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10. ENFORCEMENT, SANCTIONS AND MONITORING
Enforcement
31. The Directive requires Member States to designate competent authorities. The Executive has not yet concluded its policy but the following reflects some of the discussions to date.
32. In principle, the fewer competent authorities there are, the easier it may be to achieve consistency and, for example, the simpler the cost recovery and reporting aspects will be. Where a body has only a limited role in ELD implementation it may be better to have it in a supporting role and not as a competent authority. Ideally the competent authority would have expertise in both the type of damage and the activity which has led to damage e.g. SEPA where there has been water damage by a PPC site.
33. The most relevant players appear to be SEPA, SNH and local authorities. Support will be required at times from Scottish Water, Health Protection Scotland, Scottish Ministers; Pesticide Safety Directorate; Health and Safety Executive; SE Fisheries Research Services; DTI (offshore processes); Transport Scotland and Department for Transport (including Maritime and Coastguard Agency). We envisage support mechanisms being established along the lines of those in place and available as required under civil contingencies legislation.
34. Scottish Ministers have reached no firm conclusions although they are likely to favour the simplest practical structure with fewer rather than a greater number of CAs. Hence SEPA and SNH might be principal contenders as competent authorities, with Scottish local authorities fulfilling a supporting role (not least civil contingencies planning and contaminated land) and other bodies (above) as subject matter requires.
Sanctions
35. There are no penalties in this regime for causing or failing to avert damage. There will have to be penalties for non-compliance with requirements to take action, which will be included in later consultation.
Monitoring
36. Article 18 of the Directive requires Member States to report their findings on the ELD regime to the Commission by 10 April 2013 including information and data set out in Annex VI of the Directive. Arrangements for monitoring will be put in place once details of the transposition are completed.
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