The Persistent Organic Pollutants (Various Amendments) Regulations 2019

Came into force:15th July 2019
Amends: Environment Act 1995, Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2005, Persistent Organic Pollutants Regulations 2007
Jurisdiction: UK

Environment Act 1995
Reference to repealed Regulation (EC) 850/2004 on persistent organic pollutants is replaced with Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 on persistent organic pollutants within Section 41 of the Act, which allows the Environment Agency to recover the costs of enforcing Regulation (EU) 2019/1021.

Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2005
Schedule 8, which contains the form of consignee's return to producer or holder, is replaced to substitute reference to the repealed Regulation (EC) 850/2004 on persistent organic pollutants with Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 on persistent organic pollutants within the hazard codes section.

This section states that where a waste contains Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in concentrations higher than allowed by Annex IV of Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 then the waste must also be given the code ‘POP’.

Persistent Organic Pollutants Regulations 2007
As a result of Regulation (EC) 850/2004 on persistent organic pollutants being repealed and replaced by Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 on persistent organic pollutants, the UK supporting Regulations are amended to ensure that they still enforce the management of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the UK.

This is an administrative change which replaces references to the 2004 Regulation with the 2019 Regulation. The EU Regulation was updated to reflect both updates to the list of substances restricted or banned under the Stockholm Convention and administrative changes at the EU level.

For more information click here.