Legislation

7th October 2019

Water company fined £146,000

A Midlands utilities company was fined £146,000 and ordered to pay £10,676 in costs for polluting a Northamptonshire brook with sewage. The pollution was caused by various failures at a sewage pumping station. A lack of maintenance resulted in the pumps stopping pumping after they became air-locked, causing sewage to back up in a storage tank. This then overflowed into the nearby brook. Alarms which should have alerted staff to the problem failed to sound.

3rd October 2019

SI 2019/12909

SI 2019/1290. The Pesticides (Amendment) Regulations 2019.  Comes into force on 31st October. These Regulations amend references in The Control of Pesticides Regulations 1986 (SI 1986/1510), The Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (Solway Tweed River Basin District) Regulations 2004 (SSI 2004/99),  The Plant Protection Products Regulations 2011 (SI 2011/2313),  The Plant Protection Products (Sustainable Use) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/1657) and The Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) Regulations 2017 (SI 2017/407) to Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 on the placing of plant protection products on the market resulting from amendment of that Regulation by Regulation (EU) 2019/1009.

2nd October 2019

Three EU Regulations

EU 2019/521.  Regulation EU 2019/521 amending, for the purposes of its adaptation to technical and scientific progress Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures.  Came into force 27th March.  The amendment has results from changes made in the sixth and seventh revised editions of the GHS (Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals). Of particular note is the introduction in the GHS of new hazard class for desensitised explosives and a new hazard category, pyrophoric gases, within the hazard class flammable gases.

EU 2019/1021.  Regulation EU 2019/1021 on persistent organic pollutants.  Came into force 12th August.  This Regulation replaces and revokes Regulation (EC) No 850/2004.  EC 850/2004 has been substantially amended several times. Because of the need to make further amendments that Regulation has been recast in the interests of clarity.

EU 2019/1148. Regulation (EU) 2019/1148 on the marketing and use of explosives precursors, amending Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 98/2013.  Came into force 20th July.  This Regulation establishes harmonised rules on the making available, introduction, possession and use of substances or mixtures that could be misused for the illicit manufacture of explosives, with a view to limiting the availability of those substances or mixtures to members of the general public, and with a view to ensuring the appropriate reporting of suspicious transactions throughout the supply chain.