Northern Ireland Orders in Council

(a) anything deposited at a place for the deposit of waste provided by a district council or by a waste disposal contractor under arrangements made with a district council;

(b) anything deposited in a receptacle for waste, whether for public or private use, provided by a district council or by a waste disposal contractor under arrangements made with a district council or by a holder of a waste management licence; or

(c) the contents of any receptacle for waste which, in accordance with a requirement under Articles 21 or 22, is placed on any road or in any other place with a view to its being emptied;

unless he has the relevant consent or right do so so specified in paragraph (2).

    (2) The consent or right that is relevant for the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), (b) or (c) is - 

(a) in the case of sub-paragraph (a), the consent of the council or contractor who provides the place for the deposit of the waste;

(b) in the case of sub-paragraph (b), the consent of the council or contractor or other person who provides the receptacle for the deposit of the waste;

(c) in the case of sub-paragraph (c), the right to the custody of the receptacle, the consent of the person having the right to the custody of the receptacle or the right conferred by the function under this Part of emptying such receptacles.

    (3) A person who contravenes paragraph (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of an amount not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

(a) for the giving of directions by the Department with respect to matters connected with the treatment, keeping or disposal of special waste;

(b) for securing that special waste is not, while awaiting treatment or disposal in pursuance of the regulations, kept at any one place in quantities greater than those which are prescribed and in circumstances which differ from those which are prescribed;

(c) in connection with requirements imposed on consignors or consignees of special waste, imposing, in the event of non-compliance, requirements on any person carrying the consignment to re-deliver it as directed;

(d) for requiring the occupier of premises on which special waste is situated to give notice of that fact and other prescribed information to a prescribed body;

(e) for the making and retention of records by the Department and by persons who import, export, carry, produce, keep, treat or dispose of special waste, either directly or as a broker, or deliver it to another person for keeping, treatment or disposal, for the inspection of the records and for the furnishing by such persons to the Department of copies of or information derived from the records;

(f) for the keeping in the register under Article 34(1) of copies of such of those records, or such information derived from those records, as may be prescribed;

(g) providing that a contravention of the regulations shall be an offence and prescribing the maximum penalty for the offence, which shall not exceed, on summary conviction, a fine at level 5 on the standard scale and, on conviction on indictment, imprisonment for a term of 2 years or a fine or both.

    (3) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (1), the regulations may include provision - 

(a) for the supervision by the Department - 


(i) of activities authorised under the regulations or of activities by virtue of carrying on which persons are subject to provisions of the regulations, or

(ii) of persons who carry on activities authorised by virtue of the regulations or who are subject to provisions of the regulations,



and for the recovery from persons falling within head (ii) of the costs incurred by the Department in performing functions conferred upon the Department by the regulations;

(b) as to the recovery of expenses or other charges for the treatment, keeping or disposal or the re-delivery of special waste under the regulations;

(c) as to appeals from decisions of the Department under the regulations to the Planning Appeals Commission for determination.

(a) the use for any purpose,

(b) the supply for any purpose, and

(c) the storage,

of any specified substance or article if the Department considers it appropriate to do so for the purpose of preventing the substance or article from causing pollution of the environment or harm to human health or to the health of animals or plants.

    (2) Regulations under this Article may - 

(a) enable the Department to direct that any substance or article whose use, supply or storage is prohibited or restricted is to be treated as waste or controlled waste of any description and in relation to any such substance or article - 


(i) to apply, with or without modification, prescribed provisions of this Part; or

(ii) to direct that it be disposed of or treated in accordance with the direction;



(b) confer powers corresponding to those conferred by Article 44 on persons authorised for any purpose of the regulations by the Department or on any district council; and

(c) include such other incidental and supplemental, and such transitional provisions, as the Department considers appropriate.

    (3) Subject to paragraph (4), before it makes any regulations under this Article the Department shall - 

(a) publish in the Belfast Gazette and in any other publication which the Department considers appropriate, a notice indicating the effect of the proposed regulations and specifying - 


(i) the date on which it is proposed that the regulations will come into operation;

(ii) a place where a draft of the proposed regulations may be inspected free of charge by members of the public during office hours; and

(iii) a period of not less than 14 days from the date on which the notice is first published during which representations in writing may be made to the Department about the proposed regulations; and



(b) consider any representations which are made in accordance with the notice.

    (4) Regulations may be made under this Article in relation to any substance or article without observing the requirements of paragraph (3) where it appears to the Department that there is an imminent risk, if those requirements are observed, that serious pollution of the environment will be caused.

    (5) After complying with paragraph (3) with respect to any proposed regulations, the regulations may be made either - 

(a) in the form of the draft mentioned in paragraph (3)(a), or

(b) in that form with such modifications as the Department considers appropriate;

but regulations incorporating modifications shall not be made unless the Department is of the opinion that it is appropriate for the requirements of paragraph (3) to be disregarded.

    (6) Regulations under this Article may provide that a person who contravenes a specified provision of the regulations or causes or permits another person to contravene a specified provision of the regulations commits an offence and may prescribe the maximum penalty for the offence.

    (7) No offence under the regulations shall be made punishable with imprisonment for more than 2 years or punishable on summary conviction with a fine exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (if not calculated on a daily basis) or, in the case of a continuing offence, exceeding one-tenth of the level on the standard scale specified as the maximum penalty for the original offence.

    (8) In this Article - 

"the environment" includes the air within buildings and the air within other natural or man-made structures above or below ground; and

"substance" includes mixtures of substances.

(a) current or recently current licences ("licences") granted by the Department;

(b) current or recently current applications to the Department for licences;

(c) applications made to the Department under Article 10 for the modification of licences;

(d) notices issued by the Department under Article 10 effecting the modification of licences;

(e) notices issued by the Department under Article 12 effecting the revocation or suspension of licences or imposing requirements on the holders of licences;

(f) appeals under Article 17 relating to decisions of the Department;

(g) certificates of completion issued by the Department under Article 13(8);

(h) notices issued by the Department imposing requirements on the holders of licences under Article 16(4);

(i) convictions of the holders of licences granted by the Department for any offence under this Part (whether in relation to a licence so granted or not);

(j) the occasions on which the Department has discharged any function under Article 16;

(k) such matters relating to the treatment, keeping or disposal of waste or any pollution of the environment caused thereby as may be prescribed;

and any other document or information required to be kept in the register under any provision of this Part.

    (2) Where information of any description is excluded from any register under Article 36, a statement shall be entered in the register indicating the existence of information of that description.

    (3) For the purposes of paragraph (1) licences are "recently" current for the period of 12 months after they cease to be in force and applications for licences are "recently" current if they relate to a licence which is current or recently current or, in the case of an application which is refused, for the period of 12 months from the date on which the Department gives notice of refusal or, as the case may be, on which the application is deemed by Article 8(6) to have been refused.

    (4) Each district council shall maintain a register containing prescribed particulars of such information contained in any register maintained under paragraph (1) as relates to the treatment, keeping or disposal of controlled waste in the district of the council.

    (5) The Department shall furnish district councils with the particulars necessary to enable them to comply with paragraph (4).

    (6) The Department and each district council - 

(a) shall secure that any register maintained under this Article is open to inspection by members of the public free of charge at all reasonable hours; and

(b) shall afford to members of the public reasonable facilities for obtaining, on payment of reasonable charges, copies of entries in the register;