Environmental liability regulations
These regulations require operators to take preventative measures when there is an immediate threat of environmental damage and to remediate any environmental damage caused by their activities. The regulations apply only to significant environmental damage or an imminent threat of damage and do not replace existing laws for ordinary day-to-day business as usual activities or incidents.
Report an incident
If you have been, or think are likely to be, affected by an environmental damage incident, or have a legitimate concern about an incident, please contact us online or by calling our pollution hotline on 0800 807 060. Any third-party requests for action will need to be followed up by a written request to the relevant local officer.
Definitions of environmental damage
The regulations identify three categories of environmental damage:
- Land damage - any land contamination creating a significant risk to human health.
- Water damage - any damage causing deterioration of the ecological status or potential of a body of surface water; the chemical or quantitative status of a body of groundwater or the environmental status of marine waters.
- Habitats and species damage - any damage with significant adverse effects on reaching or maintaining the favourable conservation status of protected species or natural habitats. More information on species and habitats are available in Annex I of the Birds Directive and Annex I, II and IV of the Habitats Directive.
Operator responsibilities
If your activities have caused or threaten to cause environmental damage, you must take steps to prevent the damage or further damage occurring, and notify the relevant competent authority depending on the type of damage:
- Land damage and non-marine water damage - SEPA
- Marine water damage - Marine Directorate
- Habitats and species - Marine Directorate and NatureScot
Contact your nearest SEPA office for more advice and guidance or visit NetRegs for more information on preventing environmental damage and your responsibilities under the regulations.
Updates
The Offshore Safety Directive, containing an amendment to the ELD (extension of the scope of damage to marine waters), was adopted in June 2013. The Directive was transposed in Scotland by the Environmental Liability (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2015.
Based on the national reports submitted in 2013 by the Member States to the Commission and of other relevant information, the Commission published a report (COM/2016/0204) and a REFIT evaluation on the experience gained in the application of the directive. This report evaluated the directive and included a review of it. The Commission developed a Multi-Annual Work Programme (2017-2020) in response to the REFIT evaluation.