Transposition of the industrial emissions directive in Scotland: consultation

IED Chapter VII - transitional arrangements

Transitional arrangements and timetable for permit applications

48. The draft Regulations do not yet contain transitional provisions. These will be required to ensure a smooth transition from the existing Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2000 to the new Regulations and the introduction of the IED requirements as straightforwardly as possible.

49. The following paragraphs set out our proposed arrangements for existing permits and for new applications.

Existing Permits

50. All PPC Part A Permits determined and issued before 7 January 2013 will be considered to be existing Permits for the purposes of the IED, provided the permitted installation is operational by 7 January 2014. SEPA will determine whether a permitted installation is operational.

51. Permits for existing PPC Part A activities must comply with the requirements of IED by 7 January 2014. It is intended that as at 7 January 2014 the majority of existing permits at operational sites will be made IED compliant through the use of a transitional provision to dis-apply some old conditions and add in their place new conditions relating to incident reporting and monitoring requirements. These changes will be standard and, as SEPA’s permits are already largely IED compliant, will not make any radical change to the content of permits.

52. Where a PPC Part A Permit was issued before 7 January 2013 (or a complete application was submitted before that date) but the permitted installation has never been operational as at 7 January 2014, it will no longer be considered to be existing installation after 7 January 2014. Such installations must then be considered to be new for the purposes of IED. Under these circumstances, these installations must not be brought into operation until such time as any relevant additional information has been submitted and, if necessary, the permit has been varied. It is not anticipated that these installations will need to reapply for an entirely new permit.

53. Some existing permits may have to be individually varied before 7 January 2014 to be made IED compliant due to increased complexity of the changes needed. These permits are likely to be in the minority and include:

• sites which are regulated by the Waste Incineration Directive;
• installations which are determined to be non-operational as of 7 January 2014.
• permits for installations which will be regulated under Chapter 3 (special provisions for combustion plant) of IED, which will need to be individually varied prior to 1 January 2016.

54. SEPA will identify which installations will need to have permits individually varied.

55. All other permitting activities ( SEPA and operator-initiated variations, including substantial changes, permit reviews, revocations, information requests or enforcement) in relation to existing permits which are begun prior to 7 January 2014 will be determined under the existing PPC permitting arrangements and will not be subject to any additional requirements introduced by the IED.

56. All applications to surrender existing permits made before 7 January 2014 will be determined under the existing arrangements and will not be subject to any additional requirements introduced by the IED.

Applications under determination / new permits

57. All applications for new PPC Part A installations that are under determination as at 7 January 2013 will continue to be determined under the existing PPC arrangements and will not be subject to any additional requirements introduced by the IED. Once determined, these processes will be deemed to be existing installations, and be subject to the transitional arrangements for existing permits detailed above. However this is dependent on the installation being in operation prior to 7 January 2014.

58. It should be noted that where either-

(i) the application determination is incomplete by 7 January 2014; or
(ii) the permit is issued but the installation is determined to not be in operation by 7 January 2014,

such installations will be considered to be ‘new’ for the purposes of IED. Under these circumstances the applicant may need to submit further information to SEPA as part of the application process or otherwise prior to receiving a permit or prior to beginning operations. Under these circumstances installations will not be permitted to operate until such time as the appropriate additional information is submitted and determined by SEPA. SEPA will determine whether a permitted installation is operational.

59. All new applications for PPC Part A installations received after 7 January 2013 will be determined under the new PPC Regulations, with reference to the full requirements of IED. This will include some previously unregulated activities and in some circumstances impose some new regulatory and application requirements, for example the submission of a baseline report.

Determinations under appeal

60. Any appeal to a permit determination/enforcement will be made under the requirements of the regime under which the permitting/enforcement action was carried out.

Legacy activities

61. The proposals set out at paragraph 75 below would result in removal of the need for PPC regulation from a small number of installations, with their activities either falling completely out of regulation or being regulated under other legislation such as the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011, the Waste Management Licensing (Scotland) Regulations 2011 or as a Part B Activity under the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations. The Scottish Government and SEPA will make contact with the operators concerned to determine the best way to implement this.

