IRISH ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION

The purpose of these Regulations is to transpose into Irish law Directive 2001/42/EC of 27 June 2001 (O.J. No. L197, 21 July 2001) on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment — commonly known as the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive — insofar as the Directive relates to land-use planning.

The Regulations relate to consideration of the likely significant effects on the environment of a development plan, a variation of a development plan, a local area plan (or an amendment thereto), regional planning guidelines or a planning scheme in respect of a strategic development zone.

The Regulations shall come into operation on 21 July 2004.

1 These effects should include secondary, cumulative, synergistic, short, medium and long-term, permanent and temporary, positive and negative effects.

The purpose of these Regulations is to transpose into Irish law Directive 2001/42/EC of 27 June 2001 (O.J. No. L 197, 21 July 2001) on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment — commonly known as the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive.

The Regulations cover plans and programmes in all of the sectors listed in article 3(2) of the Directive except land-use planning. The only land-use plan which will be covered by these Regulations is the review of the master plan for the Dublin Docklands area under the Dublin Docklands Development Authority Act 1997 . These Regulations also amend certain provisions of the Planning and Development Act 2000 to provide the statutory basis for the transposition of the Directive in respect of land-use planning. (Transposition in respect of the land-use planning sector is contained in the Planning and Development (Strategic Environmental Assessment) Regulations 2004 ( S.I. No. 436 of 2004 )).

These Regulations come into operation on the date of their signing and will, in the main, apply to plans and programmes (or modifications thereto) whose first formal preparatory act occurs on or after 21 July 2004.

1 These effects should include secondary, cumulative, synergistic, short, medium and long-term, permanent and temporary, positive and negative effects.

These Regulations amend the Environmental Protection Agency (Licensing Fees) Regulations 1994 ( S.I. No. 130 of 1994 ), as amended by the Environmental Protection Agency (Licensing Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 1996 ( S.I. No. 239 of 1996 ) by

• amending the definitions of "large activity" and "small activity" in the interpretation of the Regulations, and
• setting fees for—
? applications to the Environmental Protection Agency in respect of transfer or surrender of licences or revised licences, and
? requests to the Agency to hold oral hearings of objections to proposed determinations of applications for licences or revised licences.

These Regulations provide for the continued operation of the system of licensing by the Environmental Protection Agency of waste recovery and disposal activities under Part V of the Waste Management Act, 1996 . The Regulations set out procedures for the making of waste licence applications, reviews of licences and consideration by the Agency of objections, including the holding of oral hearings.

These Regulations also provide for the licensing of mobile plant used for the recovery and disposal of waste at more than one site.

The Waste Management (Licensing) Regulations 2000 (save for articles 3 and 4 and the First Schedule), Waste Management (Licensing)(Amendment) Regulations 2001, Waste Management (Licensing)(Amendment) Regulations 2002 and European Communities (Amendment of Waste Management (Licensing) Regulations 2000) Regulations 2002 are revoked.

The principal purpose of these Regulations is to amend the Environmental Protection Agency (Licensing) Regulations 1994 for the purpose of ensuring that the integrated licensing system operated by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 (as amended by the Protection of the Environment Act 2003 ) complies in all respects with the provisions of Council Directive 96/61/EC concerning integrated pollution prevention and control.

In particular, the Regulations amend and extend the range of documentation that must accompany an application for a licence; extend the powers of the Environmental Protection Agency to decline to process licence applications where the applicant fails to provide additional information within specified timescales; update the range of bodies that the Agency must give notifications to; replace a requirement on the Agency to maintain and publish lists of proposed determinations and decisions by clear requirements to advertise the making of such determinations and decisions; and require the Agency to have regard to specified polluting substances when specifying emission limit values.

Furthermore, the Regulations prescribe offences for the purposes of the Agency making decisions on whether an applicant is a fit and proper person (as defined in the Act) to hold a licence and define a relevant person in the case of companies etc. for the purposes of the fit and proper person requirement.

The Regulations also require the Agency to publish, every four years, their report on the State of the Environment. While the Agency currently publishes the report on a four year cycle, the Regulations give legal effect to the current practice and are a first step towards transposing into Irish law Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on public access to environmental information and repealing Council Directive 90/313/EEC.

1 OJ No. L226, 06.09.2000, p. 3.

2 OJ No. L20, 26.01.1980, p. 43.

3 OJ No. L257, 10.10.1996, p. 26.

This Order brings into effect specified provisions of the 2003 Act with effect from 12 July 2004 for the purposes of ensuring that the licensing systems operated by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 and the Waste Management Act 1996 comply in all respects with the provisions of Council Directive 96/61/EC concerning integrated pollution prevention and control.

In commencing the relevant provisions, the Order inter alia:
• changes the technical basis of the licensing systems from best available technology not entailing excessive costs (BATNEEC) to best available techniques (BAT),
• gives explicit recognition to emission limits values as the operational basis for licensing,
• places increased emphasis on energy efficiency in the carrying on of operations.

In relation to integrated licensing under the 1992 Acts, the Order extends the scope of licensing for the purpose of fully implementing the Directive. In addition, it provides that, for established activities (generally those in operation on 29 October 1999, the relevant date for the purposes of the Directive), IPPC licensing will be phased in over the period to 2007. For new activities, IPPC licensing will generally apply from the date specified in the Order.

The Order introduces a requirement on planning authorities and An Bord Pleanála to ensure, through the planning system, that appropriate arrangements are made within developments for waste management and recycling. It also places an obligation on landfill operators to impose charges which will be not less than the cost of the acquisition, development, operation and restoration, remediation or aftercare of the facility.

The commencement also enables the introduction of a producer responsibility initiative in relation to the recovery of end of life vehicles in accordance with the European Parliament and Council Directive 2000/53/EC.

Finally, the Order commences the provisions of section 16 of the Act which provides a statutory basis for the implementation in full of the Groundwater Directive (Council Directive 80/68/EEC).

 

These Regulations amend the Air Pollution Act 1987 (Environmental Specifications for Petrol and Diesel Fuels) Regulations 2003 which, in turn, transpose Directive 2003/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 March 2003 amending Directive 98/79/EC relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuels.

The amendment extends the powers of prosecution of breaches of the environmental specifications of petrol and diesel fuels by officers of the Revenue Commissioners in time not alone from 1 January 2005 when new standards will apply with regard to the sulphur content of such fuels but to breaches of the existing specifications from the entry into force of these Regulations on 10th May 2004.

1 O.J. No. L 350/58 of 28 December 1998

2 O.J. No. L 76/10 of 22 March 2003

These Regulations revoke the Environmental Protection Agency (Selection Procedures) Regulations, 1992, ( S.I. No. 215 of 1992 ), the Environmental Protection Agency (Selection Procedures) (Amendment) Regulations 2002, ( S.I. No. 15 of 2002 ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (Selection Procedures) (Amendment) Regulations 2003 ( S.I. No. 91 of 2003 ) to set out the procedures to be adopted by the committee which has been established to select candidates for appointment to be the Director General or director of the Environmental Protection Agency and deal with related matters.