foo/mess.rc
+run_ok "${TEST_NAME}" cylc get-site-config --sparse
+cmp_ok "${TEST_NAME}.stdout" << __HERE__
+process pool size = 1234
+__HERE__
+
+# if we point CYLC_CONF_PATH at a non-existent dir Cylc should
+# raise an error (else tests could become placebos)
+TEST_NAME="${TEST_NAME_BASE}-missing-dir"
+export CYLC_CONF_PATH=foot
+run_fail "${TEST_NAME}" cylc get-site-config --sparse
+
+# if we point CYLC_CONF_PATH at a non-existent file Cylc should
+# raise an error (else tests could become placebos)
+TEST_NAME="${TEST_NAME_BASE}-missing-file"
+export CYLC_CONF_PATH=foo/foot.rc
+run_fail "${TEST_NAME}" cylc get-site-config --sparse
+
+# if we point CYLC_CONF_PATH at a directory which doesn't contain
+# a config file Cylc should raise an error (else tests could become placebos)
+TEST_NAME="${TEST_NAME_BASE}-no-config-file"
+export CYLC_CONF_PATH=bar
+run_fail "${TEST_NAME}" cylc get-site-config --sparse
+
+rm -r foo bar
+
+exit