Simplifi June News letter

Dear Simplifi User,

Please find our newsletter covering legislation published during June.

New legislation

Animal Health.

SI 2018/731. The Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (England) Regulations 2018. Comes into force 19^th July. These Regulations, which apply in England, revoke and remake with amendments the Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (England) Regulations 2010 (SI 2010/801). These Regulations enforce Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.

Environment

SSI 2018/192.  The Regulatory Reform (Specification of Basic Safety Standards Directive) (Scotland) Order 2018.  Comes into force 27^th June. This Order allows for the transposition of Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom, which lays down basic safety standards for protection against the dangers arising from exposure to ionising radiation and repeals Directives 89/618/Euratom, 90/641/Euratom, 96/29/Euratom, 97/43/Euratom and 2003/122/Euratom.

Amending legislation

Energy

SI 2018/635. The Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme and Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2018. Coming into force 20^th June. These Regulations amend the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme Regulations (SI 2014/928) and the Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme Regulations 2018 (SI 2018/611).  The amendment to SI 2014/928 allows a participant in the domestic RHI scheme to assign their right to receive RHI payments to a third-party investor.  The amendment to SI 2018/611 makes various changes to the non-domestic RHI scheme with particular reference to registration process for biomethane producers.

Environment

SI 2018/695.  The Town and Country Planning and Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Amendment) Regulations 2018.  Comes into force 1^st October. These Regulations make minor amendments to the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 (S.I. 2017/571), the Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulation 2017 (S.I. 2017/572), the Town and Country, the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (S.I. 2015/596) and the Town and Country Planning (Brownfield Land Register) Regulations 2017 (S.I. 2017/403).

Waste

WSI 2018/721.  The Hazardous Waste (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2018. Comes into force 5^th July.  These Regulations amend legislation which refers to Directive 2008/98/EC on waste.  The very minor amendments, as regards the hazardous property HP 14 ‘Ecotoxic’, are made to Environmental Protection Act 1990, Hazardous Waste (Wales) Regulations 2005 (WSI 2005/1806), Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/871), Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 (SI 2011/988) and Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 (SI 2016/1154).

Water.

SI 2018/706. The Water Supply (Water Quality) (Amendment) Regulations 2018. Comes into force 11^th July.  These Regulations amend the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2016 (SI 2016/614). The amendments principally implement the requirements of Commission Directive (EU) 2015/1787 which amended Council Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption. The purpose of those amendments is to align the principles applying in the EU in respect of risk based sampling and analysis of drinking water with those of the World Health Organisation.

SI 2018/707. The Private Water Supplies (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2018. Comes into force 11^th July.  These Regulations amend the Private Water Supplies (England) Regulations 2016 (SI 2016/618). The amendments principally implement the requirements of Commission Directive (EU) 2015/1787 (OJ L 260, 7.10.2015, p.6) which amended Council Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption.

Revocation

SI 2018/739. The Environment and Rural Affairs (Miscellaneous Revocations) Order 2018. Comes into force 11^th July.  This Order revokes:

1530. SI 1986/1530. The Milk Quota (Calculation of Standard Quota) Order 1986 and amendments.
1531. SI 1974/514. The Agricultural Wages Committees (Transitional Provisions) Order 1974
1532. SI 1979/1703. The Importation of Hay and Straw Order 1979.
1533. SI 1996/3062. The Code of Practice on Environmental Procedures for Flood Defence Operating Authorities (Internal Drainage Boards and Local Authorities) Approval Order 1996

EU legislation

EU 2018/782. Commission Regulation EU 2018/782 establishing the methodological principles for the risk assessment and risk management recommendations referred to in Regulation (EC) No 470/2009.  Comes into force 18^th June.  Regulation (EC) No 470/2009 lays down Community procedures for the establishment of residue limits of pharmacologically active substances in foodstuffs of animal origin. This Regulation sets out the methodological principles for the scientific risk assessment and risk management recommendations referred to in Articles 6 and 7 of that Regulation that shall be applied by the European Medicines Agency when preparing opinions on the MRLs of pharmacologically active substances which may be permitted in food of animal origin under that Regulation.

EU 2018/841.  Regulation EU 2018/841 on the inclusion of greenhouse gas emissions and removals from land use, land use change and forestry in the 2030 climate and energy framework, and amending Regulation (EU) No 525/2013 and Decision No 529/2013/EU. Comes into force 20^th June. This Regulation applies to emissions and removals of the greenhouse gases listed in Section A of Annex I that occur in any of the land in accounting categories; afforested and de-afforested land, managed crop and grass land and managed forest land on the territories of Member States.

Eire legislation

RI 2018/197. European Communities (Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment) (amendment) Regulations 2018. Comes into force 3^rd July.  Amends Regulations 2, 10 1(f), 52, 53 and 56 of European Communities (Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment) Regulations 2011 (RI 2011/349).

