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The 18th Edition of the IET Wiring Regulations has been published today.
The updated Standard, entitled BS 7671:2018 Requirements for Electrical Installations, IET Wiring Regulations, will come into effect on 1st January 2019.
The Regulations apply to the design, erection and verification of electrical installations, also additions and alterations to existing installations. Although not a statutory document, BS 7671 will set the standard for how electrical installations should be completed in the UK and enables compliance with the law.
Installations designed after 31st December 2019 will have to comply with this new Standard. Existing installations that have been installed in accordance with earlier editions of the Standard may not comply with this edition in every respect. This does not necessarily mean that they are unsafe for continued use or require upgrading.
The main changes made to the Standard include (note, this list is not exhaustive):
The new standard is available from the BSI shop.
Commencement: 15th June 2018
Revokes: The Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2010
Summary
These Regulations supplement Chapter III (Water Supply) of the Water Industry Act 1991 and revoke and replace the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2010.
They are primarily concerned with the quality of water supplied by water undertakers whose areas are wholly or mainly in Wales for drinking, washing, cooking and food preparation, and for food production.
These Regulations implement Council Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption. Their purpose is to protect human health from the adverse effects of any contamination of water intended for human consumption by ensuring it is wholesome and clean. They also implement Council Directive 2013/51/Euratom laying down requirements for the protection of the health of the general public with regard to radioactive substances in water intended for human consumption.
These Regulations are split into 12 parts –
Part 1 General: Details commencement and interpretation.
Part 2 Water Supply Zones: Requires water companies to annually designate water supply zones.
Part 3 Wholesomeness: Sets out the standard of wholesomeness in respect to water that is supplied for human consumption by water companies.
Part 4 Monitoring of Water Supplies: Sets out two monitoring regimes and the general monitoring requirements.
Part 5 Monitoring Additional Provisions: Contains additional requirements relating to sampling.
Part 6 Drinking Water Protected Area: Requires water companies and supplementary licensees to identify every point from which they abstract water for supply.
Part 7 Investigations, Authorisation of Departures and Remedial Action: Requires water companies and supplementary licensees to investigate the causes of any failure, or apprehended failure.
Part 8 Water Treatment: Sets out conditions water companies must meet before supplying water.
Part 9 Records and Information: Requires every water company or supplementary licensee to prepare and maintain records.
Part 10 Function of Local Authorities in Relation to Water Quality: Imposes requirements on local authorities in relation to the quality of water supplied by water companies or water supply licensees.
Part 11 Enforcement: Provides information on the enforcement of these Regulations.
Part 12 Miscellaneous: Provides for transitional provision, amendments and revocations.
Commencement: 4th July 2018
Amends:
How to read EU Directives
European Directives are not directly enforceable on businesses in the UK. They create obligations for Member States to implement national legislation. However, they may frequently be of interest to businesses because they set the standards which national legislation seeks to implement. Furthermore, UK regulation often incorporates or makes direct reference to sections within the Directives, so you need to refer to the Directive as well as the national regulations to fully understand the duties.
Directive 2000/53/EC on end-of-life vehicles
The amendment Directive requires Member States to, as well as the original requirements, take the necessary measures to ensure that all end-of-life vehicles are stored (even temporarily) and treated in accordance with the waste hierarchy. It also requires Member States to electronically submit a report on reuse and recovery targets for each calendar year to the Commission.
Directive 2006/66/EC on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators
The amendment Directive requires Member States to electronically submit reports on the levels of recycling achieved in each calendar year to the Commission. It also gives Member States powers to make use of economic instruments and other measures to provide incentives for the application of the waste hierarchy.
Directive 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)
This Directive requires Member States to electronically submit reports on the quantities and categories of WEEE placed on their market to the Commission. It also gives member states powers to make use of economic instruments and other measures to provide incentives for the application of the waste hierarchy.
Commencement: 22nd May 2018
Amends: The Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme Regulations 2014
Mini summary of the 2014 Regulations
These Regulations establish a government financial incentive to promote the use of renewable heat within households. Financial support is paid quarterly, at a set rate per unit of renewable heat produced for seven years, to the owner of the heating system. Tariffs are set according to technology. The scheme is administered by the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority.
