| Guvnor

What this means for your business

11 obligations

5 penalties

5 can imprison

68 guides

Enforced by: Environment Agency, DEFRA, NRW
Applies to: United Kingdom
On this page: 11 compliance obligations, 68 practical guides across 4 topics

Read full text on legislation.gov.uk

What you must do

11 compliance obligations under this legislation — 5 can result in imprisonment.

Management duties 2

If the Environment Agency (or the relevant regulator in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland) decides to revoke your environmental permit – either wholly or partly – they must give you at least 20 working days' notice. You must stop the revoked activity by the date set in that notice and follow any new or changed conditions that come with the revocation.

Any Person s.22 NRW Receipt of a revocation notice from the environmental regulator

If your business runs a plant, waste facility, or other operation listed in Schedules 7 to 25B and that activity needs an environmental permit, you must secure the permit and follow every condition set out in the relevant schedule. In practice this means checking whether your activity is listed, applying for the permit, and keeping up with any monitoring, reporting or control measures required.

Occupier s.35 NRW Your business operates a regulated facility described in Schedules 7‑25B that requires …

Notifications 3

If your business holds an environmental permit for activities such as a Part B installation, mobile plant, solvent emissions, or the listed water, flood‑risk or combustion plant activities, you can give up (surrender) part or all of that permit. You must send the regulator a completed notification form that states the surrender date, and that date must be at least 20 working days after you give notice (or later if a specific flood‑risk completion date applies). The permit will stop on the date you set unless the regulator issues a variation that pushes the date back.

Any Person s.24 NRW When you intend to surrender all or part of an environmental permit …

If you are the personal representative of a sole operator who held an environmental permit and that operator dies, you must tell the relevant regulator (Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, SEPA or NIEA) as soon as practicable that the permit has passed to you. You also need to arrange for the permit to be transferred, or submit an application to transfer it, within six months of the death or the permit will automatically cease.

Any Person s.71 NRW Death of a sole individual who holds an environmental permit

When the regulator decides your information can be treated as confidential, it will automatically stop being confidential after up to four years (or a shorter period set in that decision). If you still want the information to stay confidential, you must give the regulator a notice before that period ends. The regulator will then treat your notice as an objection and continue to keep the information confidential.

Any Person s.55 NRW If you want the information to remain confidential beyond the regulator’s expiry …

Other requirements 1

If the environment regulator decides that information you hold should be kept confidential, you must let them know within 15 working days that you want to appeal. Your appeal must be in writing, explain why you’re appealing and say whether you want a hearing or to rely on written submissions. Until the appeal is decided, the regulator cannot publish the information on the public register.

Any Person s.53 NRW When a regulator makes a confidentiality determination under regulation 50

Payments and fees 2

If your business needs an environmental permit – whether you are applying for a new one, changing an existing permit, transferring it, surrendering it, or simply keeping it active – you must pay the fees set by the local authority’s fee scheme. Failure to pay can lead to the regulator suspending or revoking your permit, which could stop your operations.

Any Person s.66 NRW When you apply for, vary, transfer, surrender or maintain an environmental permit

If the Environment Agency (or the relevant regulator in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland) decides there is a serious risk of pollution from your plant, or suspects you have caused pollution, it can order actions to stop the risk or fix the damage. The regulator must give you at least five working days’ notice and can recover the cost of those actions from you, unless you can show there was no real risk or the costs were unnecessary.

Any Person s.57 NRW When the regulator identifies a risk of serious pollution or suspects a …

Offences and prohibitions 2

If your company breaches any of the Environmental Permitting Regulations and an officer (such as a director, manager or chief executive) either gave consent, turned a blind eye, or was negligent, that officer is also guilty of the offence. The officer can be prosecuted and punished in the same way as the company itself.

Director/Officer s.41 NRW

If you break regulation 12(1) – for example by carrying out an activity that the regulation says you must not – or if you knowingly allow someone else to break it, you commit an offence. A conviction can lead to an unlimited fine and/or imprisonment, depending on how the court decides.

Any Person s.38 NRW

Reporting and filing 1

If the regulator tells you they think the information you supplied may be confidential, you must reply within 15 working days. You can either agree to have it placed on the public register or formally object to its disclosure.

Any Person s.49 NRW You receive a notice from the regulator that your information may be …