Environmental Protection Act 1990

Other controls on substances, articles or waste U.K.

140 Power to prohibit or restrict the importation, use, supply or storage of injurious substances or articles. U.K.

(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations prohibit or restrict—

(a) the importation into and the landing and unloading in the United Kingdom,

(b) the use for any purpose,

(c) the supply for any purpose, and

(d) the storage,

of any specified substance or article if he considers it appropriate to do so for the purpose of preventing the substance or article from causing pollution of the environment or harm to human health or to the health of animals or plants.

(2) Any such prohibition or restriction may apply—

(a) in all, or only in specified, areas;

(b) in all, or only in specified, circumstances or if conditions imposed by the regulations are not complied with; and

(c) to all, or only to specified descriptions of, persons.

(3) Regulations under this section may—

(a) confer on the Secretary of State power to direct that any substance or article whose use, supply or storage is prohibited or restricted is to be treated as waste or controlled waste of any description and in relation to any such substance or article—

(i) to apply, with or without modification, specified provisions of Part II; or

(ii) to direct that it be disposed of or treated in accordance with the direction;

(b) confer on the Secretary of State power, where a substance or article has been imported, landed or unloaded in contravention of a prohibition or restriction imposed under subsection (1)(a) above, to require that the substance or article be disposed of or treated in or removed from the United Kingdom;

(c) confer powers corresponding to those conferred by section 17 above on persons authorised for any purpose of the regulations by the Secretary of State or any local or other authority; and

(d) include such other incidental and supplemental, and such transitional provisions, as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.

(4) The Secretary of State may, by regulations under this section, direct that, for the purposes of any power conferred on him under subsection (3)(b) above, any prohibition or restriction on the importation into or the landing and unloading in the United Kingdom imposed—

(a) by or under any Community instrument, or

(b) by or under any enactment,

shall be treated as imposed under subsection (1)(a) above and any power conferred on him under subsection (3)(b) above shall be exercisable accordingly.

(5) The Secretary of State may by order establish a committee to give him advice in relation to the exercise of the power to make regulations under this section and Schedule 12 to this Act shall have effect in relation to it.

(6) Subject to subsection (7) below, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State before he makes any regulations under this section other than regulations under subsection (4) above—

(a) to consult the committee constituted under subsection (5) above about the proposed regulations;

(b) having consulted the committee, to publish in the London Gazette and, if the regulations apply in Scotland or Northern Ireland, the Edinburgh Gazette or, as the case may be, Belfast Gazette and in any other publication which he considers appropriate, a notice indicating the effect of the proposed regulations and specifying—

(i) the date on which it is proposed that the regulations will come into force;

(ii) a place where a draft of the proposed regulations may be inspected free of charge by members of the public during office hours; and

(iii) a period of not less than fourteen days, beginning with the date on which the notice is first published, during which representations in writing may be made to the Secretary of State about the proposed regulations; and

(c) to consider any representations which are made to him in accordance with the notice.

(7) The Secretary of State may make regulations under this section in relation to any substance or article without observing the requirements of subsection (6) above where it appears to him that there is an imminent risk, if those requirements are observed, that serious pollution of the environment will be caused.

(8) The Secretary of State may, after performing the duty imposed on him by subsection (6) above with respect to any proposed regulations, make the regulations either—

(a) in the form of the draft mentioned in subsection (6)(b) above, or

(b) in that form with such modifications as he considers appropriate;

but the Secretary of State shall not make any regulations incorporating modifications unless he is of opinion that it is appropriate for the requirements of subsection (6) above to be disregarded.

(9) Regulations under this section may provide that a person who contravenes or fails to comply with a specified provision of the regulations or causes or permits another person to contravene or fail to comply with a specified provision of the regulations commits an offence and may prescribe the maximum penalty for the offence.

(10) No offence under the regulations shall be made punishable with imprisonment for more than two years or punishable on summary conviction with a fine exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (if not calculated on a daily basis) or, in the case of a continuing offence, exceeding one-tenth of the level on the standard scale specified as the maximum penalty for the original offence.

(11) In this section—

• “the environment” means the air, water and land, or any of those media, and the medium of air includes the air within buildings and the air within other natural or man-made structures above or below ground;

• “specified” means specified in the regulations; and

• “substance” means any natural or artificial substance, whether in solid or liquid form or in the form of a gas or vapour and it includes mixtures of substances.

