Explanatory note

These Regulations are the first to be made under powers in section 34CA and 34CB of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (“the 1990 Act”). They establish in Scotland a digital waste tracking system, the purpose of which is to track controlled waste. The Regulations come into force on 1 January 2027.

Controlled waste is household, industrial or commercial waste (see section 75(4) to (8) of the 1990 Act).

Part 2 (regulations 3 to 7) and schedule 1 contain provisions relating to the establishment of the digital waste tracking system and default requirements for operators of a permitted facility to ensure the entry of information regarding controlled waste into the digital waste tracking system and to pay an annual fee. This Part also makes provision for outages (when information cannot be entered into the digital waste tracking system) and the correction of errors in the digital waste tracking system.

Part 3 (regulations 8 to 12) contains provisions relating to digitally excluded persons, including alternative requirements for recording information that would otherwise be required to be entered into the digital waste tracking system under Part 2.

Part 4 (regulations 13 and 14) contains provisions about functions of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (“SEPA”).

Part 5 (regulations 15 to 20) contains provisions relating to offences, compliance notices and enforcement cost recovery notices.

Part 6 (regulation 21) and schedule 2 contain provisions about appeals.

Part 7 (regulations 22 to 23) contains supplementary provisions including those governing SEPA access to the digital waste tracking system and persons with whom information held under these Regulations can be shared.