Following a recent public consultation exercise, some changes to the Regulations will come into effect on 6 April 2009 The changes will increase the qualifying limitation from 200kg to 500kg in any 12-month period and will also serve to clarify certain other provisions of the 2005 Regulations. The changes are effected by the Hazardous Waste (England and Wales)(Amendment) Regulations 2009 (S.I. 2009 No 507).

All other requirements of the Regulations will continue to apply to all movements of hazardous waste, including those from premises that are exempt from the notification requirement.

While the Special Waste regime was in force in the UK, the European Commission revised its list of hazardous waste and incorporated it into the European Waste Catalogue. The revised list includes a number of waste streams not previously considered to be hazardous, including televisions, computer monitors, fluorescent lighting and end-of-life vehicles.

This list needed to be transposed into national legislation and we also took the opportunity to make other changes. Defra consulted on new Hazardous Waste Regulations for England in July 2004, and the new Regulations based on the consultation responses come into force on 16 July 2005. The new regime includes a requirement for most producers of hazardous waste to notify their premises to the Environment Agency. The facility to notify premises has been available from April 2005.

Further guidance on the Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2009 can be found under defra.gov.uk (PDF 70 Kb).