WHAT ARE ENVIRONMENTAL CIVIL SANCTIONS?
An environmental civil sanction is a non-criminal penalty given to an individual or company for committing an environmental offence. It is an alternative enforcement response to prosecution or to being given a formal caution. Environmental regulators enforce the requirements of environmental laws, permits, licences and consents, and civil sanctions provide a wider range of enforcement options as well as provide the ability to enforce against environmental offences without going to court. Civil sanctions are only available for specific environmental offences in England, Scotland and Wales.

WHO ARE THE ENFORCEMENT BODIES?

The environmental regulators that can enforce civil sanctions for each jurisdiction are:


WHAT TYPES OF ENVIRONMENTAL CIVIL SANCTIONS ARE THERE?

There are several environmental civil sanctions as outlined below.

N.B. Not all the civil sanctions listed are available for every environmental offence.

WHEN ARE THEY USED?

Civil sanctions are used when it is deemed by the regulator that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute for the offence committed, and where it is decided that a civil sanction is an adequate enforcement response to the nature of the offence, and is an appropriate deterrent to the offender and others. They are available for specific offences under a number of pieces of legislation, most notably:

Each environmental regulator has issued guidance detailing the enforcement responses it has available for each kind of offence.


WHICH LEGISLATION APPLIES?

The Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008  gave regulators a range of new powers to impose civil sanctions.

In England, The Environmental Civil Sanctions (England) Order 2010  sets out in Schedule 5 the offences to which civil sanctions may be imposed by the EA and Natural England (NE).

The Welsh Government introduced The Environmental Civil Sanctions (Wales) Order 2010  which gave the Environment Agency Wales (the former environmental regulator) the power to impose civil sanctions for a range of environmental offences. These functions now sit with NRW following the creation of the new body in 2013.

In Scotland, SEPA have very similar powers under Part 3 of the Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.