Waste Management (Landfill Levy) Regulations 2011.

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR SI 434/2011
• Year: 2011

INDEX

1. Citation

2. Commencement

3. Interpretation

4. Imposition of a landfill levy

5. Liability for payment of the levy

6. Exemption from the levy

7. Exemption from the levy

8. Payment of levy by an accountable person, other than a local authority

9. Payment of levy by a local authority

10. Payment of levy in respect of an unauthorised landfill facility

11. Records and accounts

12. Audit of relevant waste disposal activities

13. Estimation in the case of non-payment

14. Estimation in the case of underpayment

15. Recovery of levy which is due and payable

16. Refund of levy

17. Annual Report

18. Restriction on charges for waste collection services

19. Revocation

SCHEDULE 1

Calculation of Weight of Waste in the Absence of a Weighbridge

S.I. No. 434 of 2011

WASTE MANAGEMENT (LANDFILL LEVY) REGULATIONS 2011

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 30th August, 2011.

I, PHIL HOGAN, Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by sections 7 , 18 (3) and 73 of the Waste Management Act 1996 (No. 10 of 1996), hereby make the following regulations:

Citation

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Waste Management (Landfill Levy) Regulations 2011.

Commencement

2. These Regulations shall come into operation on 1 September 2011.

Interpretation

3. (1) In these Regulations, any reference to a Regulation or Schedule that is not otherwise identified is a reference to a Regulation or Schedule of these Regulations.

(2) In these Regulations, any reference to a paragraph or subparagraph that is not otherwise identified is a reference to the paragraph or subparagraph of the provision in which the reference occurs.

(3) In these Regulations, save where the context otherwise requires—

“accountable person” means the person by whom the levy is payable in respect of a landfill facility, in accordance with section 73(5) of the Act and Regulation 5;

“accounting period” means each period of one calendar month commencing on 1 September 2011;

“Act” means the Waste Management Act 1996 ;

“Agency” means the Environmental Protection Agency established under Part II of the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 (No. 7 of 1992);

“auditor” for the purposes of Regulation 12, includes a body corporate;

“authorised landfill facility” means a waste disposal site on which the disposal of waste has or is taking place with a waste licence;

“end-of-life vehicle” has the meaning assigned to it by article 4(3) of the Waste Management (End-of-Life Vehicles) Regulations 2006 ( S.I. No. 282 of 2006 );

“Environment Fund” has the meaning assigned to it by section 74 of the Act;

“landfill facility” means a waste disposal site on which the disposal of waste has or is taking place;

“Local Government Auditor” means an auditor appointed by the Minister under the Local Government Act 2001 , to carry out, or to assist in the carrying out of, audits of the accounts of local authorities or other bodies;

“Regulations of 2008” means the Waste Management (Landfill Levy) Regulations 2008 ( S.I. No. 199 of 2008 );

“relevant local authority” means, in relation to a waste disposal activity which is subject to the levy, the local authority in whose functional area the activity concerned is carried on;

“unauthorised landfill facility” means a waste disposal site on which the disposal of waste has or is taking place without a waste licence.

Imposition of a landfill levy

4. (1) Subject to Regulation 6, on and from 1 September 2011, there shall be chargeable, leviable and payable a levy (which shall be known as a “landfill levy” and is in these Regulations referred to as “the levy”) in respect of the disposal of waste at a landfill facility by means of a waste disposal activity referred to in paragraph D1 or D5 of the Third Schedule to the Act.

(2) The amount of the levy shall be—

(a)€50 for each tonne of waste disposed of at an authorised landfill facility; and

(b)€50 for each tonne of waste disposed of at an unauthorised landfill facility.

Liability for payment of the levy

5. For the purpose of section 73(5) of the Act, the levy shall be payable—

(a) in the case of an authorised landfill facility, by the holder of the said licence;

(b) in the case of a waste disposal activity at a facility which is deemed not to contravene the provisions of Part V of the Act by virtue of compliance with the requirements of section 39(3) of the Act, by the applicant for the relevant licence; or

(c) in the case of an unauthorised landfill facility by the person who carried on or is carrying on the waste disposal activity or, where that person cannot for whatever reason discharge the levy liability or, in the event that responsibility for the waste disposal activity cannot be imputed to any person, by the owner of the unauthorised landfill facility concerned.

