Environmental legislation is changing all the time. Much of it originating from the European Union, but there is a great deal of national regulation as well. Most legal requirements fall into one of the following categories:
EU Regulations - Binding on all Member States in their entirety and •
directly applicable in law. Normally used for detailed and specific issues. EU Directives - These must be transferred into the national law of each •
Member State.
EU Decisions - Binding in their entirety, they may be addressed to a •
government, a private enterprise or an individual.
Acts of Parliament - Laws generated by the UK. They will include laws •
derived from EC Directives.
Regulations - Enabled by Acts of Parliament and made by Ministers. •
These are made by government ministers under rights, powers and duties which stem from Acts.
Orders - Give the force of law to enabling actions of Ministers. •
3.1.2 Northern Ireland Legislation
Within Northern Ireland, the Planning and Environmental Policy Group (PEPG) is the key department within the Department of the Environment (DoE), responsible for policy and legislation relating to environmental issues. It has set out a number of objectives which among others, include:
Develop Integrated and effective environmental policies and legislation •
Ensure the timely and effective transposition of EU Environmental •
Legislation
Promote sustainable development within Northern Ireland •
Working alongside devolved institutions in Wales and Scotland as well as other Northern Irish Agencies – particularly the NI Environment Agency, DoE PEPG has responsibilities covering issues as diverse as Waste, Climate Change, Biodiversity, Contaminated land and protection of Water Bodies.
3.1.3 Enforcement of Legislation in Northern Ireland
(see Appendix 5)
The main authority responsible for enforcing environmental legislation in Northern Ireland is the Northern Ireland Environment Agency. NIEA incorporates four directorates, three of which administer and enforce diverse sub-sectors of legislation. The four directorates are as follows:
Environmental Protection:
Water Management Unit •
Land and Resource Management Unit •
Industrial Pollution and Radiochemical Inspectorate •
Drinking Water Inspectorate •
Strategy Unit •
Built Heritage:
Protecting Historic Buildings •
Protecting Historic Monuments •
Recording Built Heritage •
Corporate Services:
Learning and Development • Finance • Co-ordination Unit • Information Technology • Corporate Communication • Freedom of Information • Natural Heritage: Conservation Science •
Conservation Designations and Protection •
Countryside and Coast •
Regional Operations •
Biodiversity •
Three of the key units responsible for regulation of NI organisations are as follows:
The Water Management Unit has responsibility for “the protection of the aquatic environment”. It carries out a variety of activities including: 1) Monitoring water quality
2) Controlling effluent discharges
3) Taking action to combat or minimise the effects of pollution.
The Land and Resource Management Unit is responsible for the
implementation of waste management policy. “Towards Resource Management” (NI’s current waste management strategy) reinforces the proposed activity as enshrined within the “Framework for waste prevention in Northern Ireland” to “encourage the implementation of Environmental Management Systems…”, stating that EMS’s “provide a systematic way of managing the environmental concerns of a business addressing immediate and long term impacts of all practices within an organisation”. The remit of LRM includes among others:
1) Waste Management Licensing
2) Control and Management of Hazardous Waste 3) Development of guidance for contaminated land 4) Management of land quality database
The Industrial Pollution and Radiochemical Inspectorate is the unit
responsible for the regulation of operators in Northern Ireland which fall under Part A and Part B of the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations and with responsibility relating to the controlled keeping, use and disposal of radioactive waste. Those operators which would fall under
only Part C of these regulations are regulated by the local District Council. The system of Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) applies an integrated environmental approach to the regulation of certain industrial activities. This means that emissions to air, water (including discharges to sewer) and land, plus a range of other environmental effects, must be considered together. It also means that the enforcing authority must set permit conditions so as to achieve a high level of protection for the environment as a whole. These conditions are based on the use of the ‘Best Available Techniques’ (BAT), which balances the costs to the operator against the benefits to the environment. IPPC aims to prevent emissions and waste production and where that is not practicable, reduce them to acceptable levels. IPPC also takes the integrated approach beyond the initial task of permitting, through to the restoration of sites when industrial activities cease.
In order to ensure a high level of environmental protection, effective management systems are considered useful tools. Under IPPC, some operators will apply environmental management systems at their
installations, certified to standards such as EMAS, ISO 14001:2004, BS8555 and Green Dragon, while a number of permitted organisations have informal (un-certified) management systems in place.
Across Northern Ireland, 82 Permits have already been determined for Part A and B processes, with a further 209 Permits pending. A full list of these can be seen in Appendix 4.
Along with the responsibilities of District Councils in regulating the impacts on the environment, NI Water Ltd holds some responsibility, particularly in the area of Trade Effluent Discharges. Since the 1st April 2007, NI Water took over from the Department of Regional Development’s Water Service. While still 100% Government owned, NI Water Ltd has now lost Crown Immunity. This has been important in ensuring the NI Water increases the quality of it’s own effluent discharges, whilst increasing the importance placed on the quality and quantity of effluent it will receive from domestic and commercial / industrial premises.
To date there is no reliable NI specific information on the level of compliance with legislation of companies with or without Environmental Management Systems. The next phase of this project for NIEA will provide data surrounding this compliance evaluation issue.