Determination of applications for ‘2015 Installations’

62. As described at paragraph 32 above, the IED brings into regulation for the first time a number of new activities and also expands the scope of a number of existing activities. Operators of installations carrying out activities which are new to PPC or have an expanded scope and are already operating prior to 7 January 2013 must operate in compliance with a PPC permit from 7 July 2015. These sites are called ‘2015 installations’.

63. Many ‘2015 installations’ activities represent areas in which SEPA has had little or no prior regulatory involvement. SEPA is currently gathering data on the number of these installations.

64. To obtain a permit, operators of ‘2015 installations’ must prepare and submit an application to SEPA. The permitting of ‘2015 installations’ represents a significant area of work. To avoid SEPA becoming overwhelmed by applications, and to ensure that all ‘2015 installations’ have a permit by 7 July 2015, a proposed timetable for submission of applications has been prepared. This will be set out in the transitional provisions.

65. This approach has the benefit that common sectors can apply together thereby allowing SEPA to prepare them as a group and streamline the permitting process, ensuring that all ‘2015 installations’ have a permit by 7 July 2015.

66. The proposed application timetable is detailed below. The application blocks aim to ensure that those activities for which SEPA anticipates receiving the greatest number of applications are submitted earliest, thus giving SEPA greater opportunity to resolve any problems with an individual application ahead of the 7 July 2015 deadline.

Block 1 Applications - consisting of food and drink sector sites ( IED annex I, chapters 6.4 b (ii) and b (iii) for activities not covered by Directive 2008/1/EC)) must be received between 7 January 2014 and 7 April 2014.

Block 2 Applications - consisting of waste sector sites ( IED annex I, chapters 5.1 and 5.2 for activities for activities not covered by Directive 2008/1/EC, chapters 5.3(a)(iii) to (v), 5.3 (b), 5.5 and 5.6) must be received between 7 March 2014 and 7 June 2014.

Block 3 Applications - consisting of wood preservation sites ( IED annex I, chapter 6.10) must be received between 7 May 2014 and 7 August 2014.

Block 4 Applications - consisting of independently operated waste water treatment sites ( IED annex I, Chapter 6.11), sites gasifying or liquefying fuels other than coal in installations with a total rated thermal input of 20MW or more ( IED annex I, Chapter 1.4 b), sites in the chemical industry concerning production by biological processing ( IED annex I, Chapters 4.1-4.6), sites producing oriented strand board, particleboard or fibreboard with a production capacity exceeding 600m ³ per day ( IED annex I, Chapter 6.1 c) must be received between 7 July 2014 and 7 October 2014.

67. All ‘2015 installations’ applications will be required to be submitted by the end date of the relevant application block in line with the recommended timetable. Permits will be issued as soon as determination is completed but will include a condition (an activation condition) stating that the permit does not come into force until 7 July 2015.

68. Securing early applications from ‘2015 installations’ will enable SEPA to manage the workload involved in dealing with a significant number of new permits. This approach will ensure that applicants receive permits as soon as possible after their application date, thereby giving operators regulatory certainty and allowing them preparation time prior to 7 July 2015. This approach will also allow installations that receive a permit early to be proactive in terms of compliance.

69. SEPA will accept applications for all ‘2015 installations’ from 7 January 2014, though it should be noted that the application may not be determined until the relevant application block.

70. Upon submission of a permit application, applicants will pay an application fee. SEPA will include fees in its charging scheme, and is likely to provide that applications made after the relevant application block will be subject to late submission charges to reflect the additional administrative burden placed upon SEPA. Holders of PPC Part A Permits will also need to pay annual subsistence charges. Subsistence charges for ‘2015 installation’ permits will commence only from 7 July 2015.

71. Permits for ‘2015 installations’ will not be enforced until 7 July 2015. The continued operation of a ‘2015 installation’ without a permit after 7 July 2015 will constitute an offence under the 2012 Regulations. In these circumstances the ‘2015 installation’ must cease operation.

72. It is proposed that if an application for a permit has been made within the relevant application timetable detailed above then the installation will be able to continue to operate after 7 July 2015, even where the application has not been determined by 7 July 2015. If an application is submitted late then this would not apply, and the installation may need to cease operation.

73. Q12: Are you content with the proposed approach to transitional provisions? Have you any comments upon this proposed means of incentivising timely permit applications in respect of new IPPC activities?