The Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012

Interpretation: general

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“abatement equipment” means, in relation to solvent emission activities, equipment used to abate the effects of emissions of volatile organic compounds,

“baseline report” means a report as described in paragraph 1(3) of Schedule 4,

“battery” means any source of electrical energy generated by direct conversion of chemical energy and consisting of one or more primary battery cells (non-rechargeable) or one or more secondary battery cells (rechargeable; an accumulator), but does not include any battery excluded from the scope of the Batteries Directive by Article 2(2) of that Directive,

“change in operation” means a change in the nature or functioning of an installation or mobile plant, or an extension of the installation or plant, which may have consequences for the environment (see also the definition of “substantial change in operation”),

“co-incineration” and “incineration” have the same meanings as in Section 5.1 of Part 1 of Schedule 1,

“directly associated activity” means—

(a)

in relation to an activity carried out in a stationary technical unit and falling within any description in Part 1 of Schedule 1, any directly associated activity which has a technical connection with the activity carried out in the unit and which could have an effect on pollution, and

(b)

in relation to a solvent emission activity, any directly associated activity which has a technical connection with the solvent emission activity carried out on the same site and which could have an effect on any discharge of volatile organic compounds into the environment,

“emission” means in relation to—

(a)

Part A installations, the direct or indirect release of a substance, a vibration, heat or noise from individual or diffuse sources in an installation into the air, water or land,

(b)

Part B installations, the direct release of a substance or heat from individual or diffuse sources in an installation into the air,

(c)

mobile plant, the direct release of a substance or heat from the plant into the air, and

(d)

a solvent emission activity—

(i)

the direct release of a substance in waste gases into the air from individual or diffuse sources forming part of that activity, and

(ii)

the direct or indirect release of fugitive emissions,

“emission limit value” means the mass, expressed in terms of specific parameters, concentration or level of an emission, which may not be exceeded during one or more periods of time,

“enforcement notice” has the same meaning as in regulation 55,

“environmental inspection” means the actions necessary to check and promote compliance of installations and mobile plant with permit conditions and, where necessary, to monitor the environmental impact of activities carried out under a permit, including as required—

(a)

site visits,

(b)

monitoring of emissions and checks of internal reports and follow-up documents,

(c)

verification of self-monitoring,

(d)

checking of techniques used, and

(e)

checking of the adequacy of environmental management of the installation,

“environmental inspection plan” has the same meaning as in regulation 53,

“environmental quality standard” means the set of requirements which must be fulfilled at a given time in respect of a particular environment as set out in Union legislation,

“fugitive emissions” means, in relation to solvent emission activities, any emission of volatile organic compounds not in waste gases into air, soil or water as well as solvents contained in any products, unless otherwise stated in Part 2 of Annex VII of the Industrial Emissions Directive,

“hazardous substance” means substances or mixtures as defined in Article 3 of the Hazardous Substances Regulation,

“hazardous waste” means waste which displays one or more of the hazardous properties listed in Annex III of the Waste Framework Directive,

“hybrid installation or mobile plant” means an installation or mobile plant which is subject to a hybrid permit, and cognate expressions are construed accordingly,

“hybrid permit” means a permit combining a standard rules condition with one or more other conditions under Part III of these Regulations,

“industrial battery” means any battery or battery pack which is—

(a)

designed exclusively for industrial or professional uses,

(b)

used as a source of power for propulsion in an electric vehicle,

(c)

unsealed, but is not an automotive battery, or

(d)

sealed, but is not a portable battery,

“installation” means—

(a)

a stationary technical unit where one or more activities listed in Schedules 1 or 2 are carried out, and

(b)

any other location on the same site where any other directly associated activities are carried out,

and references to an installation include references to part of an installation,

“landfill” has the same meaning as in Article 2(g) of Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste(1),

“mobile plant” has the meaning given by regulation 12,

“off-site condition” has the meaning given by regulation 24,

“operator” means, in relation to an installation or mobile plant, the person who has control over the operation of the installation or plant (see also paragraph (2)),

“organic compound” means any compound containing carbon and one or more of hydrogen, halogens, oxygen, sulphur, phosphorus, silicon or nitrogen, with the exception of carbon oxides and inorganic carbonates and bicarbonates,

“Part A installation” and “Part B installation” have the same meanings as regulation 12,

“permit” means, unless the context requires otherwise, a permit granted by SEPA in accordance with these Regulations,

“pollution” means emissions as a result of human activity which may—

(a)

be harmful to human health or the quality of the environment,

(b)

cause offence to any human sense,

(c)

result in damage to material property, or

(d)

impair or interfere with amenities and other legitimate uses of the environment,

and “pollutant” means any substance, vibration, heat or noise released as a result of such an emission which may have such an effect,

“portable battery” means any battery or battery pack which is sealed, can be hand-carried by an average natural person without difficulty, and is neither an automotive battery nor an industrial battery,

“prescribed fee” means a fee prescribed for a matter in a scheme imposing charges made by SEPA under section 41 of the 1995 Act(2),

“register” means the register maintained by SEPA under regulation 64,

“reduction scheme” means a reduction scheme which complies with Part 5 of Annex VII of the Industrial Emissions Directive,

“the relevant date” has the meaning given by regulation 1(1) of the Landfill Regulations,

“revocation notice” has the meaning given by regulation 50,

“rule-making authority” means the Scottish Ministers or SEPA,

“separately collected waste” means waste which has been collected and transported in accordance with section 34(2I) of the 1990 Act,

“site report” means a report as described in paragraph 1(2) of Schedule 4

“solvents installation” has the same meaning as in regulation 12, and an activity carried out at such an installation is referred to as a “solvent emission activity”,

