• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Gowling WLG
  • Legal information
  • Privacy statement
  • Cookie Policy
  • Home
  • About
  • Posts
  • Blogs
    • B2022
    • The IP Blog
    • Public Law & Regulation
    • AI
    • The UPC Blog

LoupedIn

What can public bodies expect in the new era of the Office for Environmental Protection?

Published on March 30, 2022 by Nick Harding

What can public bodies expect in the new era of the Office for Environmental Protection?

The newly created Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has issued a draft strategy and enforcement policy to set out its role and remit. The consultation documents offer an insight into what government departments and public authorities can expect from the new body. But how will its responsibilities differ from the pre-Brexit world of environmental law and how far-reaching will its enforcement powers be?

The OEP came into existence in November 2021, filling the gap left by the European Commission post-Brexit in relation to the investigation and enforcement of breaches of environmental law. Complementing the work of the Environment Agency in regulating environmental compliance in the private sector in England, the OEP focuses on the responsibilities of government departments and public authorities. And while the new body’s operational framework is yet to be laid out, it’s primary objective is clarified as contributing to environmental protection and the improvement of the natural environment.

The draft strategy outlined in the consultation gives us a first glimpse into how the OEP envisages its role taking shape.  Here, we can see it recognises the need to act strategically and selectively – given its newness, size and available resources – as to how it approaches the matters brought to its attention. We also understand it will publish an annual corporate plan, setting out what funding there is available and how this will be utilised to meet the OEP’s overall strategic objectives.

More than just a reporting and advisory body, the OEP’s role also extends to ensuring accountability for any breaches. Its draft enforcement policy sets out how it will determine what enforcement action to take and its approach to using discretion in how its enforcement powers are applied. A couple of interesting points I noted, in particular, in the draft policy are:

  1. It has previously been unclear whether the OEP could only carry out an investigation if they have received a complaint pursuant to s.32 of the Act. However, the enforcement policy makes certain that the OEP may utilise its powers of investigation following receipt of a complaint “or on our own initiative”.
  2. As stated earlier, the OEP must be selective in carrying out investigations and issuing enforcement due to the limited resources that they have. The test for carrying out an investigation and issuing enforcement is whether a failure to comply with environmental law is serious. Factors assisting this assessment include whether the failure raises any points of law of general importance, the frequency of the conduct, the behaviours of the public authority and whether the harm (or potential harm) to the natural environment or human health amount to serious damage.

With the consultation now closed, we await to see what final form the OEP’s strategy and enforcement policy takes based on the views gathered. Either way, it is reassuring to see in this initial draft that the OEP may investigate potential failures of its own accord – albeit resources might limit how often this is the case. It will be interesting to observe whether the consultation gives rise to more power for the OEP in areas such as enforcing breaches of its own recommendations in decision notices, or compliance with steps set out in court-issued statements of non-compliance. Doing so would certainly give greater weight to the OEP’s enforcement measures.

Whether you are reading this as a public or private body, if you would like to understand more about the changing regulatory environment in this area, please contact a member of our Environmental law team.

About the author(s)

Photo of Nick Harding
Nick Harding
View profile | See recent posts

Nick is a senior associate based in Gowling WLG's London office, specialising in environmental and planning law.

  • Nick Harding
    https://loupedin.blog/author/nickharding/
    The Office for Environmental Protection believes biodiversity net gain proposals require strengthening
  • Nick Harding
    https://loupedin.blog/author/nickharding/
    Analysis: OEP publishes first 25 Year Environment Plan monitoring report
  • Nick Harding
    https://loupedin.blog/author/nickharding/
    Environmental law in 2023 – Key areas to follow

Nick Harding

Nick is a senior associate based in Gowling WLG's London office, specialising in environmental and planning law.

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: Environment, environmental protection

Views expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect those of Gowling WLG.

NOT LEGAL ADVICE. Information made available on this website in any form is for information purposes only. It is not, and should not be taken as, legal advice. You should not rely on, or take or fail to take any action based upon this information. Never disregard professional legal advice or delay in seeking legal advice because of something you have read on this website. Gowling WLG professionals will be pleased to discuss resolutions to specific legal concerns you may have.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • MIPIM 2023: Key topics shaping the future of real estate
  • Climate change – New report highlights areas for scaling up action
  • Transferring data out of China? Understand the key points from the Chinese Standard Contractual Clauses

Tags

apprenticeships (5) Artificial Intelligence (AI) (52) Autonomous vehicles (11) b2022 (18) Birmingham 2022 (8) Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games (14) brand protection (5) Brexit (23) china (5) Climate change (13) COP26 (11) COP27 (6) Copyright (8) COVID-19 (23) Cyber security (5) Data protection (6) Employment (13) employment law (9) Environment (8) ESG (21) ESG and pensions (9) financial services (5) Intellectual Property (59) IP (9) Life sciences (6) net zero (6) Patents (28) Pensions (41) Pension scams (5) Pension Schemes Act 2021 (11) Pensions dashboards (7) Pensions in 2022 (10) Pensions law (31) Procurement (7) Public Law & Regulation (39) Real Estate (17) Retail (6) sustainability (7) Tech (45) The Week In Pensions (11) Trademarks (13) UK (15) unified patents court (9) UPC (24) Week in HR (8)

Categories

Archives

Gowling WLG is an international law firm comprising the members of Gowling WLG International Limited, an English Company Limited by Guarantee, and their respective affiliates. Each member and affiliate is an autonomous and independent entity. Gowling WLG International Limited promotes, facilitates and co-ordinates the activities of its members but does not itself provide services to clients. Our structure is explained in more detail on our Legal Information page.

Footer

LoupedIn is the Official Gowling WLG Blog. Gowling WLG is an international law firm comprising the members of Gowling WLG International Limited, an English Company Limited by Guarantee, and their respective affiliates. Each member and affiliate is an autonomous and independent entity. Gowling WLG International Limited promotes, facilitates and co-ordinates the activities of its members but does not itself provide services to clients. Our structure is explained in more detail on our Legal Information page.

  • Home
  • About
  • Gowling WLG
  • Legal information
  • Privacy statement
  • Cookie Policy

© 2023 Gowling WLG

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT