UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021

45 Meaning of “environmental protection”, “environmental harm” and “the environment”

(1) In this Chapter, “environmental protection” means—

(a) protecting, maintaining, restoring or improving the quality of the environment,

(b) preventing, mitigating, minimising or remedying environmental harm caused by human activities,

(c) monitoring, considering, assessing, recording, reporting on or managing data on anything relating to paragraphs (a) and (b).

(2) In this Chapter, “environmental harm” means—

(a) harm to the health of human beings, animals, plants or any other living organisms,

(b) harm to the quality of the environment, including—

(i) harm to the quality of the environment taken as a whole,

(ii) harm to the quality of air, water or land, and

(iii) other impairment of, or interference with, biodiversity or ecosystems,

(c) offence to the senses of human beings,

(d) damage to property, or

(e) impairment of, or interference with, amenities or other legitimate uses of the environment.

(3) In this Chapter, “the environment”—

(a) means all, or any, of the air, water and land (including the earth’s crust), and “air” includes the air within buildings and the air within other natural or man-made structures above or below ground, and

(b) includes wild animal and plant life and the habitats of wild animal and plant life.

(4) In subsection (1), “human activities”—

(a) means human activities of any kind (whether industrial, commercial or otherwise), and any connected activities, that are capable of causing, or liable to cause, environmental harm, and

(b) includes (with or without other activities) the production, treatment, keeping, depositing or disposal of any substance.

(5) In subsection (3)(b), “animal and plant life” includes any living organisms.