New civil penalties will allow businesses to make their own environmental amends

The Environment Agency in England and Wales (EA) will be able to offer a more flexible range of civil sanctions based on the nature of the offence, allowing it to censure offending businesses while avoiding criminal fines or potential imprisonment.

New enforcement undertakings will enable businesses to make a formal, voluntary offer to rectify any damage. The EA will also be able to issue enforcement notices, and fixed and variable penalty fines.

The new sanctions will initially cover offences relating to hazardous waste, packaging waste and harm to water resources. The Agency has warned, though, that it will still prosecute the most serious offenders.

An enforcement undertaking must be voluntarily offered by a company, rather than being requested or suggested by the EA. It must identify any steps the business will take to put right any harm caused, and any steps it intends to take to return to legal compliance both in the immediate and the long term. It can also include providing compensation for the local community.

The EA has produced a standard form to help businesses who have breached an environmental regulation make an offer (12-page, 155KB PDF).

If the EA accepts the contained in an enforcement undertaking, that proposal becomes a legally binding voluntary agreement.

A company can also offer to voluntary compensate any third party affected by its actions.

The EA will be able to issue two types of fine depending on the nature and severity of any environmental offence.

Its Fixed Monetary Penalty (FMP) is a low-level fine set at £100 for individuals and £300 for businesses. The regulator may impose that fine for a specified minor offence.

Variable Monetary Penalties (VMP) will be available for more serious offences, allowing the regulator to impose a fine of up to £250,000.

The EA can also now issue three types of formal written enforcement notice, and will be able to follow these with a non-compliance penalty fine (NCP) or prosecution if necessary.

A Compliance Notice will require a company to either start following the law, or to return to a previous state of compliance, within a specified period.

The regulator can also issue a Restoration Notice, requiring a company to take steps to undo any harm caused by its bad behaviour; or a Stop Notice, which will force companies to immediately stop and illegal activity which causes or risks serious harm to the environment.