Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/248Show full title

2. Organisation of inspections U.K.

2.1. Inspection plans U.K.

The following shall be taken into consideration:

(a)

planning of inspections in advance by means of a plan or plans established at the appropriate administrative level based on a general assessment of the relevant environmental and safety issues and risks of the waste facilities and, where information is already available on compliance, an overall assessment of the state of compliance for the waste facilities operating within the plan area. Such plans can be integrated or combined with other inspection plans where considered appropriate;

(b)

the periodic review and, where appropriate, the updating of the inspection plan or plans;

(c)

the coverage in the inspection plan or plans of each waste facility under Article 7 of Directive 2006/21/EC;

(d)

the inclusion in each inspection plan of the following:

(i)

a general assessment of relevant environmental and safety issues and risks;

(ii)

the geographical area covered by the inspection plan;

(iii)

a list of the waste facilities covered by the inspection plan which hold a permit;

(iv)

the means of ensuring identification of waste facilities covered by Article 7 of Directive 2006/21/EC which operate without a permit;

(v)

procedures for carrying out routine inspections;

(vi)

procedures for carrying out non-routine inspections;

(vii)

procedures for carrying out announced and unannounced site visits;

(viii)

where necessary, arrangements on the cooperation and co-ordination between different competent authorities in charge of inspections and between those authorities and other authorities with a role in the enforcement of permits required under national or Union environmental legislation that is applicable or relevant to the waste facilities covered by Article 7 of Directive 2006/21/EC;

(ix)

information on the human, financial and other resources needed by the competent authority for the implementation of the inspection plan.

2.2. Routine inspections U.K.

The following shall be taken into consideration:

(a)

the carrying out of routine inspections at regular intervals based on an appropriate risk assessment of the waste facility concerned;

(b)

an adequate frequency of site visits based on an appropriate risk assessment of the waste facility concerned, reflecting also the potentially higher risks of Category A facilities;

(c)

the application of the following criteria for the risk assessment of the waste facilities:

(i)

the potential and actual impacts of the facilities concerned on human health and the environment, taking into account the levels and types of emissions, the sensitivity of the local environment and the risk of accidents as further specified in Best Available Technique (BAT 5) of the BAT Reference Document for the management of wastes from the extractive industries (MWEI BREF)(1);

(ii)

the previous compliance record;

(iii)

the participation of the operator of the waste facility in the Environmental Management System (EMS) as further specified in BAT 1 of the MWEI BREF;

(d)

the noting by the inspector, where appropriate, of relevant findings of inspections carried out under other applicable Union legislation;

(e)

the provision to the operator, when site visits are announced in advance, of the visit schedule and details of the information, and any other assistance, that the operator will be requested to provide;

(f)

in the event of detection of non-compliance or a risk to compliance, the carrying out of an investigation and, as appropriate, the sharing of the results with other authorities, in particular with a view to:

(i)

providing a description of the non-compliance or compliance risk, clarifying its causes and impact on the environment and human health, and in particular clarifying the circumstances (including the persons) which led to non-compliance;

(ii)

providing a factual base to facilitate and enable appropriate responses to address the detected non-compliance and prevent future non-compliance, including, as appropriate, additional inspections, corrective measures by the operator, update of permit conditions, suspension of the permit or use of sanctions;

(g)

in the event of the suspension of the operation of a waste facility because of non-compliance with permit conditions, the undertaking of further inspection activities with a view to attaining environmental and other results that the permit conditions were intended to secure.

2.3. Non-routine inspections U.K.

The following shall be taken into consideration:

(a)

the carrying out of non-routine inspections, including site visits, as soon as possible after the competent authority receives serious complaints concerning non-compliance with the permit requirements or otherwise becomes aware of serious accidents, incidents or occurrences of non-compliance, irrespective of whether such events need to be notified according to Article 11(3) or Article 12(6) of Directive 2006/21/EC, in particular with a view to:

(i)

clarifying the causes of the event, its impacts on the environment and human health, and in particular clarifying the circumstances (including the persons) which led to non-compliance;

(ii)

providing a factual base to facilitate and enable appropriate responses to address the detected non-compliance and prevent future accidents, incidents or occurrences of non-compliance, including, as appropriate, additional inspections, corrective measures by the operator, update of permit conditions, suspension of the permit or use of sanctions;

(b)

the noting by the inspector, where appropriate, of relevant findings of inspections carried out under other applicable Union legislation;

(c)

the carrying out of non-routine inspections as soon as possible with respect to, and, where appropriate, before the reconsideration or update of a permit.

2.4. Unannounced site visits U.K.

The following shall be taken into consideration:

(a)

the undertaking of an appropriate number of unannounced site visits, in particular where relevant to the detection of problems or risk exposure or the need to respond to an urgent situation;

(b)

as far as practicable, the addressing, in decisions on unannounced site visits, of health, environmental and safety concerns and of the possible need for the waste facility’s operational staff to be on site.

(1)

http://eippcb.jrc.ec.europa.eu/reference/BREF/jrc109657_mwei_bref_-_for_pubsy_online.pdf