Monthly Archives: January 2016

Waste offences tackled by SEPA – report on enforcement action

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Last week (14th January), SEPA shone a spotlight on their work to combat waste offences as they published their Enforcement Report for the period 1 April 2014 -31 March 2015. The 27 pages make interesting reading about the fight against environmental crime in Scotland. During the period, the Agency issued 141 final warning letters and served 116 Statutory Notices to organisations or individuals operating outside the law with 36 cases sent to the Procurator Fiscal (PF) for possible prosecution. All … Continued

Operation Salamander – preventing waste crime

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A much welcomed multi-agency task-force has been acting against waste crime and catching waste offenders in a small part of the UK. A combined Environment Agency, HMRC, Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency and local authority operation in three counties in the South-East of England stopped 71 vehicles carrying waste, of which 37% (26 vehicles) were found to be in breach of regulations. Although the press release refers to ‘duty of care’ offences, these presumably relate to non-registered carrying of waste. New requirements … Continued

REACH registration: Changes to data sharing

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Are you involved in sharing data with ECHA under the REACH Regulations, either via a SIEF or directly? If so, you need to be aware of a new EU implementing regulation that comes into force on January 26th this year, but applies to agreements concluded before that date. The Regulation comes about as a result of ECHA’s experience during phase-in registrations of substances. REACH presents challenges to all businesses, but it is considered that SME’s in particular find it difficult. … Continued

Record fine for Thames Water

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It may not be a Happy New Year for Thames Water! Following on from the Court of Appeal hearing in 2015 that saw their £250,000 fine for polluting a watercourse confirmed, the Environment Agency have announced a record £1,000,000 fine for a similar offence. You can read more about that hearing here. On 4 January 2016, His Honour Judge Bright QC, hearing the case in St. Albans Crown Court, fined them £1,000,000 with £18,113.08 costs and £120 victim surcharge for … Continued