Pollution Prevention and Control (England and Wales) Regulations 2000
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 2000/1973 |
2000 No. 1973
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, ENGLAND AND WALES
The Pollution Prevention and Control (England and Wales) Regulations 2000
Made 21th July 2000
Coming into force 1st August 2000
The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 2 of the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 19991(the “1999 Act”), having, in accordance with section 2(4) of the 1999 Act, consulted the Environment Agency, such bodies or persons appearing to him to be representative of the interests of local government, industry, agriculture and small businesses respectively as he considers appropriate and such other bodies and persons as he considers appropriate, hereby makes the following Regulations, a draft of which has, in accordance with section 2(8) of that Act, been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament—
PART I
GENERAL
Citation, commencement and extent
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Pollution Prevention and Control (England and Wales) Regulations 2000 and shall come into force on the 1st August 2000.
(2) These Regulations extend to England and Wales only.
(3) For the purpose of paragraph (2), “England and Wales” includes the territorial waters adjacent to England and Wales.
Interpretation: general
2.—(1) In these Regulations, except in so far as the context otherwise requires—
“change in operation” means, in relation to an installation or mobile plant, a change in the nature or functioning or an extension of the installation or mobile plant which may have consequences for the environment; and “substantial change in operation” means, in relation to an installation or mobile plant, a change in operation which, in the opinion of the regulator, may have significant negative effects on human beings or the environment;
“the Directive” means Council Directive 96/61/ECconcerning integrated pollution prevention and control2;
“emission” means—
(i) in relation to Part A installations, the direct or indirect release of substances, vibrations, heat or noise from individual or diffuse sources in an installation into the air, water or land;
(ii) in relation to Part B installations, the direct release of substances or heat from individual or diffuse sources in an installation into the air;
(iii) in relation to Part A mobile plant, the direct or indirect release of substances, vibrations, heat or noise from the mobile plant into the air, water or land;
(iv) in relation to Part B mobile plant, the direct release of substances or heat from the mobile plant into the air;
“emission limit value” means the mass, expressed in terms of specific parameters, concentration or level of an emission, which may not be exceeded during one or more periods of time;
“enforcement notice” has the meaning given by regulation 24(1);
“general binding rules” has the meaning given by regulation 14(1);
“installation” means—
(i) a stationary technical unit where one or more activities listed in Part 1 of Schedule 1 are carried out; and
(ii) any other location on the same site where any other directly associated activities are carried out which have a technical connection with the activities carried out in the stationary technical unit and which could have an effect on pollution,
and, other than in Schedule 3, references to an installation include references to part of an installation;
“mobile plant” means plant which is designed to move or to be moved whether on roads or otherwise and which is used to carry out one or more activities listed in Part 1 of Schedule 1;
“off-site condition” has the meaning given by regulation 12(12);
“operator”, subject to paragraph (2), means, in relation to an installation or mobile plant, the person who has control over its operation;
“Part A installation”, “Part A(1) installation”, “Part A(2) installation” and “Part B installation” shall be interpreted in accordance with Part 3 of Schedule 1;
“Part A mobile plant”, “Part A(1) mobile plant”, “Part A(2) mobile plant” and “Part B mobile plant” shall be interpreted in accordance with Part 3 of Schedule 1;
“permit” means a permit granted under regulation 10;
“pollution” means emissions as a result of human activity which may be harmful to human health or the quality of the environment, cause offence to any human senses, result in damage to material property, or impair or interfere with amenities and other legitimate uses of the environment; and “pollutant” means any substance, vibration, heat or noise released as a result of such an emission which may have such an effect;
“regulator” means, in relation to the exercise of functions under these Regulations, the authority by whom, under regulation 8, the functions are exercisable; and “local authority regulator” means a regulator which is a local authority as defined in regulation 8(15) and (16);
“revocation notice” has the meaning given by regulation 21(1);
“specified waste management activity” means any one of the following activities—
(a) the disposal of waste in a landfill, whether or not the disposal falls within Section 5.2 of Part 1 of Schedule1;
(b) the disposal of waste falling within Section 5.3 of that Part of that Schedule;
(c) the recovery of waste falling within paragraphs (i), (ii), (v) or (vii) of paragraph (c) of Part A(1) of Section 5.4 of that Part of that Schedule;
“substance” includes any chemical element and its compounds and any biological entity or micro-organism, with the exception of radioactive substances within the meaning of Council Directive 80/836/Euratom3, genetically modified micro-organisms within the meaning of Council Directive 90/219/EEC4and genetically modified organisms within the meaning of Council Directive 90/220/EEC5;
“suspension notice” has the meaning given by regulation 25(1);
“variation notice” has the meaning given by regulation 17(5).
