Bigger fines on horizon for environmental crimes

I’ve seen many cases over the years where businesses have fallen foul of environmental law because they thought the relatively benign nature of their operations meant it wasn’t something they had to pay much attention to.

Even worse have been the cases where companies with a high risk profile for environmental crimes get themselves into trouble because they take their eye off the ball when it comes to sound risk management practices.

But if anything should focus the minds of business owners, their management teams and employees, it’s the recently published guidelines for judges and magistrates to deal with environmental crimes.

The introduction of the new guidelines, following a public consultation, is designed to ensure courts in England and Wales take a more consistent approach when dealing with environmental crimes. Crucially, the Sentencing Council believes that the guidelines will encourage magistrates to make greater use of the highest levels of fines.

It’s the first time the Sentencing Council has provided guidelines for offences including fly-tipping, waste handling and pollution in relation to noise, smoke and dust.

The new rules will be used in courts from 1 July 2014 and cover a range of offences related to the disposal of waste mostly covered by the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010.

The Sentencing Council states that financial penalties for lower level offences will remain largely unaffected but adds that fines for businesses will also be determined by their size. In other words, the larger the business, the higher the fines are likely to be.

As always, my advice is to ensure that all necessary risk assessments for environmental regulations, and other regulatory risks, such as health and safety, are carried out on a regular basis. If you think your business may be at risk, it is imperative you seek legal advice at the earliest opportunity.

For more information on this matter, or any other legal issues involving regulatory bodies, please contact David Edwards on 01772 258321 or David.Edwards@harrison-drury.com