A New Level Of Eye-Watering Fines - Sentencing Council Publishes Definitive Guideline For Environmental Offences

A new guideline for environmental offences will have a significant impact on the penalties imposed and could potentially result in eye-watering fines in such cases.

In summer 2013, the Sentencing Council ("SC") launched a consultation seeking views on proposed changes to the manner in which environmental offences are punished in the criminal Courts (please follow the link for our previous analysis - http://tinyurl.com/dx9mte8)

In recognition of the infrequency with which the Courts are called upon to consider the issues (research suggests that 40,000 environmental cases pass through the Magistrates' Courts each year) and the limited assistance available to them when they do, the SC has now finalised and published a guideline to direct the environmental sentencing exercise.

Does the guideline apply to all environmental offences?

No. Primarily, the guideline applies to offences committed under section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 ("EPA") (unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal of waste) and regulations 12 and 38 of the Environmental Permitting (England & Wales) Regulations 2010 ("EPR") (illegal discharges to air, land and water). These offences are selected due to the frequency with which the Courts sentence such matters and the relatively high statutory maximum penalties presently available.

In sentencing certain other environmental offences, Courts should follow the general sentencing approach set out in the guideline, but with the starting points and ranges adjusted, bearing in mind the statutory maxima for those offences. The other offences covered by the guideline are:

Section 34, Environmental Protection Act 1990 ("EPA") (breach of the duty of care in relation to waste) Section 1, Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989 Common (transportation of controlled waste without registering) Section 80, EPA (breach of an abatement notice) The big news

Prior to drawing up the guideline, the SC discussed three possible sentencing models with a pool of Crown Court Judges, District Judges and Magistrates. "The feedback...was that a narrative guideline that lists the principles a sentencer should follow would not be helpful without clear starting points and ranges". This has resulted in the SC now introducing a tariff based guideline; a marked change to the present system in which no tariff is imposed.

Headline figures

Organisations convicted of offences under section 33 of the EPA or Regulations 12 and 38 of the EPR...