<akomaNtoso xmlns:uk="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/namespaces/UK-AKN" xmlns:ukl="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/namespaces/legislation" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://docs.oasis-open.org/legaldocml/ns/akn/3.0" xsi:schemaLocation="http://docs.oasis-open.org/legaldocml/ns/akn/3.0 http://docs.oasis-open.org/legaldocml/akn-core/v1.0/cos01/part2-specs/schemas/akomantoso30.xsd"><act name="asc"><meta><identification source="#"><FRBRWork><FRBRthis value="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/asc/2026/4"/><FRBRuri value="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/asc/2026/4"/><FRBRdate date="2026-04-27" name="enacted"/><FRBRauthor href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/legislature/WelshParliament"/><FRBRcountry value="GB-UKM"/><FRBRnumber value="4"/><FRBRname value="2026 c. 4"/><FRBRprescriptive value="true"/></FRBRWork><FRBRExpression><FRBRthis value="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asc/2026/4/2026-06-27"/><FRBRuri 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eId="c9a0h7nk6-00112" class="subref" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/asc/2026/4/section/2">S. 2</ref> in force at 27.6.2026, see <ref eId="c9a0h7nk6-00113" class="subref operative" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/asc/2026/4/section/46/2/a">s. 46(2)(a)</ref></p></note></notes><proprietary xmlns:ukm="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/namespaces/metadata" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" source="#"><dc:identifier>http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asc/2026/4/section/2</dc:identifier><dc:title>Environment (Principles, Governance and Biodiversity Targets) (Wales) Act 2026</dc:title><dc:language>en</dc:language><dc:publisher>Statute Law Database</dc:publisher><dc:modified>2026-07-16</dc:modified><dc:contributor>Expert Participation</dc:contributor><dct:valid>2026-06-27</dct:valid><ukm:PrimaryMetadata><ukm:DocumentClassification><ukm:DocumentCategory Value="primary"/><ukm:DocumentMainType Value="WelshParliamentAct"/><ukm:DocumentStatus Value="revised"/></ukm:DocumentClassification><ukm:Year Value="2026"/><ukm:Number Value="4"/><ukm:EnactmentDate Date="2026-04-27"/><ukm:ISBN Value="9780348113983"/></ukm:PrimaryMetadata><ukm:Alternatives><ukm:Alternative URI="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asc/2026/4/pdfs/asc_20260004_we.pdf" Date="2026-05-11" Size="2476535" Language="Welsh" Print="false"/><ukm:Alternative URI="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asc/2026/4/pdfs/asc_20260004_en.pdf" Date="2026-05-11" Size="2493561" Print="false"/><ukm:Alternative URI="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asc/2026/4/pdfs/asc_20260004_mi.pdf" Date="2026-05-11" Size="3286135" Language="Mixed" Print="true"/></ukm:Alternatives><ukm:Statistics><ukm:TotalParagraphs Value="92"/><ukm:BodyParagraphs Value="58"/><ukm:ScheduleParagraphs Value="34"/><ukm:AttachmentParagraphs Value="0"/><ukm:TotalImages Value="0"/></ukm:Statistics></proprietary></meta><body eId="body"><part eId="part-1"><num>PART 1</num><heading>ENVIRONMENTAL OBJECTIVE AND PRINCIPLES</heading><section eId="section-2" uk:target="true"><num>2</num><heading>Environmental principles</heading><intro><p>In this Part, the “environmental principles” are—</p></intro><level class="para1" eId="section-2-a"><num>(a)</num><content><p>the precautionary principle so far as relating to the environment;</p></content></level><level class="para1" eId="section-2-b"><num>(b)</num><content><p>the principle that preventative action should be taken to avoid environmental damage;</p></content></level><level class="para1" eId="section-2-c"><num>(c)</num><content><p>the principle that environmental damage should as a priority be rectified at source;</p></content></level><level class="para1" eId="section-2-d"><num>(d)</num><content><p>the polluter pays principle.</p></content></level></section></part></body></act></akomaNtoso>