Scotland’s environmental consenting regime set for reform

Ross McDowall of Pinsent Masons, who specialises in environmental law and permitting, was commenting ahead of changes to the environmental authorisations regime in Scotland taking effect on 1 November 2025.

From that date, environmental activities will no longer be governed by a patchwork of legislation. Instead, most will fall under the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018 (EASR).

EASR, which already applies to activities involving radioactive substances, will replace eight different regulations: The Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 (CAR); Pollution Prevention & Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012 (PPC); The Waste Management Licensing (Scotland) Regulations 2011 (WMLR); Controlled Waste (Registration of Carriers and Seizure of Vehicles) Regulations 1991; Sludge (Use in Agriculture) Regulations 1989; Special Waste Regulations 1996; End-of-Life Vehicles (Storage and Treatment) (Scotland) Regulations 2003; and the Landfill (Scotland) Regulations 2003.

By replacing these different regulatory regimes, EASR will apply a uniform approach to the regulation of relevant environmental activities in Scotland. All such activities will require an “authorisation” which, depending upon the nature of the activity, will either be a bespoke or standard permit, registration, notification or General Binding Rule (GBR).

In addition, certain new activities will also need to be authorised by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) under EASR from 1 November. These activities include: recovery of waste by application to land for the purpose of soil improvement and temporary storage of waste at place where it is to be used for that purpose; burning any fuel in combustion plant which generates electricity on the same site with an aggregated rated thermal input of 1MW or more; any activity carried on in a technical unit for the capture of carbon dioxide for utilisation or storage; and anaerobic digestion of non-waste materials and associated feedstock and digestate handling and storage.

SEPA has published online guidance to explain what the changes mean for businesses and to help them understand the actions they may need to take. This should be carefully reviewed, according to McDowall.

McDowall said: “For some, the updates may mean a change to authorisation conditions or having to apply for a new authorisation – it depends on the type of authorisation they hold, and what type of activity they undertake. This is something businesses should check.”

For example, certain existing CAR registrations, PPC permits and waste registrations will become EASR registrations, meaning that new standard conditions will apply to those activities. In some cases, SEPA has provided a buffer period to enable holders to make the changes required to comply with these new conditions. For the relevant CAR registration and PPC permit holders, the standard conditions will come into effect for their new EASR registration on 1 March 2026, and for holders of waste carriers registrations, this will happen on 1 April 2026. Until these dates, the conditions within the existing registration or permit will apply. SEPA has asked businesses to contact them if compliance will not be possible by the set deadlines. For waste carriers and brokers registrations, the standard conditions will apply under the new EASR registration immediately from 1 November.

In contrast, existing CAR licences, waste management licences and certain CAR registrations and PPC permits will become EASR permits on 1 November and, in these cases, the conditions in the existing licence, registration or permit will continue to apply to the relevant authorised activity.

McDowall said businesses should also check the rules around who can hold an authorisation, i.e. who the “authorised person” is.

“Interestingly, in drafting the EASR, certain aspects of the previous regulatory regimes have been incorporated into the new regulatory landscape,” McDowall said. “For example, under the PPC regime, if you carried out a specified waste management activity, in addition to having day-to-day operational control, the permit holder also needed to be a ‘fit and proper person’. Under EASR, the ‘fit and proper person’ requirement applies to all activities, not just waste. This is something that businesses should be aware of.”

“Significantly, for insolvency practitioners, EASR also adopts the approach taken under CAR whereby appointed administrators, liquidators and receivers will also be regarded as the ‘authorised person’ who must ensure that an authorisation is complied with. This will no doubt be another factor that insolvency practitioners will need to consider when acting for companies that undertake authorised activities,” he said.

Some existing permit holders may need to take immediate action, according to McDowall. This is true of those that hold a current waste exemption under paragraphs 7 or 8(1)(a) of Schedule 1 of the WLMR. If that exemption is due to expire before 1 November, businesses have the option of applying for renewal of their existing exemption or applying for a new EASR authorisation. Any renewal would be valid for 12 months from the date of renewal. For exemptions which expire after 31 October, holders will need to apply for a new EASR registration or permit by the relevant expiry date.

Longer deadlines will apply where businesses need to apply for certain other new permits.

For example, in the case of certain complex waste exemptions currently governed by the WLMR – except where the activity is governed by an EASR GBR – businesses will have until 1 November 2026 or the expiry date of existing exemptions to apply for a new registration or permit. Professional collector and transporter of waste registrations will automatically become EASR authorisations on 1 November 2025, but a new EASR registration will need to be applied for before 1 April 2027.

“Businesses that currently have permit applications lodged with SEPA will no doubt be anxious to know how those applications will be dealt with during this period of change”, said planning and environmental expert Mary Legge of Pinsent Masons. “For businesses that have or will file consent applications under the existing environmental regimes before 1 November but whose applications are not determined by that date, those applications will be determined under the relevant legacy regulation and not the EASR regime.”

“Businesses will also no doubt be interested to know whether a change in the regime will impact on fees currently payable,” Legge said. “Authorisation holders can expect SEPA to contact them if their fees are due to change under the new regime. SEPA will re-invoice those businesses after 1 November 2025 in such circumstances. For holders whose fees will be unchanged, they can expect to be invoiced as normal in April next year.”