Charging Scheme and Compliance Assessment Scheme Consultations in Scotland : Scottish Environment Protection Agency Consults on Charging and Compliance

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has published proposals to help to further develop permit charging and assessing environmental compliance in two consultations for public feedback.

SEPA explained that its Charging Scheme and Compliance Assessment Scheme consultations will seek views on changes to the way its calculates charges imposed on permits to cover the costs of its regulatory work and consult on the methods used to assess the level of compliance with permit conditions.

The organisation, Scotland’s principal environmental regulator, said that the consultations are intended to build on the strengths of the current systems, by providing a greater focus on potential harm to the environment, health and wellbeing, and follow on from an initial round of consultation feedback in 2015.

For the first time, it is proposed to link compliance directly to the calculation of charges and as a result non-compliant operators will experience an increase in fees which reflects the additional effort required to regulate these permits.

According to SEPA, the proposals, outlined within each consultation, support the delivery of its Regulatory Strategy, One Planet Prosperity, which seeks to create an environmental regulatory system which is suited to the challenges of the 21st Century.

“The proposals published in today’s consultations further develop our systems for calculating charges for permits and for assessing operators’ compliance with permit conditions,” commented SEPA’s Director of Operations, Calum MacDonald.

“Compliance with environmental responsibilities is not optional and the most successful businesses in the 21st century will embed the importance of compliance at the core of their operations and, ultimately, enjoy the profitability that comes with it,” he added.

Each consultation will remain open to the public until 3 November 2017, following which all responses will be thoroughly considered prior to the Compliance Assessment Scheme taking effect from the 1st January 2018, and the new Charging Scheme from 1st April 2018, subject to approval by Scottish Ministers. For full details of both consultations, please visit the following pages on SEPA’s Citizen Space consultation hub:

CAS - HERE

Charging - HERE

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