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Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) Regulations

These regulations aim to prevent serious environmental impacts or ensure that remediation is carried out. The duty to prevent or remediate falls on operators of activities.

What is environmental damage?

The regulations specifically define three types of environmental damage.

  • biodiversity damage - to European Union protected species and habitats, and Sites of Special Scientific Interest
  • water damage
  • land damage

'Environmental damage' has a specific meaning in the regulations, covering only the most serious cases where an operator has caused damage to the natural environment.

What is our role?

The Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) Regulations (EDR) do not replace any existing legislation but give us:

  • powers to serve prevention notices and to carry out work ourselves in certain circumstances
  • duties to assess damage and require operators to remediate

Our EDR duties apply as soon as we have reasonable grounds for believing that there is or may be 'environmental damage'.

For water and biodiversity, the definition thresholds are high. EDR cases are therefore likely to be among the most serious cases that we deal with.