Amendment
These Regulations insert Part 3A which gives domestic RHI participants the option to finance their installations through assignment of rights. Assignment of rights allows the householder to assign their rights to RHI payments to a third party that has paid for all, or part, of their renewable heating system. The household will still own the heating system.
Third parties, or investors, who wish to offer installations to households as part of an assignment of rights arrangement will be required to register with the Office Of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem).
Regulation 5 is amended to introduce the requirements for heat pumps to have electricity meters installed. Regulation 14 is amended to exclude these meters from meter positioning requirements.
Regulations 36, 49 and 53 are amended to change the structure of metering and monitoring agreement payments in order to simplify the calculation of a plants initial tariff.
A new requirement is inserted which allows Ofgem to withhold metering and monitoring payments if they have reasonable grounds to suspect that specified metering and monitoring regulation requirements are not being met.
Commencement: 22nd May 2018
Revokes: The Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme Regulations 2011
Summary
These Regulations re-enact the Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme Regulation 2011 and continue to facilitate and encourage the renewable generation of heat by giving subsidy payments to eligible generators of renewable heat and producers of biomethane.
They are split into 11 parts:
These parts cover the following.
The Gas and Electricity Markets Authority must make, to participants who are owners of accredited RHI installations, payments for generating heat that is:
i. heating a space;
ii. heating water;
iii. carrying out a process; or
i. commercial cleaning; or
ii. commercial drying.
The Authority must make periodic support payments to participants who are producers of biomethane for injection.
Under these Regulations the following will no longer be eligible heat uses –
Changes are made for shared group loop systems, in particular that payments will be based on deemed heat generation (as opposed to metered heat generation) where ground source heat pumps which form part of such system are installed in domestic premises.
Any necessary planning permission is now required as part of the eligibility criteria.
These Regulations introduce a process of ‘tariff guarantees’ to give applicants greater certainty about the level of tariff they will be eligible to receive in respect of heat or biomethane production earlier in their project lifecycle.
Tariffs will be increased for heat generated by biogas installations and biomethane producers.
Finally, payments to owners of installations generating heat from biogas and to biomethane producers will be reduced where less than 50% of the biogas produced derives from waste or residue.
Commencement: 5th July 2018
Amends:
Amendment
These Regulations amend references to Directive 2008/98/EC on Waste (Waste Framework Directive) in order to insert ‘as last amended by Council Regulation (EU) 2017/977.’ Council Regulation (EU) 2017/997 amends Annex III to Directive 2008/98/EC as regards the hazardous property HP 14 ‘Ecotoxic.’
These Regulations revoke Regulation 3(2) of the Hazardous Waste (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2015 and the Waste (Meaning of Recovery) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2016. Regulation 3(2) previously amended the definition of Directive 2008/98/EC.
Commencement: 4th July 2018
Amends: Directive 2008/98/EC on waste – The Waste Framework Directive
How to read EU Directives
European Directives are not directly enforceable on businesses in the UK. They create obligations for Member States to implement national legislation. However, they may frequently be of interest to businesses because they set the standards which national legislation seeks to implement. Furthermore, UK regulation often incorporates or makes direct reference to sections within the Directives, so you need to refer to the Directive as well as the national regulations to fully understand the duties.
Amendment
Directive (EU) 2018/851 makes amendments to Directive 2008/98/EC on waste (The Waste Framework Directive) which provides the legislative framework for the collection, transport, recovery and disposal of waste.
This Directive makes amendments in order to, among other things:
Targets
This Directive adds the following three new targets:
(Preparing refers to sorting, checking, cleaning or repairing recovery operations, by which products or their components that would have become waste are prepared in a way so that they will be recycled or reused without any other pre-processing).
Definitions
A number of new definitions are inserted including:
End-of-Waste Status
Article 6 (End-of-waste status) is amended to:
Recovery
This Directive allows Member States to grant exemptions from paragraph 2 of Article 10 (recovery) provided that at least one of the following conditions are met. Paragraph 2 requires the separation of waste to facilitate re-use, recycling or other recovery operations.