Consultations                                                    

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is consulting on proposals to amend environmental impact assessment regulations that apply to decommissioning of nuclear reactors. Consultation closes 20^th June. The Nuclear Reactors (Environmental Impact Assessment for Decommissioning) Regulations (SI 1999/2892) require all civil nuclear reactor dismantling and decommissioning projects to obtain consent before being allowed to commence. This ensures that projects likely to have significant effect on the environment take due measures to protect and reduce their environmental impact. This consultation invites comments on proposals for implementing amendments of the European Union Directive on environmental impact assessments in so far as the Directive applies to consent for nuclear reactor decommissioning projects in the UK under the Nuclear Reactors (Environmental Impact Assessment for Decommissioning) Regulations. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/environmental-impact-assessment-nuclear-decommissioning-regulations

The MCA (Marine and Coastguard Agency) is consulting on the recasting the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Oil Pollution) Regulations. (SI 1996/2154).  Consultation closes 29^th July.  The purpose is to bring up to date the UK’s transposition of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) International Convention for the Prevention of Oil Pollution from Ships (MARPOL Annex I) into domestic law. At the same time, it is proposed that they will introduce Ambulatory Reference with the Regulations to incorporate any future amendments to the technical aspects of the Convention (the detail which is of a more technical nature) of MARPOL Annex I into UK law by reference on an ongoing basis, instead of transposing it provision by provision. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-recasting-the-merchant-shipping-prevention-of-oil-pollution-regulations

Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy is consulting on widening the eligibility for energy intensive industries for exemption from the indirect costs of the renewable electricity support schemes.  Consultation closes 7^th September. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/widening-eligibility-for-renewable-electricity-cost-relief-schemes. Consultation covers aspects such as:

• whether there is evidence of potential competitive distortions as a result of the current eligibility threshold for the renewable electricity cost exemption schemes
• to what percentage should the current threshold of 20% electricity intensity be lowered – 17%, 15% or 10% – in order to address the distortions
• if the threshold is lowered, how should the cost on non-eligible consumers be minimised
• how should money recovered from over-exempted EIIs be redistributed
• how operation of the exemption schemes might be improved.

Prosecutions of note.

A Northamptonshire construction company has been fined £566,670 and ordered to pay costs of £9,000 after a tipper vehicle driven by one of its employees came into contact with overhead power lines (OPLs) during the construction of a waste transfer station.  The company had identified the need for protection structures but after an initial delay only one was installed. In order to empty the final remains of the load from his vehicle, the driver pulled forward with the body raised and the vehicle touched, or came close to touching, the 33KV OPL. The tipper vehicle suffered minor damage but the driver was unhurt.  An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) showed that the risks from OPLs should have been assessed more rigorously and that a thorough assessment of the system of work, reduce the risk of tipper vehicles striking an OPL, would have shown it to be inadequate.

A luxury yacht building company has been fined £167,000 and ordered to pay costs of £7,000 and a victim surcharge of £120 following an incident in which an engineer lost consciousness after being struck on the back of the head by a solid metal bracket.  The engineer was working under the hull of a twenty-six metre long yacht adjusting the height of a prop when the bracket came free. The engineer suffered a large laceration to the top of his head and lost consciousness. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident, which occurred on 28 January 2016, found that the company failed to provide a safe system of work to ensure safety during the task of realigning the brackets on the hull of the yacht.

A London waste paper company has been sentenced fined £250,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,639.77 and a victim surcharge of £170 after an employee was found dead, having suffered fatal crush injuries, inside the compaction chamber of a baling machine. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident, which occurred on 27 March 2017, found the worker had fallen down the loading hopper into the compaction chamber of a baling machine. It is thought that he had been attempting to clear a blockage and that his fall into the chamber initiated the compaction sequence. Climbing up a baler to clear machine blockages exposes workers to the risk of falling a significant distance either into the compaction chamber or the surrounding concrete floor.

A national utilities company was fined £500,000 and ordered to pay costs of £195,000 after the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that workers at the company were exposed to hand-arm vibration between 2002 and 2011 which put them at risk of developing Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS). An investigation carried out by HSE found that the company failed in its legal duty to ensure the risks to workers who used these tools was kept to as low a level as reasonably practicable. The company also failed to report to the enforcing authorities a significant number of cases of employees diagnosed with HAVS as was legally required

In the News

HSE report that they have withdrawn five of their Diving Information Sheets (DVIS).  These are: Sheet 1; General diving hazards, Sheet 2; Diving system winches, Sheet 3; Breathing gas management, Sheet 4; Compression chambers and Sheet 6; Maintenance of diving bell hoist ropes.  DVIS Number 5, 7, 9, have been significantly updated in consultation with industry.  DVIS 12, 13, 14, incorporate minor updates to align with the current version of the ACoPs. DVIS 11; Diving cylinders: Guidance on their manufacture, inspection and carriage is currently under review.