Consultation on potential amendments to the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Regulation

Overview

We are seeking your views on a number of proposed changes to the retained Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 as amended by the Persistent Organic Pollutants (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 and the Persistent Organic Pollutants (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2022) (“POPs Regulation”).

Some of the presented options and potential amendments to the POPs Regulation are related to recent additions or amendments to the UN’s Stockholm Convention on POPs which the UK, as Party to the Convention, must implement at a national level. Other options are being considered following recent reviews of the POPs Regulation, in response to scientific or technical progress, and/or to generate further evidence to inform future policy positions and potential responses to upcoming and future amendments to the UN’s Stockholm Convention on POPs. 

This consultation was launched on 2 March 2023 and closes on 27 April 2023.   

Some proposals in this consultation indicate provisional positions that we would intend to implement unless compelling evidence is presented regarding unforeseen impacts and/or burdens, while other proposals represent opportunities to generate further evidence to inform future policy positions and determine their suitability to achieve UK priorities. Generation of this evidence will help reduce the risk of unintentionally introducing unforeseen future costs to UK business or government, and/or disruption to waste management. 

We are committed to maintaining our environmental standards and none of the proposals set out in this consultation are intended to lower our existing standards with regard to the management of POPs. As a Party to the Stockholm Convention, the UK remains committed to restricting and/or eliminating these POPs globally.   

The proposed options and potential amendments we are consulting on relate to: 

• amending and/or addition of POPs waste concentration limits for several POPs 
• removal of specific exemptions for several POPs 
• addition of unintentional trace contaminant (UTC) exemption levels for at least two POPs 
• amending and/or removal of UTC exemptions for a POP  
• addition of a new toxic equivalency factor (TEF) for a POP  
• amending maximum concentration limits (derogations for permanent waste storage) for several POPs 

Respondents are invited to respond to any section relevant to them and are not expected to respond to all sections within the consultation. 

What happens next

A summary of the responses to this consultation will be published and placed on government websites at www.gov.uk, and may also include publication on www.gov.wales, and www.gov.scot.  

The summary will include a list of organisations that responded, but not personal names, addresses or other contact details. However, information provided in response to this consultation document, including personal information, may be subject to publication or release to other parties, or disclosure in accordance with access to information regimes, such as the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 2018. 

If you want information, including personal data that you provide to be treated as confidential, please say so clearly in writing when you send your response to the consultation (if responding via post or email) and explain why you need these details to be kept confidential. If responding via Citizen Space, you will be asked whether you would like your response to be treated as confidential or not. If we receive a request for a disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, we will take full account of your explanation, but due to the law we cannot provide any assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as a confidentiality request. 

Defra is the data controller in respect of any personal data that you provide, and Defra’s Personal Information Charter, which gives details of your rights in respect of the handling of personal data, can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-ruralaffairs/about/personal-informati on-charter.