The Environmental Protection (Plastic Plates etc. and Polystyrene Containers etc.) (England) Regulations 2023

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations, which apply in relation to England, prohibit persons from supplying or offering to supply certain plastic or polystyrene items in the course of a business.

Part 2 prohibits the supply of single-use plastic plates, trays or bowls, balloon sticks and cutlery. It also prohibits the supply of single-use polystyrene food or drink containers and cups.

Breach of these prohibitions is an offence (regulations 3 to 5), subject to the mutual recognition principle in the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 where applicable. The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 (Exclusions from Market Access Principles: Single-Use Plastics) Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/857) exempt most of these items from the market access principles, but not trays and bowls.

A civil sanctions regime is also introduced to enable regulators to impose a range of civil sanctions (regulation 9 and Schedule 1). These are fixed monetary penalties, compliance notices, stop notices and enforcement undertakings. The Regulations make provision for the procedure relating to these sanctions and the available appeal mechanisms. Failure to comply with a stop notice is an offence (paragraph 16 of Schedule 1). All appeals relating to a civil sanction are to the First-tier Tribunal.

Regulations 8 and 10 provide for enforcement officers to have powers of entry to carry out the necessary investigations in order to determine whether an offence has been committed.

Regulation 11 provides for the publication of information on enforcement action taken by regulators. Regulation 12 provides that guidance relating to the use of civil sanctions must be prepared and consulted on, and specifies information to be included in such guidance. Regulation 13 contains provision for review of the Regulations.

Regulators are able to recover the costs of enforcement (paragraph 27 of Schedule 1) in the case of fixed monetary penalties, compliance notices and stop notices.

Part 6 and Schedule 2 make amendments to the Environmental Protection (Microbeads) (England) Regulations 2017 to change the provisions for civil sanctions to enable regulators to impose fixed instead of variable monetary penalties. Schedule 3 makes amendments to the Environmental Protection (Plastic Straws, Cotton Buds and Stirrers) (England) Regulations 2020 for that purpose, and also amends the definition of “relevant device” in those Regulations in consequence of changes to the Medical Devices Regulations 2002.

A full impact assessment of the effect that these Regulations will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sectors is available from the Waste Team at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF, and is also available together with these Regulations at www.legislation.gov.uk.