The UK Government's "red tape challenge" was
launched in April 2011 with the intention of reducing the
regulatory burden on UK business whilst maintaining adequate
safeguards. The review encompasses consideration of both general
regulations that cross all sectors (such as health and safety and
environment) and examination of selected sectors and industry such
as the Energy industry. The review does not cover legislation that
is the devolved responsibility of the governments of Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland. The potential "gold plating"
of EU regulations is however considered.
Following on from earlier announcements, the Government has
recently released the results of the Energy related review which
includes offshore oil and gas exploration and production. The
outcome is the proposed repeal of 86 regulations and amendments to
48 regulations. A number of existing regulations and Acts of
Parliament were reviewed and shall be retained without change. This
update focuses on proposed changes to offshore environment related
regulations solely.
Offshore environmental related regulations to be
improved
The regulations targeted for "improvement"
include:-
- The Offshore Chemicals Regulations 2002 (amended in 2011),
which regulate the use and discharge of chemicals from offshore
installations.
- The Offshore Combustion Installation (Prevention and Control of
Pollution) Regulations 2001 (amended in 2007) and The Offshore
Petroleum Activities (Oil Pollution Prevention and Control)
Regulations 2005 (amended in 2011) – both of which relate
to discharges/emissions.
- The Offshore Petroleum Activities (Conservation of Habitats) Regulations 2001 and amending regulations of 2007 applying the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive.
Next steps
The announcement noted that the regulatory requirements
imposed by the Offshore Chemicals Regulations 2002 as amended shall
be streamlined "in order to improve functionality and reduce
costs for installation operators, whilst maintaining existing
environmental protections". How this shall be achieved in
practice remains to be seen as the extent of proposed change is not
known. Timescales shall vary depending on the method of
implementing changes and whether public consultation is needed on
specific proposals.
A full list of the legislation considered pursuant to the Energy
review can be found here.
Ongoing engagement
The Government has stated that if a theme subject to review is
closed, any other comments shall continue to be considered as part
of the wider deregulatory agenda if emailed to: redtapechallenge@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.uk
More information on the red tape challenge is available here.
This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq
Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.
The original publication date for this article was 15/08/2012.