Article 10 (Recovery) is amended to set out exemptions from paragraph 2 of Article 10. Paragraph 2 states that where necessary to comply with and facilitate re-use, recycling or other recovery operation, waste must be subject to separate collection and must not be mixed with other waste or other materials with different properties. This amendment allows member states to grant exemptions from paragraph 2 provide that at least one of the following conditions are met:
Bio-waste Separation
This Directive establishes bio-waste separation. A new requirement is added for bio-waste separation. By 31st December 2023, bio-waste must be separated and recycled at source, or must be collected separately and not mixed with other types of waste.
Household Hazardous Waste
This Directive establishes household hazardous waste collection. By 1st January 2025, Member States must set up separate collection for hazardous waste produced by households to ensure that they are treated correctly and do no contaminate other municipal waste streams.
Record Keeping
Finally record keeping requirements are updated. Paragraph 1 of Article 35 requires records to be kept by establishments and undertaking carrying out waste treatments, producers of hazardous waste, and establishments and undertakings which collect and transport hazardous waste on a professional basis, or act as dealers and brokers of hazardous waste. This Directive adds that a record must be kept regarding the quantity of products and material resulting from preparing for re-use, recycling or other recovery operations.
Commencement: 4th July 2018
Amends: Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste
How to read EU Directives
European Directives are not directly enforceable on businesses in the UK. They create obligations for Member States to implement national legislation. However, they may frequently be of interest to businesses because they set the standards which national legislation seeks to implement. Furthermore, UK regulation often incorporates or makes direct reference to sections within the Directives, so you need to refer to the Directive as well as the national regulations to fully understand the duties.
Selected Amendments
Reuse – Article 5
Article 5 (Reuse) is replaced in order to give more detail on the measures Member States can use to encourage the use of reusable packaging. Such measures may include:
It also sets a number of new recovery and recycling targets for Member States
Recovery and Recycling – Article 6
Article 6 (recovery and recycling) is amended to add a number of targets for Member States, these include:
The following minimum targets by weight for recycling will be met for specific materials in packaging waste:
| No later than 31st December 2025 | No later than 31st December 2030 |
| 50% of plastic 25% of wood 70% of ferrous metals 50% of aluminium 70% of glass 75% of paper and cardboard; |
55% of plastic 30% of wood 80% of ferrous metals 60% of aluminium 75% of glass 85% of paper and cardboard. |
New paragraphs (1a, 1b and 1c) are inserted into Article 6 setting out situations whereby Member States may postpone deadlines for meeting the new targets.
Systems – Article 7
Article 7 is replaced and requires Member States to take the necessary measures to ensure that systems are set to provide for:
Legislation to ban the use of microbeads has now been introduced in England, Scotland and Wales:
These Regulations apply to manufacturers and sellers of rinse-off personal care products, which are products to be applied to any relevant human body part in the course of any personal care treatment.
Rinse-off personal care products include, but are not limited to: products designed for use on the body, skin, hands, feet, nails, face, hair or oral cavity (mouth), including to exfoliate, cleanse, lighten or colour, soften skin or hair, remove hair, deodorise or perfume, as well as bath products with personal care properties and dental products.
From the commencement date, the manufacture and sale of personal care products containing microbeads will be banned.
Any person who supplies or offers to supply, any rinse-off personal care product containing microbeads on or after the dates stated above will be guilty of an offence.
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A care home in Kendal has been fined £40,000 for preparing out-of-date sandwiches to serve to its residents.
On 21st March 2017, inspectors visited Heron Hill Care Home and noticed meat, which was past its expiry date, was being prepared. Sandwiches made from beef which expired on 19th March and ham which had a use-by-date of 17th March were being prepared for lunch that day. The residents were not given the expired food.
The chiller had six packets of meat which were in date and others not being used that were out of date.
Heron Hill operator Abbey Healthcare Limited pleaded guilty to failing to comply with EU food safety and hygiene regulations and fined £40,000.
Following the visit, an action plan was submitted which identified particular areas of improvement. The company followed the action plan to the letter. A new catering manager has been employed following concerns over the safe handling of food.
In February 2018, officers carried out another inspection of the care home and assessed food hygiene standards as five stars (Very Good).
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