(2) For the purposes of these Regulations—
(a)
(a) where an installation or mobile plant has not been put into operation, the person who will have control over the operation of the installation or mobile plant when it is put into operation shall be treated as the operator of the installation or mobile plant;
(b)
(b) where an installation or mobile plant has ceased to be in operation, the person who holds the permit which applies to the installation or mobile plant shall be treated as the operator of the installation or mobile plant.
(3) In these Regulations—
(a)
(a) a reference to a release into water includes a release into a sewer (within the meaning of section 219(1) of the Water Industry Act 19916);
(b)
(b) a reference to a Council Directive is a reference to that Directive together with any amendment made before the date on which these Regulations are made.
(4) Part 1 of Schedule 1 shall be interpreted in accordance with the provisions as to interpretation in Part 1 and 2 of that Schedule.
(5) Parts 1 and 2 of Schedule 3 shall be interpreted in accordance with Part 3 of that Schedule.
Interpretation: “best available techniques”
3.—(1) For the purpose of these Regulations, “best available techniques” means the most effective and advanced stage in the development of activities and their methods of operation which indicates the practical suitability of particular techniques for providing in principle the basis for emission limit values designed to prevent and, where that is not practicable, generally to reduce emissions and the impact on the environment as a whole; and for the purpose of this definition—
(a)
(a) “available techniques” means those techniques which have been developed on a scale which allows implementation in the relevant industrial sector, under economically and technically viable conditions, taking into consideration the cost and advantages, whether or not the techniques are used or produced inside the United Kingdom, as long as they are reasonably accessible to the operator;
(b)
(b) “best” means, in relation to techniques, the most effective in achieving a high general level of protection of the environment as a whole;
(c)
(c) “techniques” includes both the technology used and the way in which the installation is designed, built, maintained, operated and decommissioned.
(2) Schedule 2 shall have effect in relation to the determination of best available techniques.
Fit and proper person
4.—(1) This regulation applies for the purpose of the discharge of any function under these Regulations which requires the regulator to determine whether a person is or is not a fit and proper person to carry out a specified waste management activity.
(2) Whether a person is or is not a fit and proper person to carry out a specified waste management activity shall be determined by reference to the fulfilment of the conditions of the permit which apply or will apply to the carrying out of that activity.
(3) Subject to paragraph (4), a person shall be treated as not being a fit and proper person if it appears to the regulator that—
(a)
(a) he or another relevant person has been convicted of a relevant offence;
(b)
(b) the management of the specified waste management activity which is or is to be carried out is not or will not be in the hands of a technically competent person; or
(c)
(c) the person who holds or is to hold the permit has not made and either has no intention of making or is in no position to make financial provision adequate to discharge the obligations arising from the permit in relation to the specified waste management activity.
(4) The regulator may, if it considers it proper to do so in any particular case, treat a person as a fit and proper person notwithstanding that paragraph (3)(a) applies in his case.
(5) For the purposes of paragraph (3)—
(a)
(a) “relevant offence” means an offence prescribed under section 74(6) of the Environmental Protection Act 19907for the purposes of section 74(3)(a) of that Act...
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