“SEPA” means the Scottish Environment Protection Agency(3),

“specified waste management activity” means an activity comprising—

(a)

the disposal of waste in a landfill, whether or not the disposal falls within Section 5.2 of Part 1 of Schedule 1,

(b)

the disposal or recovery of waste falling within Sections 5.3, 5.4 or 5.6 of that Part of that Schedule, or

(c)

the disposal or recovery of waste in a waste incineration installation,

“standard installation” or “standard mobile plant” means an installation or mobile plant described in standard rules, and cognate expressions are construed accordingly,

“standard rules” has the meaning given by regulation 36,

“standard rules condition” has the meaning given by regulation 37,

“standard rules permit” means a permit containing one or more standard rules conditions and, in relation to any set of standard rules, means a permit containing a standard rules condition in respect of those rules,

“start up and shut down operations” means, in relation to solvent emission activities, operations excluding regular oscillating activity phases whilst bringing an activity, an equipment item or a tank into or out of service or into or out of an idling state,

“substance” includes any chemical element and its compounds and any biological entity or micro-organism, with the exception of—

(a)

radioactive substances within the meaning of Council Directive 96/29/Euratom laying down basic safety standards for the protection of the health of workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionising radiation(4),

(b)

genetically modified organisms within the meaning of Directive 2001/18/EC on the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified organisms and repealing Council Directive 90/220/EEC(5), and

(c)

genetically modified micro-organisms within the meaning of Directive 2009/41/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the contained use of genetically modified micro-organisms (recast)(6),

“substantial change in operation” means a change in operation which SEPA considers may have a significant negative effect on human health or the environment, or which in itself constitutes the carrying out of an activity described in Part 1 of Schedules 1 or 2 that exceeds any threshold capacity specified in those Schedules, and includes the—

(a)

carrying out of solvent emissions activity—

(i)

at a small solvents installation, where there is a change of the nominal capacity leading to an increase in emissions of volatile organic compounds of more than 25 percent,

(ii)

at any other solvents installation, where a change of the nominal capacity leads to an increase in emissions of volatile organic compounds of more than 10 percent,

and for that purpose—

“input” has the same meaning as in Part 4 of Schedule 2 (see the definition of “consumption”),

“nominal capacity” means the maximum mass input of organic solvents at the installation averaged over one day, if that installation is operated at its design output under conditions other than start up and shut down operations or relating to the maintenance of equipment, and

“small solvents installation” means a solvents installation—

(i)

which falls within the lower threshold band of items 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 13, 16 or 17 of the table in Part 2 of Annex VII to the Industrial Emissions Directive, or

(ii)

for the activities which fall under one of the other items of that Part and which has a solvent consumption of less than 10 tonnes per year,

(b)

extension of the rated thermal input of a combustion plant as defined in Article 3(25) of the Industrial Emissions Directive by 50 megawatts or more,

(c)

incineration or co-incineration for the first time of hazardous waste, and for that purpose “hazardous waste” has the meaning given in Section 5.1 of Part 1 of Schedule 1,

“suspension notice” has the meaning given by regulation 56(1) and (4),

“variation notice” has the meaning given by regulation 46,

“volatile organic compound” means—

(a)

any organic compound having a vapour pressure of 0.01 kPa or more at 293.15K or having a corresponding volatility under the particular conditions of use, or

(b)

the fraction of creosote having a vapour pressure of 0.01 kPa or more at 293.15K,

“waste” means any substance or object which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard,

“waste gases” means, in relation to solvent emission activities, the final gaseous discharge containing volatile organic compounds or other pollutants from a stack or abatement equipment into the air,

“waste incineration installation” means that part of an installation or any mobile plant where—

(a)

waste is incinerated or co-incinerated in an incineration or co-incineration plant falling within Part A of Section 5.1 of Part 1 of Schedule 1, or

(b)

any activity falling within Part 1 of that Schedule is carried out in an incineration or co-incineration plant as defined in Section 5.1 of that Part of that Schedule, and

“waste management licence” means a waste management licence within the meaning of Part II of the 1990 Act.

(2) For the purposes of these Regulations—

(a) where an installation or any mobile plant has not been put into operation, the person who will have control over the operation of the installation or mobile plant when it is put into operation is to be treated as the operator of the installation or mobile plant, and

(b) where an installation or any mobile plant has ceased to be in operation, the person who holds the permit which applies to the installation or mobile plant is to be treated as the operator of the installation or mobile plant.

(3) In these Regulations a reference to a release into water includes a release into a sewer.

(1)

OJ L 182, 16.7.1999, p.1, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 (OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p.11), Regulation (EC) No 1137/2008 (OJ L 311, 21.11.2008, p.1), and Directive 2011/97/EU (OJ L 328, 10.12.2011, p.49).

(2)

1995 c.25. Section 41 has been relevantly amended by paragraph 2 of schedule 2 to the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 (asp12), by S.I. 2007/1711, 2007/3106, 2008/3087 and 2009/890, and by S.S.I. 2003/235.

(3)

SEPA is established by section 20 of the Environment Act 1995 (c.25).

(4)

OJ L 159, 29.6.96, p.1.

(5)

OJ L 106, 17.4.2001, p.1; as amended by Commission Decision 2000/6123/EC (OJ L 200, 30.7.2002, p.22), Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 (OJ L 268, 18.10.2003, p.1), Regulation (EC) No 1830/2003 (OJ L 268, 18.10.2003, p.25) and Directive 2000/27/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 81, 20.3.2008, p.45).

(6)

OJ L 125, 21.5.2009, p.75.