The Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008

The Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008 has now been fully implemented. This provides the Environment Agency with greater flexibility to enforce environmental law, and brings their enforcement powers more in line with the HSE.

The range of new powers includes:

- Stop Notices – prevent a business from continuing to carry out an activity until steps have been taken to ensure compliance.

- Compliance Notices – a requirement to take steps within a stated period to ensure that an offence doesn’t continue or re-occur;

- Restoration Notices – an instruction to take steps to ensure that a situation is restored, so far as possible, to what it would have been if no offence has been committed;

- Enforcement Undertaking – allows businesses to take corrective action quickly without fear of further sanction for that offence.

- Fixed and variable monetary penalties.

The powers will not replace existing informal methods.

Businesses and individuals have the right to appeal a decision through an independent tribunal.

The HSE decided in 2008 not to apply for the new sanctions.