Deposit of Poisonous Waste Act 1972

3 Duty to notify responsible authorities before removing or depositing waste

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, no person shall—

(a) remove from any premises any waste to which this section applies with a view to its being deposited elsewhere, or cause or permit any such waste to be so removed, or

(b) deposit, or cause or permit to be deposited, on any land any waste to which this section applies,

unless each of the authorities responsible under this section has been given (whether by that person or by others) the notices required by this section.

(2) The notices referred to above, in relation to any waste, are notices specifying the following particulars with respect to the removal or deposit—

(a) in the case of removal, the premises from which the waste is to be removed and in any case the land on which it is to be deposited;

(b) the nature and chemical composition of the waste;

(c) the quantity which is proposed to be removed or deposited and, where the waste is to be removed or deposited in containers, their number, size and description; and

(d) in the case of waste to be removed, the name of the person who is to undertake the removal.

(3) A person who gives a notice for the purposes of subsection (1) above in respect of the removal of any waste from premises shall, if the removal is not to be undertaken by him or an employee of his, give a copy of the notice to the person who is to undertake the removal; and the copy shall be given to that person before the waste is removed.

(4) This section applies to waste of any description (whether solid, semi-solid or liquid) other than any description for the time being specified in regulations made by the Secretary of State as being not so poisonous, noxious or polluting that it need be subject to this section; and regulations under this section may exclude the requirement imposed by subsection (1) above, in the case of any removal or deposit of waste—

(a) where the waste is of a prescribed description and is deposited in any prescribed manner by, or under arrangements made by, persons of any prescribed class, or is deposited in prescribed circumstances (including circumstances of emergency);

(b) where the deposit is made, or is made in prescribed circumstances, pursuant to any consent, licence, approval or authority granted under an enactment;

and in this subsection " prescribed " means prescribed by regulations of the Secretary of State under this section.

(5) The authorities responsible under this section are—

(a) in the case of removal of waste from premises, the local authority and the river authority or river purification board for the area in which those premises are situated; and

(b) in any case the local authority and the river authority or river purification board for the area in which is situated the land on which the waste is to be deposited;

but nothing in this section shall be taken as requiring a notice to be given by any authority to itself.

(6) Notices for the purposes of subsection (1) above must have been given at least three clear days before the removal, or as the case may be the deposit, of any waste; but in reckoning any period of days for the purposes of this subsection, any Saturday, Sunday, Good Friday, Christmas Day or bank holiday shall be disregarded.

(7) Subject to the following subsection, any person who—

(a) contravenes subsection (1) or subsection (3) above, or

(b) in a notice given for the purposes of subsection (1) makes any statement which he knows to be false or does not believe to be true,

shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than £400.

(8) It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence of contravening subsection (1) above to prove that, while he had not himself given the notices required by this section—

(a) he relied on information that the notices had been given by others; and

(b) that he neither knew nor had any reason for supposing that the information was false or misleading.

(9) Regulations of the Secretary of State under this section shall be made by statutory instrument subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.