Exemption from the Levy

6. (1) Regulation 4 shall not apply in respect of the disposal, to an authorised landfill facility, of the following wastes—

(a) non-hazardous waste from construction and demolition activity, comprising concrete, bricks, tiles, road planings or other such similar materials, with a particle size of 150mm or less, which is used for landfill site engineering, restoration or remediation purposes;

(b) excavation spoil comprising clay, sand, gravel or stone, which is used for landfill site engineering, restoration or remediation purposes;

(c) stabilised waste arising from the composting of the biodegradable fraction of municipal waste, to which fraction sewage sludge may have been added;

(d) waste arising from street cleaning activities carried on by or on behalf of a local authority;

(e) waste which has been deposited elsewhere without appropriate authorisation and is subsequently removed by or on behalf of a local authority or the Agency for disposal, for the purpose of preventing environmental pollution (but not including waste which has been deposited elsewhere without appropriate authorisation and is subsequently required to be removed for disposal by a person at the direction of a local authority or the Agency);

(f) waste arising from local clean-up activities carried on by community or environmental groups, where such activity is approved in advance by the relevant local authority for the purposes of exemption of such waste arisings from the levy;

(g) residues from filtration during the extrusion of recycled polymeric material;

(h) non-metallic residues arising from the shredding of end-of-life vehicles, white goods and other metal waste;

(i) waste arising from a process which meets the energy efficiency threshold specified in paragraph R1 of the Fourth Schedule to the Act; and

(j) dredge spoil from inland waterways and harbours.

(2) Regulation 4 shall not apply in respect of—

(a) the disposal of waste in a landfill facility, where such a facility is connected or associated with an activity specified in the First Schedule of the Environmental Protection Agency Acts 1992 and 2003 and is subject to a licence or revised licence granted by the Agency under section 83 of the Environmental Protection Agency Acts 1992 and 2003; and

(b) the deposition in a quarry of natural material arising from the excavation of that quarry, where such material is in a chemically unaltered state.

Determination of levy liability

7. (1) Subject to paragraph (2), for the purpose of determining the amount of the levy which is payable in the case of an authorised landfill facility, the weight of waste disposed of shall be determined by means of a weighbridge at the facility concerned.

(2) In the case of a landfill facility at which—

(a) there is not a weighbridge, or

(b) a weighbridge is not for the time being capable of operation,

the weight of waste disposed of shall be determined by means of any one of the methods set out in Schedule 1 to these Regulations.

(3) In the case of an unauthorised landfill facility, the weight of waste disposed of shall be determined by the relevant local authority—

(a) by means of weighing any such waste that is removed from the facility concerned, by or at the direction of the relevant local authority or the Agency, for disposal elsewhere; and

(b) in any other case, by means of such methodology as is from time to time notified in writing to the relevant local authority by the Agency.

(4) In proceedings for the recovery of levy payable under these Regulations or for an offence under these Regulations, it shall be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, that a determination made by a local authority for the purpose of paragraph (3) is in accordance with the methodology approved for that purpose.

(5) An accountable person shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that a weighbridge in an authorised landfill facility is—

(a) properly maintained and calibrated,

(b) used to quantify the weight of all wastes accepted at the facility for the purpose of disposal; and

(c) in the event of breakdown, repaired as expeditiously as possible.

(6) A relevant local authority may at any time require an accountable person to calibrate a weighbridge in an authorised landfill facility.

Payment of levy by an accountable person, other than a local authority

8. (1) Subject to paragraphs (4) and (5), an accountable person, other than a local authority, shall, not later than 4 weeks following the end of an accounting period—

(a) furnish to the relevant local authority a full and true return, in such form as may be specified by that authority, of the amount of the levy which became payable by that person during the said accounting period, in respect of each landfill facility concerned, and

(b) remit to the said local authority the amount payable, in such form, or by lodgement to such financial account, as shall be specified by that authority.

(2) Subject...