Following press announcements yesterday and the day before, the government’s Working Safely Guidance (England) is updated to reflect a change to the 2m rule (to allow a lesser distance) and add guidance on support bubbles.
Information on the updates that have taken place to the Working Safely Guidance (England) and access to the updated documents is here.
Note : physical distancing of 2m continues to be applied in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
As of 5pm today, 15 June, Cardinal Environment Limited has a new office address as shown below :
International Centre for HSE Regulatory Analysis
Regus Watford
1st Floor, Building 2, Croxley Business Park
Watford, Hertfordshire
WD18 8YA, United Kingdom
[all other contact details remain the same]
An Email Alert will be sent out.
The UK Government has today (12 June 2020) announced that border controls for EU goods imported into Great Britain will be introduced at the end of Transition Period in stages.
The announcement is here.
This staged approach will apply to EU goods imports to GB only. The EU will enforce the checks required by EU Law in its side of the border, there are no announcements for facilitation applicable to GB goods exports to the EU.
Per the Government announcement –
• From January 2021: Traders importing standard goods, covering everything from clothes to electronics, will need to prepare for basic customs requirements, such as keeping sufficient records of imported goods, and will have up to six months to complete customs declarations. While tariffs will need to be paid on all imports, payments can be deferred until the customs declaration has been made. There will be checks on controlled goods like alcohol and tobacco. Businesses will also need to consider how they account for VAT on imported goods. There will also be physical checks at the point of destination or other approved premises on all high risk live animals and plants.
• From April 2021: All products of animal origin (POAO) – for example meat, pet food, honey, milk or egg products – and all regulated plants and plant products will also require pre-notification and the relevant health documentation.
• From July 2021: Traders moving all goods will have to make declarations at the point of importation and pay relevant tariffs. Full Safety and Security declarations will be required, while for SPS commodities there will be an increase in physical checks and the taking of samples: checks for animals, plants and their products will now take place at GB Border Control Posts.
An EU to GB (EU goods imports to GB) border operating model will be published by the UK in July 2020.
Trade flows between Northern Ireland and Ireland, or between GB and Northern Ireland are separate and covered by the Withdrawal Agreement.
The UK Global Tariff will apply to all goods imported into the UK from 1 January 2021, unless an exception applies. The measures announced today will not apply to third countries outside of the EU. Full import controls will continue to apply on trade between the UK and third countries outside of the EU and EEA.
As I commented in earlier Blog posts, commencing August 2020, we (Cardinal Environment) will be putting some staff through the UK Customs Academy Level 4 Certificate in Advanced Customs Compliance (tariffs and customs training). This is to facilitate client queries in the foreseeable.
UK CRC (carbon trading based on electricity through half hourly meters) is closed. The final compliance year for participants in CRC was 2018 to 2019. A participant’s CRC registry account must be maintained until 31 March 2022 and evidence packs until 31 March 2025. The CRC regulators will continue to do compliance audits and take enforcement action where necessary until 31 March 2025.
From 1 April 2019 SECR requires many companies formerly within the scope of the CRC to report energy consumption and energy efficiency actions. They must do this as part of their annual director’s report. Subscribers with Law Checklists have a line entry for SECR, which I have asked on a number of occasions should be completed, as evidence you are on top of this requirement.
The UK Government and Devolved Administrations consulted on the future of carbon pricing in the UK after EU Exit, receiving over 130 responses from a range of stakeholders, with the majority supporting most of the proposals on the design of a UK ETS.
As a result, the UK intends to establish a UK Emissions Trading System with Phase I running from 2021- 2030, which could operate as either a linked or standalone system.
As stated in ‘The UK’s Approach to Negotiations’ the UK would be open to considering a link between any future UK Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the EU ETS (as Switzerland has done with its ETS), if it suited both sides’ interests.
