UK Offence Report

The Landfill Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

Northern Ireland Statutory Rule 2003 No. 496 — creates 1 criminal offence.

1offences created
0recorded in force
0revoked
Made
1 December 2003
In force from
6 January 2004
Extent
Not stated
Subject
Health and safety, environment, waste and fisheries

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.) — published with the instrument by the department that made it. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

These Regulations set out a pollution control regime for landfills for the purpose of implementing Council Directive 99/31/EC on the landfill of waste (“the Landfill Directive”) in Northern Ireland. Landfills have recently been made subject to either the Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 (the 2003 Regulations) which implemented Council Directive 96/61/EC concerning Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (“the IPPC Directive”) and the Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003. Part 1 of the Regulations sets out the preliminary provisions. Regulation 3 sets out their scope (subject to the certain exceptions contained in regulation 4). Regulation 5 requires the Department’s Planning Service to take the location requirements of these Regulations into consideration when granting planning permission for landfills. Regulation 6 amends the 2003 Regulations so that all landfills covered by these Regulations are Part A installations for the purposes of those Regulations and therefore require a permit under those Regulations. The powers to set conditions in permits under the 2003 Regulations are disapplied for landfills as alternative powers are included in these Regulations. Part 2 deals with conditions to be included in landfill permits. Regulation 7 requires the Chief Inspector to classify landfills as for hazardous waste, non-hazardous waste or inert waste. Regulation 8 sets out the requirements for conditions to be incorporated in landfill permits. These include conditions for ensuring compliance by landfill operators with the relevant requirements of these Regulations which are set out in remaining regulations in this Part and Schedules 1 (Waste Acceptance Criteria), 2 (General Requirements for Landfill Monitoring) and 3 (Monitoring Procedures for Landfills). Regulation 16 provides for closure notices which may be used by the Chief Inspector to require closure of landfills. Part 3 contains miscellaneous provisions. Regulation 17 creates offences where waste is accepted contrary to the requirements which apply directly to landfill operators under paragraph 1(14), 3(3) and (5) of Schedule 4. Schedule 4 contains transitional provisions for existing landfills. It sets up a procedure for operators of landfills that will remain operational after the relevant date to bring their operations into compliance with the relevant requirements of these Regulations. Sites that cannot comply will be closed, while the remainder will be granted new permits in accordance with these Regulations as soon as possible within a transitional period up to 31st March 2007 for IPPC landfills and 16th July 2009 for non-IPPC landfills. Schedule 5 makes amendments to other subordinate legislation. Amendments are made to the 2003 Regulations and the Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 (which covers those landfills previously not subject to the 2003 Regulations) to deal with the introduction of the requirements of these Regulations. Amendments are also made to the “fit and proper person” test applied by regulation 4 of the 2003 Regulations relating to arrangements an operator has to have in place to ensure the landfill is properly managed and financed.

Offences created by this instrument

What Parliament said about it

Hansard was searched for this instrument by name and returned nothing. That is the ordinary outcome: an instrument laid under the negative procedure is usually never debated, and becomes law without a word said about it in either House.

How Parliament handled it

Parliament's Statutory Instruments service records procedure from May 2017 onwards, and this instrument predates it. That is a limit of the source, not a statement that nothing happened.

Check the source