Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025
The purpose of the Regulations is to amend The Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018 to support the regulation of industrial and other emissions activities, waste activities, and water activities by SEPA. The Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025 were laid on 27 November 2024 and withdrawn on 9 December 2024, at the request of the Net Zero and Transport Committee, to allow further time for scrutiny. The Regulations were re-laid on 27 February 2025 [1].
Overview
The 2025 Regulations bring the water, waste, radioactive substances and pollution prevention and control regimes under a single ‘Integrated Authorisation Framework.
The 2025 Regulations also bring ‘new activities’ into this common framework, which changes the way that a number of activities are regulated. The new activities are applying sewage sludge to land; carbon capture; non-waste anaerobic digestion; and certain electricity generators.
The 2025 Regulations also make a number of changes to the common framework provided by the 2018 Regulations, such as changes to public participation and engagement under the framework [1].
