Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016—enforcement, offences and civil sanctions

Produced in partnership with Craig Burman of Schofield Sweeney

Practice notes

Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016—enforcement, offences and civil sanctions

Produced in partnership with Craig Burman of Schofield Sweeney

Practice notes

Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016

On 1 January 2017, the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 (EPR 2016), SI 2016/1154 came into force. The EPR 2016 consolidated and revoked the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 (EPR 2010), SI 2010/675 which had been amended on numerous occasions. The EPR 2016 is the principle legislation governing the environmental permitting and compliance regime which applies to various activities and industries.

The Environment Agency (EA) is the main enforcing body in England for the permitting regime, and NRW in Wales. The EA has set out its enforcement and sanctions Policy which explains the regulatory and penalty principles that are upheld, the enforcement and sanction options available and how enforcement decisions are made.

For more information on EPR 2016, see Practice Notes: Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016—permit determinations and appeals and Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016—permits, applications and exemptions.

Enforcement

The EPR 2016 provide a number of enforcement tools that regulators can use to require operators to comply with their permits and avoid

Craig Burman

Schofield Sweeney

Craig is a director and head of Schofield Sweeney’s Environmental and Regulatory team. He qualified as a barrister and solicitor in New Zealand and practiced in a broad mixture of contentious litigation matters before moving to the UK in 2001.

Between 2008 and 2015 Craig worked in house at the Environment Agency, including as Principal Solicitor for Enforcement and Prosecutions (Yorkshire and North East), and then Regional Solicitor (Yorkshire and North East), before being appointed as the Senior Managing Lawyer of the national Enforcement and Prosecutions team.

Craig advises on a wide range of contentious and non-contentious environmental matters including waste, water pollution, air pollution, packaging waste, environmental permit compliance, fisheries offences, noise and odour, drainage and flooding, contaminated land, REACH compliance, fracking and agricultural matters. Craig advises on a wide range of other regulatory compliance matters and acts for a number of Internal Drainage Boards and local authorities.

Jurisdiction(s):

United Kingdom

Key definition:

Environmental permit definition

What does Environmental permit mean?

Subject to certain exemptions, an operator requires an Environmental Permit in order to operate a regulated facility, such as a waste management facility, or to discharge to surface water or foul water, or to abstract water from controlled waters.

Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016—enforcement, offences and civil sanctions

Produced in partnership with Craig Burman of Schofield Sweeney

Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016—enforcement, offences and civil sanctions

Produced in partnership with Craig Burman of Schofield Sweeney