Environment Agency becomes first regulator to use new civil sanctions

The Environment Agency last month became the first enforcement body to use new civil sanctions for environmental offences as an alternative to criminal prosecution.

The watchdog accepted an offer of £21,000 from engineering and IT business Invensys for packaging waste offences. The company has also agreed to implement a number of improvements to ensure it complies with the relevant regulations, and will meet the cost of the investigation and future monitoring.

The £21,000 will be handed to organisations that can drive environmental improvements in local communities.

The sanctions used by the EA were introduced by the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act in England and Wales in 2008. The watchdog ­­– which can use them for some, but not all, of the offences it enforces – first started using them on 4 January 2011.

Under these provisions organisations that breach environmental regulation can, where an enforcement undertaking is available for that breach, set out how they propose to put the matter right. If the Environment Agency accepts their proposals, the enforcement undertaking becomes a legally binding voluntary agreement.

The undertaking sets out the steps the business will take to put right any harm caused and can include providing compensation for the local community. “It must also identify what the business will do to return to compliance, in both the immediate term and long term,” the EA said.

So far the agency has received some 30 offers from a range of organisations that have broken environmental regulations. These have included proposals such as setting up a local community recycling awareness scheme, donations to a range of environmental charities and provision of funding for a local school environmental project.

Environment Agency Director of Environment and Business, Ed Mitchell said: “Civil sanctions are an alternative to criminal prosecution for less serious environment offences - such as breaking packaging waste regulations. They allow us to secure regulatory compliance from organisations, eliminate any financial gain from non-compliance and get them to react responsibly to the offending.

“Organisations can make reparations that focus on environmental improvements and providing benefits for the local people affected by the offences.”

Mitchell said the addition of civil sanctions to the agency’s enforcement toolkit saved it time and money – “freeing up our legal resources to prosecute more serious environmental offenders”.

Civil sanctions are only available to regulators assessed as “better regulators”.