Office of Public Sector Information

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

Regulations 2 to 4 amend the Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 (“the 2003 Regulations”). The 2003 Regulations implement (in part), in relation to Northern Ireland, Council Directive 75/442/EEC on waste and Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste.

Regulation 3 amends paragraph 47B of Part I of Schedule 2 to the 2003 Regulations so that under this exemption any application of plant tissue to land must be made in accordance with any conditions that may have been imposed by a notice served under the Plant Health Order (Northern Ireland) 2006.

Regulation 4 inserts new sub-paragraphs into Part 1 of Schedule 2 to the 2003 Regulations to provide for exemptions from waste management licensing for activities involving the disposal of pesticide solution into a lined biobed and treatment of the land with the biobed itself, the treatment of land with ash from the incineration of pig or poultry carcases, the treatment of land with dredgings from farm ditches and the treatment of land with spent mushroom compost.

Regulation 5 revokes item 6 in the table in Schedule 1 to the Clean Air (Emission of Dark Smoke) Regulations 1981. This amendment removes an exemption for the emission of dark smoke caused by the burning of containers which are contaminated by a pesticide or by any toxic substance used for veterinary or agricultural purposes.

A Regulatory Impact Assessment in relation to these Regulations has been placed in the library of the Northern Ireland Assembly and copies can be obtained from Planning and Environmental Policy Group, 20-24 Donegall Street, Belfast BT1 2GP.