IRISH ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION

These Regulations provide for the commencement and operation of authorisation by the Environmental Protection Agency of local authority waste water discharges. The Regulations require discharges from agglomerations with population equivalents greater than 500 to be licensed and set out procedures for the making of licence applications, reviews of licences and the making of submissions.  Discharges from agglomerations with a population equivalent below 500 are required to be certified by the EPA.  The Regulations also prescribe the dates by which specified classes of waste water discharges must have been the subject of a licence application or certification.

The Regulations impose obligations on persons who supply tyres to the Irish market, whether as retailers, importers or manufacturers and on persons who manage waste tyres. These Regulations are designed to maximise the reuse, recycling and recovery of waste tyres.

The purpose of these Regulations is to streamline the administration of the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste legislation in Ireland so as to provide a better and more consistent level of implementation generally. They provide for the designation of Dublin City Council as the sole competent authority responsible for the implementation of the Waste Shipments Regulation (EC) No. 1013/2006 in Ireland with effect from 12 July 2007. Prior to this Regulation, the competent authorities for exports of waste were 34 local authorities, with the competent authority for imports and movements through the State being the Environmental Protection Agency. The Regulations also revoke the Waste Management (Transfrontier Shipment of Waste) Regulations, 1998.

These Regulations amend Schedules 3, 4 and 7 to the European Communities(Classification, Packaging and Labelling of Dangerous Preparations) Regulations, 2004 (S.I. No. 62 of 2004) These Regulations transpose Commission Directive 2006/8/EC of 23 January 2006 which amends Annexes II, III and V to Directive 1999/45/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 May 1999 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous preparations. Directive1999/45/EC is transposed into Irish law by the 2004 Regulations (S.I. No 62 of 2004) [The Principal Regulations].

The aim of these Regulations is to protect human health and the environment from the harmful effects of dangerous preparations. The Regulations require each manufacturer, importer or distributor of a dangerous preparation to classify and label it according to its inherent hazards and to provide safety data sheets.

The Regulations introduce a number of amendments to the Principal Regulations as follows:

(i) The classification of preparations containing Carcinogens, Mutagens and Reprotoxins (CMRs) is amended so that, where previously a preparation [76] 13 would have to be classified and labelled with both Category 1 or 2 and Category 3 R-phrases, they will now only be classified and labelled with the highest relevant category. This is to prevent conflicting messages on labels for users.

(ii) The classification of preparations containing substances classified as very toxic to the aquatic environment is amended, to resolve differences in the way that substances with specific concentration limits in Annex I to Directive 67/548/EEC on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances are classified compared to self-classified substances.

(iii) Changes are introduced to classifications for preparations containing substances dangerous to the ozone layer in that the symbol "N" is now required for substances classified as "R59 (Dangerous for the ozone layer)".

(iv) The terminology in Schedule 7 to the Principal Regulations regarding "Special Provisions Concerning the Labelling of Certain Preparations" is replaced to make it more consistent and accurate. Schedules A and B to these Regulations amend Schedule 3 to the European Communities (Classification, Packaging and Labelling of Dangerous Preparations) Regulations 2004 (S.I. No. 62 of 2004); Schedules C, D and E to these Regulations amend Schedule 4 to the 2004 Regulations and Schedule F to these Regulations sets out a replacement Schedule 7 to the 2004 Regulations. These Regulations come into operation on 1 March 2007.

These Regulations amend the Waste Management (Environmental Levy) (Plastic Bag) Regulations, 2001. These Regulations provide for an increase in the amount of the levy on plastic bags from 15 cent to 22 cent per bag with effect from 1 July, 2007

This Order amends section 72(3) of the Waste Management Act 1996 as inserted by section 9 of the Waste Management (Amendment) Act 2001 and provides that the amount of the plastic bag levy shall not exceed 22 cent.

These Regulations provide for the fluoridation of public water supplies by sanitary authorities on behalf of the Health Service Executive. These Regulations may be cited as the Fluoridation of Water Supplies Regulations 2007

An Act To Provide, In The Interests Of The Common Good, For The Provision Of Water Services; To Give Effect To Certain Acts Adopted By Institutions Of The European Communities In Respect Of Those Services And, In Addition, To Make Provision For Miscellaneous Amendments To The Local Government (Water Pollution) Acts 1977 And 1990 And The Fisheries (Consolidation) Act 1959 And The Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 And Certain Other Enactments Relating Generally To The Provision Of Water Services And To Provide For Related Matters.