Regulating

As Scotland’s principal environmental regulator, SEPA's duties and legal powers are wide-ranging. We believe that well-designed and effective environmental legislation, when combined with other non-regulatory approaches, contributes to economic growth.

Legislation provides SEPA with a legal framework in which to operate, but effective regulation is about more than applying the letter of the law. Much of SEPA's business is dedicated to licensing and enforcement activity, including carrying out inspections, reviews, variations, and revocations of licences. SEPA aims to use the simplest and most efficient methods to apply and enforce the law. SEPA also aims to relate its enforcement actions to the degree of risk involved, giving consideration to alternative approaches to formal regulation. By making it clear to customers how they can comply with the law and giving guidance on the best environmental practice, we can ease the burden of regulation while ensuring the best outcomes for the environment, human health, the economy and wider society.

EC directives and international agreements

The Council of the European Communities agrees directives, which are then applied by each Member State in its country. 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 Government to issue an official direction to SEPA or any other body, specifying action to meet the directive's terms.

Numerous environmental directives have been issued over the years. You can find out more about the directives for air, land, radioactivity, waste and water in the appropriate section of this website.

Better regulation

SEPA supports the principles of good regulation. We wish to be a firm, fair and effective regulator, listening to businesses and the public, and continuously improving the services we provide. Our Vision for Regulation document sets out the way in which we would like to see regulation developed and implemented:

• SEPA's Vision for Regulation  (5.42mb)

SEPA is a member of the Network of Heads of European Environment Protection Agencies, who have produced a statement setting out the contribution that good environmental regulation can make to having a competitive economy:

• Prague Statement  (37k)

In 2006, SEPA organised an international conference about the costs and benefits of supporting regulatory actions. The pdf below is a collection of 11 papers written by international experts from Europe and the USA. The book provides an interesting overview on the ways to assess costs and benefits related to environmental regulation, and also on the remaining challenges. For more information, please email SEPA’s Environmental Economist, Jean Le Roux: jean.leroux@sepa.org.uk

• Economic appraisal of environmental regulation  (1.5mb)

Further reading

SEPA gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament Subordinate Legislation Committee's inquiry into Scotland's regulatory framework:

• The Scottish Parliament: Inquiry into the Regulatory Framework in Scotland

The Scottish Parliament European and External Relations Committee is currently conducting an inquiry into the transposition of European directives:

• The Scottish Parliament: Inquiry into the scrutiny of European legislation

• Better regulation and a healthy environment for growth and jobs (472k)
• Aldersgate website

The Better Regulation Executive (BRE) is part of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and leads this regulatory reform agenda across government:

• Department for business enterprise and regulatory reform: Better regulation page