The Environmental Regulation team in charge of adherence to the UK’s domestic waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) system and regulating end-of-life vehicle treatment facilities is to transfer from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra).
Prime Minister David Cameron announced the Machinery of Government change, which will be effective from 1 April, in a written statement this morning (24 March).
According to a statement released by both departments, Business Secretary Sajid Javid and Environment Secretary Liz Truss have agreed to transfer the Environmental Regulation team into the Defra Environmental Quality Directorate.
The government hopes that by transferring the team, including its staff and resources, it will enable greater coordination of government policy and the combined regulatory responsibilities covered by the departments. Until now, BIS has dealt with European Union (EU) policy and Defra with that of the UK.
The team has policy responsibility for a range of waste and product-related EU-derived regulations that have either single market or producer responsibility objectives. These include:
- upholding the UK’s domestic WEEE system including running the distributor take-back scheme;
- regulating producers (vehicle manufacturers and importers) and authorised treatment facilities for the UK’s end-of-life vehicles (ELV) system;
- policy development and monitoring relating to the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive for electrical and electronic equipment;
- policy development for the substance restrictions related to packaging; and
- the placing on the market for all batteries and accumulators and the waste disposal regime for automotive and industrial batteries.
The team also has policy responsibility for the enforcement of these areas through the Environment Agency, National Measurement and Regulation Office (NMRO) and trading standards departments in local authorities.
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