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 140 extended (with modifications) (19.2.1999) by S.I. 1999/396, reg. 2

141 Power to prohibit or restrict the importation or exportation of waste. U.K.

(1) The Secretary of State may, for the purpose of preventing any risk of pollution of the environment or of harm to human health arising from waste being imported or exported or of conserving the facilities or resources for dealing with waste, make regulations prohibiting or restricting, or providing for the prohibition or restriction of—

(a) the importation into and the landing and unloading in the United Kingdom, or

(b) the exportation, or the loading for exportation, from the United Kingdom,

of waste of any description.

(2) Regulations under this section may make different provision for different descriptions of waste or waste of any description in different circumstances.

(3) Regulations under this section may, as respects any description of waste, confer or impose on waste regulation authorities or any of them such functions in relation to the importation of waste as appear to be appropriate to the Secretary of State, subject to such limitations and conditions as are specified in the regulations.

(4) Regulations under this section may confer or impose on waste regulation authorities or any of them functions of enforcing any of the regulations on behalf of the Secretary of State whether or not the functions fall within subsection (3) above.

(5) Regulations under this section may—

(a) as respects functions conferred or imposed on waste regulation authorities—

(i) make them exercisable in relation to individual consignments or consignments in a series by the same person but not in relation to consignments or descriptions of consignments generally; and

(ii) confer on the Secretary of State power, by direction to the authorities or any of them, to make the functions or any of them exercisable instead by him whether indefinitely or for any period;

(b) impose or provide for the imposition of prohibitions either absolutely or only if conditions or procedures prescribed in or under the regulations are not complied with;

(c) impose duties to be complied with before, on or after any importation or exportation of waste by persons who are, or are to be, consignors, consignees, carriers or holders of the waste or any waste derived from it;

(d) confer powers corresponding to those conferred by section 69(3) above;

(e) provide for appeals to the Secretary of State from determinations made by authorities under the regulations;

(f) provide for the keeping by the Secretary of State, waste regulation authorities and waste collection authorities of public registers of information relating to the importation and exportation of waste and for the transmission of such information between any of those persons;

(g) create offences, subject to the limitation that no offence shall be punishable with imprisonment for more than two years or punishable on summary conviction with imprisonment for more than six months or a fine exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (if not calculated on a daily basis) or, in the case of a continuing offence, exceeding one-tenth of the level on the standard scale specified as the maximum penalty for the original offence.

(6) In this section—

• “the environment” means land, water and air or any of them;

• “harm” includes offence to any of man’s senses;

• “waste”, “waste collection authority”, and “waste regulation authority” have the same meaning as in Part II; and

• “the United Kingdom” includes its territorial sea.

(7) In the application of this section to Northern Ireland and the territorial sea of the United Kingdom adjacent to Northern Ireland “waste regulation authority” means a district council established under the M1 Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972.

Marginal Citations

M1 1972 c. 9 (N.I.).

142 Powers to obtain information about potentially hazardous substances. U.K.

(1) The Secretary of State may, for the purpose of assessing their potential for causing pollution of the environment or harm to human health, by regulations make provision for and in connection with the obtaining of relevant information relating to substances which may be specified by him by order for the purposes of this section.

(2) The Secretary of State shall not make an order under subsection (1) above specifying any substance—

(a) which was first supplied in any member State on or after 18th September 1981; or

(b) in so far as it is a regulated substance for the purposes of any relevant enactment.

(3) The Secretary of State shall not make an order under subsection (1) above specifying any substance without consulting the committee established under section 140(5) except where it appears to him that information about the substance needs to be obtained urgently under this section.

(4) Regulations under this section may—

(a) prescribe the descriptions of relevant information which are to be furnished under this section in relation to specified substances;

(b) impose requirements on manufacturers, importers or suppliers generally to furnish information prescribed under paragraph (a) above;

(c) provide for the imposition of requirements on manufacturers, importers or suppliers generally to furnish relevant information relating to products or articles containing specified substances in relation to which information has been furnished in pursuance of paragraph (b) above;

(d) provide for the imposition of requirements on particular manufacturers, importers or suppliers to furnish further information relating to specified substances in relation to which information has been furnished in pursuance of paragraph (b) above;

(e) provide for the imposition of requirements on particular manufacturers or importers to carry out tests of specified substances and to furnish information of the results of the tests;

(f) authorise persons to comply with requirements to furnish information imposed on them by or under the regulations by means of representative persons or bodies;

(g) impose restrictions on the disclosure of information obtained under this section and provide for determining what information is, and what information is not, to be treated as furnished in confidence;

(h) create offences, subject to the limitation that no offence shall be punishable with imprisonment or punishable on summary conviction with a fine exceeding level 5 on the standard scale;

(i) make any public authority designated by the regulations responsible for the enforcement of the regulations to such extent as may be specified in the regulations;

(j) include such other incidental and supplemental, and such transitional, provisions as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.

