The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 have recently been introduced, replacing the 2007 Regulations.

The changes bring into law the exemption review, which has been ongoing for some time and a number of other regimes.  The official reasons for the change are summarised below:

1. Widen the existing streamlined environmental permitting and compliance system in England and Wales by integrating existing regimes covering water discharge consenting,  groundwater authorisations  and radioactive substances regulation authorisations and the outcomes of the Waste Exemptions Order Review into the Environmental Permitting system!
2. Bring in the majority of the Mining Waste Directive and the permitting parts of the Batteries Directive into the single permitting system.  In all 18 EC Directives are brought together in one set of Regulations.
3. The draft EP Regulations 2010 are designed to “reduce the administrative burden of regulation on industry and regulators without compromising the environmental and human health standards previously delivered by the separate regimes and create an extended permitting and compliance system that brings increased clarity and certainty for everyone on how the regulations protect the environment.

There are provisions to replace multiple permits by consolidating them into one new permit.  This should enable sites with permits and discharge consents to have one new document, for example.  Also the creation of further standard rules permits will, in theory, simplify regulation of waste sites in particular and hopefully make it cost effective to apply for the new permits.

There are a number of new and changed exemptions and there are transitional provisions for exempt activities, see the detail here;

Transitional Provisions

Please check your activities in the new regulations to check what you have to do after the dates stated above.

A number of activities previously categorized as “low risk” and therefore outside of the scope of the Regulations now fall within the exemption regime. Please take a look here and see if you activities have been reclassified.

Low Risk Activities

You’ll also need to check your “Technically Competent Management (TCM)” as under the new rules some exemptions now require permits and hence fall under the requirement for a TCM. There are transitional arrangements in place, the detail is here;

Technically Competent Management

or see a guide to our services here.

As ever, the new Regulations are potentially confusing and there’s always the risk of inadvertently falling foul of the new laws. If you have any concerns or need advice on any of the matters discussed, please do not hesitate to contact us.