As announced at Budget 2020, the UK Government will publish a consultation later this year on the design of a Carbon Emission Tax as an alternative to a UK ETS, to ensure a carbon price remains in place in all scenarios. I blog posted some time ago, that provision for a Carbon Emissions Tax is already on the statute books in a UK Finance Act.
The UK ETS will apply to energy intensive industries (EIIs), the power generation sector and aviation – covering activities involving combustion of fuels in installations with a total rated thermal input exceeding 20MW (except in installations for the incineration of hazardous or municipal waste) and sectors like refining, heavy industry and manufacturing. The proposed aviation routes include UK domestic flights, flights between the UK and Gibraltar, flights from the UK to EEA states, and flights from the UK to Switzerland once an agreement is reached.
In light of the UK’s commitment to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, the UK ETS will show greater climate ambition from the start. As such, the cap will initially be set 5% below the UK’s notional share of the EU ETS cap for Phase IV of the EU ETS.
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) will advise later this year on a cost-effective pathway to net-zero, as part of their advice on the Sixth Carbon Budget. The state will consult again on what an appropriate trajectory for the UK ETS cap is for the remainder of the first phase within nine months of this advice being published.
The aim is that any changes to the policy to appropriately align the cap with a net zero trajectory will be implemented by 2023 if possible and no later than January 2024, although the aim is also to give industry at least one year’s notice to provide the market with appropriate forewarning.
Auctioning will continue to be the primary means of introducing allowances into the market. To safeguard competitiveness in the UK ETS and reduce the risk of carbon leakage, a proportion of allowances will be allocated for free. Some free allowances will also be made available for new stationary entrants to the UK ETS as well as existing operators who increase their activity – these allowances will be accessible through the New Entrants Reserve. The initial UK ETS free allocation approach will be similar to that of Phase IV in order to ensure a smooth transition for participants for the 2021 launch.
In a standalone UK ETS the state will introduce a transitional Auction Reserve Price (ARP) of £15 (nominal) to ensure a minimum level of ambition and price continuity during the initial years.
A Small Emitter and Hospital Opt-Out will be implemented for installations with emissions lower than 25,000t CO2e per annum and a net-rated thermal capacity below 35MW. An Ultra-Small Emitter Exemption will be implemented for installations with emissions lower than 2,500t CO2e per annum.
International credits will not be permitted in a UK ETS at this time. This is without prejudice to ongoing reviews on how best to implement the UN global offsetting scheme, CORSIA, alongside a UK ETS.
The sections above re the UK ETS are abridged (with highlights) from the summary in the Responses Document – the document itself is here.
On 15 April 2020, the European Commission, in cooperation with the President of the European Council, put forward a Joint European Roadmap setting out recommendations on lifting COVID-19 containment measures. I Blog posted about this at the time.
As called for in the Roadmap, on 13 May 2020, the Commission put forward further guidelines on how to progressively restore transport services, connectivity and free movement as swiftly as the health situation allows it, while protecting the health of transport workers and passengers. I also put a Blog post about this.
The Commission Communication mandated EASA (the European Union Aviation Safety Agency) and ECDC (the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) to issue jointly more detailed technical operational guidance for the aviation sector.
This document is here.
As the document itself says –
The purpose of this aviation health safety protocol is to provide guidance to airport operators, aeroplane operators and national aviation authorities, as well as other relevant stakeholders, on how to facilitate the safe and gradual restoration of passenger transport. This is subject to the deployment of proportionate and effective measures to protect the health of aviation personnel and passengers, by reducing the risk of SARS- CoV-2 transmission in the airport and on board aircraft as much as practicable.
In the past days, a number of UK jurisdictions have changed their Restrictions law. This is in order to relax some of the lockdown measures.
The new amendments will be loaded today into the COVID-19 Law List in Cardinal Environment EHS Legislation Registers & Checklists – the COVID-19 Law List is found on the top right accessed from the OHS topic page. [UK and Ireland systems]
As this emergency situation continues, we will be bringing forward COVID-19 Law Checklists (UK jurisdictions). I will advise nearer the time when these will be available.
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