Date:              25 April 2008
Embargo:       None

ESA Call for Better Guidance on Regulation

In responding to BERR’s consultation on good guidance on regulation ESA stressed that the waste and secondary resources sector was overwhelmingly driven by regulation which set the standard for how waste should be managed. ESA advised that effective regulation underpinned by appropriate guidance created a viable market for waste management services.
ESA agreed with the ‘golden rules’ of good guidance as specified in the consultation document, that guidance should be: based on a good understanding of the audience; designed with input from the audience and their representative bodies; organised around the user’s way of working rather than legislative or departmental structures; easy for users to understand; reliable; issued in good time; easy to access; reviewed and improved.
ESA advised that in addition to clear rules, operators needed the confidence that they would be consistently and fairly enforced.
ESA stressed that it was also vital that guidance was promptly and effectively communicated by the regulator, noting that historically, guidance issued by the regulator to ESA’s Members had been delayed, had caused confusion and uncertainty, and had been issued revised and/or withdrawn without adequate notice. ESA noted that such an uncertain approach had frustrated investments in the infrastructure required to comply with EU environmental law.
ESA also called for clarification on precisely how regulators’ performance against the golden rules would be measured and on the consequences of their not complying with the ‘golden rules’.

ENDS