Environmental Permitting Regulations (EPR)
The Environmental Permitting Regulations 2007
The Environmental Permitting Regulations (EPR) were brought into force in April 2008. The Environmental Permitting Regime covers facilities previously regulated under the PPC Regulations and Waste Management Licensing and exemptions; it extends to England and Wales. Activities previously regulated under the PPC Regime will remain as Part A1, Part A2 or Part B, and will continue to be regulated by the Environment Agency (for Part A1 activities) or the local authority (for Part A2 and Part B activities).
The aims of the Regime are to:
- protect the environment;
- deliver permitting and compliance effectively and efficiently in a way that provides increased clarity and minimises the administrative burden on both the regulator and the operators of facilities;
- encourage regulators to promote best practice in the operation of regulated facilities; and
- continue to fully implement European legislation.
Operators will not have to apply for new permits. PPC Permits and Waste Management Licences will automatically be replaced by an Environmental Permit from 6th April 2008, although, for holders of existing PPC Permits, the replacement permit will not be issued immediately by the regulator. In the first instance, replacement permits will be issued to reflect changes at the Installation e.g. when an application for a variation to the existing PPC Permit is made.
There will be two basic permit types: “Standard” (for 27 low to medium risk waste activities) and “Bespoke” (for all other activities), which are analogous to PPC Permits.
In most respects, the Environmental Permitting Regime will be the same as the PPC Regime, although one of the main differences relates to site restoration. Under PPC, when the site ceased operation, the operator had to restore the site to the condition it was in at the time the PPC Permit application was made, whilst under EPR, the operator must restore the site “to the condition before the facility was put into operation”. There also somewhat more stringent requirements relating to operator competence.