In order to assist local authorities understand their own role as an enforcement authority under the Fluorinated Greenhouse Gas Regulations 2015 (“the F Gas Regulations”), it is proposed to have a half day training/information event to be held at SEPA’s Stirling Office on the 20th March 2018. This will be an all morning event with a planned start time of 10am and will run until not later than 1pm.
The F gas Regulations name the Scottish Ministers, SEPA and Local Authorities as the enforcing authorities in Scotland.
From 1st April 2018 the F Gas (Amendment) Regulations 2018 will come into force which will introduce a new civil penalty regime, to largely replace the criminal offences for breaching the regulations. This should help by making the issue of dealing with a non-compliance quicker to deal with compared to being required to submit a report to the procurator fiscal and also be an incentive for compliance as civil penalties are quicker and less costly to apply. The civil penalty amounts will range from £10,000 up to £200,000 for the most serious cases of non-compliance.
The Scottish Government have created a new national resource based within the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (“SEPA”) to help and assist with the enforcement and compliance work of the enforcing authorities.
