The Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008 (the RES Act) introduced a new range of alternative civil (rather than criminal court) sanctions. These have been made available to the Environment Agency in England and Wales for use when an offence has been committed and a sanction is needed. Their introduction provides the EA with a wider range of sanctioning options to better protect the environment and supports a more responsive approach to working with businesses.

The EA would like you to take part in this consultation to help them implement the new civil sanction enforcement powers.

This consultation document sets out the proposals to amend HSE's publication "Quarries Regulations 1999 Approved Code of Practice" (the ACOP). In addition to the Quarries Regulations 1999, the ACOP refers to other legislation that covers those people in Britain working in the quarrying industry. Due to legislative changes over the years, several of these references are now in need of updating, and the revision of the ACOP will allow this to be addressed.

The EA has produced a new Sector Guidance Note (SGN) that describes their views on the Best Available Techniques (BAT) for lime works and the associated maximum releases to the environment when using these techniques. The new SGN is intended as guidance for their own inspectors and for operators of lime works. They want to hear your views on these techniques and the Indicative BAT release levels and whether you think there is anything else they should have included.

The aim of the draft guidance is to help businesses and other organisations take the right decisions about the classification of substances as waste, particularly in the more difficult cases. The views of businesses and other organisations are invited.

The purpose of this consultation is to seek public views on two distinct EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) issues:
1. Excluding small emitters and hospitals from the EU ETS in Phase III (2013) pursuant to Article 27 of the revised EU ETS Directive; and
 2. The Government’s review of the Phase II Good Quality Combined Heat and Power New Entrant Reserve Ring-Fence in 2010