The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is consulting on linking compliance directly to the calculation of charges, a move that will see non-compliant operators pay more.
Proposals that aim to help to further develop permit charging and assessing environmental compliance have been published by SEPA in two consultations for public feedback.
SEPA’s Charging Scheme and Compliance Assessment Scheme consultations will consult on changes to the way it calculates charges imposed on permits to cover the costs of SEPA’s regulatory work and consult on the methods used to assess the level of compliance with permit conditions.
Both consultations aim to “build on the strengths of the current systems, by providing a greater focus on potential harm to the environment, health and wellbeing, and follow on from an initial round of consultation feedback in 2015,” according to SEPA.
“Compliance with environmental responsibilities is not optional and the most successful businesses in the 21st century will embed the importance of compliance at the core of their operations and, ultimately, enjoy the profitability that comes with it.”
For the first time, it is proposed to link compliance directly to the calculation of charges and as a result non-compliant operators will experience an increase in fees which reflects the additional effort required to regulate these permits.
The proposals, outlined within each consultation, support the delivery of SEPA’s Regulatory Strategy, One Planet Prosperity, which seeks to create an environmental regulatory system which is suited to the challenges of the 21st Century.
SEPA’s Director of Operations, Calum MacDonald, said: “The proposals published in today’s consultations further develop our systems for calculating charges for permits and for assessing operators’ compliance with permit conditions.
“Compliance with environmental responsibilities is not optional and the most successful businesses in the 21st century will embed the importance of compliance at the core of their operations and, ultimately, enjoy the profitability that comes with it.”
Each consultation will remain open to the public until 3 November, 2017, following which all responses will be thoroughly considered prior to the Compliance Assessment Scheme taking effect from the 1 January 2018, and the new Charging Scheme from 1st April 2018, subject to approval by Scottish Ministers.
For full details of both consultations, please visit the following pages on SEPA’s Citizen Space consultation hub:
