Commodity Watch
In 2012, a judgement at the European Court of Justice changed the interpretation of ‘waste carriers’ in European law. The judgement found that registration of professional waste carriers must include all those who ‘normally and regularly transport waste, whether that waste is produced by them or others”. As this was different to the previous interpretation of EU Waste law, the Department of the Environment (DOE) in Northern Ireland and their counterparts in many other parts of Europe, updated local legislation to reflect this change.
This may require a number of businesses, including farms, to register as ‘lower tier’ waste carriers. This is a one-off registration process and the UFU successfully lobbied DOE to include this registration process on the Single Application Form (IACS form) back in 2012 in order to ease the administrative burden on local farmers, and this registration process has remained on the SAF form ever since. It should be noted that it is a criminal offence to transport waste without being registered with the NIEA and that carries a maximum fine of £5,000.
Section 6, which covers Agricultural Waste Authorisations on this year’s Single Application Form, again includes a question which farmers should pay particular attention to. As almost all farmers will ‘normally and regularly carry waste from agricultural premises’, the UFU would suggest that farmers mark ‘X’ against question 13 on their 2014 Single Application Form.
However, farmers should note that this registration is only applicable to waste which is produced at agricultural premises as a result of an agricultural activity i.e. agricultural waste. Farmers collecting controlled waste from other premises must be registered through the ‘upper tier’ registration process which involves a separate application form and requires an application fee to be paid and they should also make themselves aware of the ‘Duty of Care’ controls.
Further guidance on the registration of waste carriers can be found at http://www.doeni.gov.uk/niea/waste-home/authorisation/regulations_carrier.htm
