We use cookies to give you the best online experience. By using our website you agree to our use of cookies in accordance with our cookie policy. Learn more here.Close Me
Civil penalties totalling £99,000 for non compliance with
the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (the "CRC") have been
announced. The penalties were levied on 4 companies which are
participants in the CRC. These companies failed to provide
prescribed reports on time. The highest penalty was £41,000
and the lowest was £10,000.
Background
The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme Order 2010 (the
"Order") provides the administrators of the CRC (the
Environment Agency, SEPA and NIEA respectively) the ability to
apply penalties for non compliance with the scheme. Under the first
year (2010 to 2011) of phase one of the CRC participants were
obliged to provide a footprint report and an annual report no later
than the end of July after the end of the reporting year. For the
second year (2011 to 2012) an annual report only is required.
Potential Penalties
There are separate penalties for failure to provide either
report:
A fixed payment of £5,000 and publication of the
failure;
Where the report is provided less than 40 days after the due
date, a penalty of £500 can be levied for each working day
the report is late. After 40 days a financial penalty of
£40,000 may be applied;
In respect of annual reports only, where the report is provided
more than 40 days after the due date (or not at all), further
penalties may be levied including doubling of CRC emissions
(thereby increasing allowances required to be purchased).
These first Penalties
The highest penalty was £41,000 and comprised a penalty of
£20,500 for the two late reports. The lowest penalty was
£10,000, being £5,000 for each late report.
The Order provides the administrators with discretion to waive
or modify a civil penalty. This includes when the offender took all
reasonable steps to comply, or to rectify the failure as soon as it
came to its notice. In 2 of the 4 reported cases discretion was
exercised resulting in a reduction of the penalty imposed.
The penalties applied indicate that non compliance with the CRC
will be taken seriously particularly where there is little attempt
by the offender to rectify the non compliance. It is also a stark
reminder of the requirement to submit annual reports by 31 July
2012 for the reporting year 2011/12 and to surrender adequate
allowances this year. The regulatory enforcement position is that
participants shall be treated as compliant with their 2011/12
surrender obligation providing the Environment Agency receives a
valid order for sufficient allowances including payment of cleared
funds by 31 July 2012 and sufficient allowances are surrendered by
28 September 2012.
This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron
McKenna's free online information service. To register for
Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq
Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance
only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now
articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to
give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates
to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication
and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent
developments.
The original publication date for this article was
29/06/2012.
To print this article, all you need is to be registered on Mondaq.com.
Click to Login as an existing user or Register so you can print this article.
In our last Alert, we assessed the philosophy of the NEC Engineering and Construction Contract against the FIDIC Conditions of Contract for EPC/Turnkey Projects.
The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme Order 2013 will soon replace in its entirety the 2010 Order for the operation of the now much criticised CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme.
The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme Order 2013 will soon replace in its entirety the 2010 Order for the operation of the now much criticised CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme.
Unlike most traded commodity markets, the market for trading carbon credits or emissions allowances in the EU is not one based on its utility, usage or consumption.
The Scotland Act 2012, amongst other things, devolved to the Scottish Parliament powers to determine the tax regime for disposals to landfill.
Some comments from our readers… “The articles are extremely timely and highly applicable” “I often find critical information not available elsewhere” “As in-house counsel, Mondaq’s service is of great value”
