From 1st January 2014 Irish Water is responsible for the production, distribution and monitoring of drinking water from over 1000 public water supplies, serving 82.0% of the population.  The remainder of the population is supplied by group water schemes (6.6%), small private supplies (0.8%) and private wells (10.6%) that are exempt under the Regulations. Responsibility for the water...

Deadlines for Licences to be in place under the Industrial Emissions Directive have been published.  However, it is often quite alarming to find out that, many good business are not aware of new laws which could have serious implication for the sustainability and indeed the viability of their business activities. The Directive on industrial emissions 2010/75/EU...

The Irish Health and Safety Authority (HSA) has produced an information sheet which outlines the key responsibilities for EU importers of chemical substances and mixtures under the REACH, CLP and Rotterdam Regulations, for which the HSA is the relevant Competent Authority in Ireland. Import means the physical introduction into the customs territory of the EU....

The European Federation of Bottled Waters (EFBW) has announced the adoption of a new instrument for the assessment of the environmental impact of bottled water throughout its life cycle.  EFBW’s Product Category Rules – or PCR – have been specifically designed to allow bottled water operators to accurately measure their environmental footprint, hereby enabling them...

Members of the European parliament’s environment committee have voted overwhelmingly in favour of passing the compromise text into law Following negations between the European commission, parliament and member states in November and December, amendments were made to the commission’s proposed new EIA Directive. On 12 February, members of the parliamentary environment committee voted in favour of...

Anaerobic Digestion Capacity >75 tonnes per day will be subject to the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) from 2015.  A review of EU industrial pollution guidance for waste treatment plants has begun. The existing technical reference document (BREF) was adopted by the European Commission in 2006. It outlines the best available techniques (BAT) and associated emission levels...

The publication of Regulation (EU) No 736/2013 extending the biocide active substance review programme and the implementation of the new EU Biocides Regulation 528/2012 (EU BPR) on 1 September 2013, will have a significant impact on the expiry dates of COPR-approved products (both new and existing). The European Commission has published Regulation (EU) No 736/2013...

Member state diplomats have approved a compromise struck with MEPs on new social and environmental reporting rules for companies. France, which is understood to be unhappy at the extent to which the proposed corporate social responsibility (CSR) directive has been weakened, insisted that the type of companies covered should be reviewed in future. Other member...

Here are 5 thoughts for the day which are relevant to most of us – Start-up and Established Businesses, Entrepreneurs and Implementors, SME’s and Multinationals, Home and Family Life. Never tell people your troubles. Half of them are not interested and the other half are glad you’re getting what’s coming to you. – Tommy Cooper...

Member state representatives in Brussels have approved a series of reforms to the 2006 groundwater directive after a review of two of its annexes last year but the EU-wide quality standards have not changed. The European Commission decided there was not enough information available to set new quality standards, which means that nitrates and pesticides...