Information about Primary UK & European Legislation can be found here


EC directives and international agreements

Directives are agreed by the Council of the European Communities. Each member state is then obliged to give effect to them on a statutory basis. In Scotland this may be done either through regulations made under the European Communities Act, or under any other empowering primary legislation, such as the Environment Act 1995. A further option is for the Scottish Executive to issue an official direction to SEPA, or any other body, specifying action to be taken to meet the directive's terms.

There have been numerous environmental directives issued over the years, some of them highly technical, and they can only briefly be summarised. The titles used here are often abbreviated. Many of the directives have a requirement for periodical reporting to the European Commission.



Water

Perhaps the best known is the Bathing Waters Directive which, amongst other items, sets limits on indicator bacteria concentrations in seawater at the 60 identified bathing waters in Scotland.

The Shellfish Waters Directive is intended to protect coastal waters in order to support shellfish.

The Dangerous Substances and its 'daughter' Directives set concentration limits in fresh and marine waters for trace metal and trace organic substances. The more hazardous and persistent are known as List I (e.g. hexachlorobutadiene, chloroform, cadmium) and the less serious are known as List II (e.g. zinc, lead).

The Nitrates Directive is intended to control the pollution of controlled waters by excess use of fertilisers on agricultural land and the Freshwater Fisheries Directive requires compliance with certain standards to protect waters designated to support healthy fish populations.

The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive sets out timetables for the implementation of appropriate treatment for sewage discharges which, for example, would require secondary treatment for all sizeable communities unless the discharge is to highly dispersive receiving waters. It also specifies quite demanding regulation in terms of sampling and analysis.

The Directive on the Exchange of Information on the Quality of Surface Freshwaters set up a monitoring programme with annual reporting on a suite of parameters. In Scotland there are sites on the Rivers Spey, Almond and Leven.

The Protection of Groundwater Directive is intended to prevent pollution of groundwater by List I and List II substances.

Following the second and third North Sea Conferences, the UK undertook to monitor for Red List substances (e.g. pentachlorophenol, mercury) and to reduce their release to the aqueous environment by prescribed amounts, generally 50%, over a 10-year period relative to a 1985 baseline. The Paris Convention (PARCOM) agreement requires annual loadings to be quantified from all sources, including rivers and discharges, for a range of parameters including, for example, nitrogen and phosphorus.



Air

The Large Combustion Plants Directive sets out a monitoring plan for all plants of greater than 50MW capacity and sets emission limits for sulphur dioxide (SO₂) and oxides of nitrogen (NO_x). It also demands a programme of improvements by year 2003 which will result in 60% and 30% reductions in SO₂ and NO_x over a 1980 baseline.

The Sulphur Content Directive limits the concentration of sulphur compounds allowed in diesel fuel and gas oils in order to reduce air pollution.

The Directive on Combating Air Pollution from Industrial Plants enshrines the BATNEEC principle in relation to major industrial plants (e.g. asbestos, glass fibre manufacturers, steel plants, power stations) and the intention that pollution should be minimised for a specific range of substances (e.g. hydrocarbons, heavy metals, chlorine).

The Municipal Waste-incineration Plants Directive provides limit values for gaseous temperatures and dust content and carbon monoxide concentrations in the emission.

The Sulphur Dioxide and Suspended Particulates Directive prescribes sampling and analysis methodologies and sets limit and guideline values for atmospheric concentrations. Similar requirements are made under the Nitrogen Dioxide Directive, the Ozone and the Lead Directives.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) also publishes guideline values for acceptable atmospheric concentrations of ozone, radon, lead, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and particulates.

The first stage of the recent Petrol Vapour Recovery Directive was implemented on 31 December 1995. By 1999 nearly all new and existing petrol filling stations will require to minimise the vapours escaping during handling of vehicle fuels.



Waste

The Framework Directive on Waste imposes a requirement for competent authorities to be established for the planning, organisation, authorisation and supervision of waste disposal operations and also requires them to prepare disposal plans. The Amendment reinforces the need for waste minimisation, for disposal to be locally provided, and for adequate process control.

The Hazardous Waste Directive which requires storage, treatment and disposal facilities only to be operated under a permit scheme, is put into force in the UK by the Special Waste Regulations 1996. Such waste is defined in the Directive and must be accompanied by appropriate documentation during transport. The Directive insists that the disposal of such waste must be identified and recorded and separated from other wastes. Hazardous wastes are defined by a lengthy list including substances (e.g. pigments, resins, biocides, etc.), constituents (eg cadmium, phenols, ethers, etc.) and properties (eg flammable, toxic, mutagenic, etc.).

The Disposal of Waste Oils Directive requires the registration of collectors, promotes regeneration, prohibits discharge to water and soil, and sets emission limits on disposal by combustion.

The Council legislation on the supervision and control of shipments within, into and out of the European Community requires Member States to ratify all transfrontier shipments of waste. The waste may only be moved when consent has been given by the competent authorities using a system of consignment notes, which are prescribed in detail. Waste must also be properly packed and labelled. The Regulation also restricts the countries from which or to which waste can be transported. These countries must have suitable arrangements for the control of waste. Green, amber and red lists of wastes are provided in the Regulation, each requiring different standards of control during movement. These lists only apply to wastes destined for recovery.



Radioactivity

The Directive on the Health Protection of the General Public against the Dangers of Ionising Radiation sets thresholds above which member states must implement systems of reporting and authorising the production, handling, use, holding, storage, transport and disposal of radioactive substances. Dose limits are set for a range of exposed workers and for the public, and some management practices are specified.

Both the Supervision and Control of Shipments of Radioactive Waste and the Shipments of Radioactive Substances Directives stipulate standard documents which the competent authorities will use to seek authorisation, on behalf of an operator, for movement through and to other countries and with which they will compile records and inventories.



General

The Directive on Freedom of Access to Information on the Environment places a duty on regulatory authorities in general to make all information available to the public. There are relatively few exceptions listed.

The Standardised Reporting Directive provides a scheme to simplify and improve on the reporting requirements to the Commission under various environmental Directives.