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8. COMPETITION ASSESSMENT
All countries in the EU are required to implement the directive. It is not expected to put UK businesses at a disadvantage to other EU businesses.
Businesses in non- EU countries will not be subject to the ELD and may have lower levels of environmental liability with lower risks of incurring costs for environmental damage. Whether the introduction of the ELD will give those companies an advantage will depend largely on the increased risk for UK companies and on the potential for trade in the sectors in which they operate. The sectors that are at highest risk of increased costs are the agricultural sector, the waste sector and the water sector but the risks are still very low with the total cost of damage by sector representing 0.02% or less of turnover. The ELD costs for manufacturing and other sectors that have a higher exposure to international competition are significantly lower.
We have considered the effects of ELD on internal UK competition 1 and have concluded that the directive is unlikely to have a detrimental effect on competition in any sector.
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