News

The Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations (Northern Ireland) SR 2012/255 have been published and came into force on 30 July 2012.

They revoke and replace the Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations (Northern Ireland) SR 2010/60 and update the fees which must be paid to the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSE NI) for:

• approvals;
• applications;
• licenses;
• notifications;
• medical examinations; and
• surveillance,

as well as various other requirements under different legislation.

The Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland (DoE NI) has issued a new code of practice in order to provide practical guidance for everyone who is subject to the Duty of Care under the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order SI 1997/2778.

As well as setting out the general requirements of the Duty of Care, the Code of Practice is split into a series of sections covering:

• waste producers;
• carriers;
• managers;
• brokers/dealers; and
• households.

This should help you find the most relevant guidance.

For more information, see:

• Waste Management The Duty of Care - A Code of Practice (NI), available at http://cedr.ec/cx.

The European Parliament has passed a new Directive 2012/19/EU, on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), in a bid to stop the dumping of electronic goods such as mobile phones, computers and TV sets at landfill sites.

From 2016, Member States will have to collect 45% of the average weight of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) placed on the market in the three preceding years. From 2019 this target rises to 65% of EEE placed on the market in the three preceding years, however Member States can opt to collect 85% of the total WEEE generated in their territory.

The new WEEE Directive builds on the work started by Directive 2002/96/EC, on the same subject, which it will revoke and replace on 15 February 2014. It places an obligation on large shops selling electrical goods to accept small WEEE items from customers, such as mobile phones, even if the customers do not buy a replacement. With big items such as washing machines and fridges, the manufacturers will be responsible for the recycling.

In addition, exporters will be required to provide proper documentation for goods being shipped for repair or re-use. Hopefully this will prevent illegal shipments of WEEE to poorly equipped developing countries.

The Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) SR 2012/230 have been published and came into force on 30 June 2012.

They amend the Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations (Northern Ireland) SR 2009/184 by:

• including any offshore carbon capture and storage facility which may be developed in NI waters in the definition of "offshore installation";
• allowing the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland (DoE NI) to designate new certification and attestation bodies;
• revoking all provisions on prohibition notices as it is now thought they are not applicable to F-gases considering such gases have a long term environmental effect, and prohibition notices are given in the event of imminent environmental damage.

In 2011, the Environment Agency began a consultation regarding standard rules and generic risk assessments.

As a result of the consultation, the Agency has updated the following standard rules:

• waste operations standard rules:
  • to protect groundwater abstractions used to supply water for human consumption,
  • on nature conservation grounds,
  • in relation to the waste hierarchy and also mixing of hazardous waste, in relation to emissions without limits rules moving to the operational requirements section;
• standard rules on gas engines at sewage treatment works;
• waste composting rule sets; and
• rules on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) authorised treatment facilities.

As such, the majority of the standard rules have been updated.

The latest rules can be found through our Index of standard rules.

Professor Richard Muller, a climate scientist who was previously sceptical about the concept of climate change, has apparently changed his mind, calling himself a "converted sceptic".

The Professor, who leads the Berkeley Earth Project which is investigating the claims made by other climate researchers, has admitted that human activity is causing the Earth to warm up. The project team argues that the good correspondence between the new temperature record and the historical CO2 emissions data suggests that humans can be blamed.

Professor Muller said, "Three years ago I identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming. Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of warming were correct. I'm now going a step further: Humans are almost entirely the cause."

He added,"I hope that the Berkeley Earth analysis will help settle the scientific debate regarding global warming and its human causes. Then comes the difficult part: agreeing across the political and diplomatic spectrum about what can and should be done."

For more information, see the:

• Climate Change Act 2008.