(5) The Secretary of State shall have regard, in imposing or providing for the imposition of any requirement under subsection (4)(b), (c), (d) or (e) above, to the cost likely to be involved in complying with the requirement.

(6) In this section—

• “the environment” means the air, water and land or any of them;

• “relevant information”, in relation to substances, products or articles, means information relating to their properties, production, distribution, importation or use or intended use and, in relation to products or articles, to their disposal as waste;

• “substance” means any natural or artificial substance, whether in solid or liquid form or in the form of a gas or vapour and it includes mixtures of substances.

(7) The enactments which are relevant for the purposes of subsection (2)(b) above are the following—

• the M2 Explosive Substances Act 1875;

• the M3 Radioactive Substances Act 1960;

• Parts II, III and VIII of the M4 Medicines Act 1968;

• Part IV of the M5 Agriculture Act 1970;

• the M6 Misuse of Drugs Act 1971;

• Part III of the M7 Food and Environment Protection Act 1985; and

• the M8 Food Safety Act 1990;

and a substance is a regulated substance for the purposes of any such enactment in so far as any prohibition, restriction or requirement is imposed in relation to it by or under the enactment for the purposes of that enactment.

Marginal Citations

M2 1875 c. 17.

M3 1960 c. 34.

M4 1968 c. 67.

M5 1970 c. 40.

M6 1971 c. 38.

M7 1985 c. 48.

M8 1990 c. 16.

143 Public registers of land which may be contaminated. E+W+S

(1) For the purposes of the registers to be maintained under this section, the Secretary of State may, by regulations—

(a) specify contaminative uses of land;

(b) prescribe the form of the registers and the particulars to be included in them; and

(c) make such other provision as appears to him to be appropriate in connection with the maintenance of the registers.

(2) It shall be the duty of a local authority, as respects land in its area subject to contamination, to maintain, in accordance with the regulations, a register in the prescribed form and containing the prescribed particulars.

(3) The duty imposed by subsection (2) above on a local authority is a duty to compile and maintain the register from the information available to the authority from time to time.

(4) A local authority shall secure that the register is open to inspection at its principal office by members of the public free of charge at all reasonable hours and shall afford to members of the public reasonable facilities for obtaining, on payment of reasonable charges, copies of entries in the register.

(5) Regulations under subsection (1)(c) above may prescribe the measures to be taken by local authorities for informing persons whose land is the subject of entries in a register about the entries or for enabling them to inform themselves about them.

(6) In this section—

• “contaminative use” means any use of land which may cause it to be contaminated with noxious substances;

• “land subject to contamination” means land which is being or has been put to a contaminative use;

• “local authority” means—

(a) in Greater London, a London borough council or the Common Council of the City of London;

(b) in England and Wales outside Greater London, a district council;

(c) in Scotland, a planning authority; and

(d) the Council of the Isles of Scilly; and

“substance” means any natural or artificial substance, whether in solid or liquid form or in the form of a gas or vapour.

Commencement Information

I1 S. 143 partly in force; s. 143(1)(5)(6) in force at 14.2.1992 (in so far as they extend to England and Wales) see s. 164(3) and S.I. 1992/266, art. 2.

144 Amendments of hazardous substances legislation. E+W+S

Schedule 13 to this Act (which contains miscellaneous amendments to the legislation relating to hazardous substances) shall have effect.

Commencement Information

I2 S. 144 partly in force; s. 144 not in force at Royal Assent see s.164(3); s. 144 in force for certain purposes at 1.1.1992 by S.I. 1991/2829 art. 3; s. 144 in force at 18.2.1993 (insofar as it relates to paras. 11 and 12 of Schedule 13, Part II) and 1.5.1993 (insofar as it relates to para. 13 of Schedule 13, Part II) by S.I. 1993/274, arts. 2(1), 3

145 Penalties for offences of polluting controlled waters etc. E+W+S

F1 (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(2) In sections 31(7)(a), 31A(2)(c)(i) and 32(7)(a) of the M9 Control of Pollution Act 1974 (corresponding penalties for Scotland), for the words “the statutory maximum” there shall be substituted “£20,000”.

Textual Amendments

F1 S. 145(1) repealed (1. 12. 1991) by Water Consolidation (Consequential Provisions) Act 1991 (c. 60, SIF 130), ss. 3(1), 4(2), Sch. 3 (with Sch. 2 paras. 10, 14(1), 15)

Marginal Citations

M9 1974 c. 40.