Is your company aware of the heavy fines and penalties that can
be imposed on your organization for infringing environmental
laws and regulations? Many companies are not.
It's important to know that your organization can be fined for
many different kinds of infringement, not just for incidents of
pollution. Examples are:
- Failure to register, for example, with the appropriate
regulatory agency or compliance scheme.
- Failure to report specific incidents, such as environmental
infringements and impacts
- Failure to comply with the law, for example, regulations
relating to pollution prevention and control, waste packaging
requirements, emission levels, countryside and habitats
protection, and planning and building regulations.
- Failure to keep proper records, such as those related to
disposal of hazardous waste materials, waste management
licenses, and local air pollution control.
- Lack of certification, including water discharge consents,
IPPC Permits, and certificates of competence.
- Provision of false information
- All of these breaches of the environmental regulations can
result in your organization being heavily fined. It's not just
the fine, which can result in a substantial financial penalty,
it's also the damaging publicity associated with the
infringement that is so important for your corporate reputation.
In today's world, everything from refrigerator disposal to
vehicle emissions, through river water quality, the construction
of incinerators, the use of packaging, energy, waste and water
infrastructure, pollution abatement, ownership and development
of contaminated land, production of chemicals and policy on
climate change, is subject to legislation.
International Treaties such as Kyoto, the Montreal Protocol on
ozone depleting substances, WTO trade rounds and UN Conventions
and Declarations such as the Johannesburg summit on sustainable
development in 2002, all require Governments to take action at
national level by agreed deadlines. Even companies that don't
consider themselves directly affected by much of this, may find
that their clients or suppliers are faced with new regulatory
requirements.
Each year, thousands of companies are prosecuted and fined for
environmental offences, and there is pressure every year for the
level of penalties to increase, especially for repeat offenders.
The rules and regulations are changing all the time and you need
to be certain that you are fully informed about new proposals
long before they are introduced.
Just remember, it's not just incidents of pollution that can
lead to heavy fines. Failure to register, failure to report,
failure to comply, failure to keep proper records, lack of
certification offences, provision of false information - these
are all treated as serious breaches of environmental law.
It's no good pleading ignorance of the law - that's no defence.
You need an early warning system, which ensures that you are
always well informed about your responsibilities.
|
