The Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

Made: 28th November 2003

Coming into operation: 19th December 2003

The Department of the Environment, being a Department designated[^f00001] for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972[^f00002] in relation to measures relating to (i) the prevention, reduction and elimination of pollution of water, the prevention, reduction and elimination of pollution caused by waste, the regulation and control of the transit, import and export of waste (including recyclable materials) and (ii) the prevention of waste from vehicles and forms of recovery of end of life vehicles and their components, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by section 2(2) of that Act, sections 7(1) and(2) and 25(3) of the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985[^f00003], Article 30 of the Industrial Pollution Control (Northern Ireland) Order 1997[^f00004], Articles 2(2), (3), (4) and (8), 3(3)(a) and (5), 4(3), 6(6), 17(9), 34(1), 38(3)(a), 39 and 77 of the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997[^f00005] (having in particular had regard in exercising its power under Article 4(3) of that Order to the matters specified in Article 4(4) of that Order) and of all other powers enabling it in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1

• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 and shall come into operation on 19th December 2003.

• (2) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954[^f00006] shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

• (3) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires –

• “the 1978 Order” means the Pollution Control and Local Government (Northern Ireland) Order 1978[^f00007];

• “the 1997 Order” means the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997;

• “the 1998 Regulations” means the Industrial Pollution Control (Prescribed Processes and Substances) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998[^f00008];

• “the 2003 Regulations” means the Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003[^f00009];

• “the 2003 Landfill Regulations” means the Landfill Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003;

• “the Industrial Pollution Control Order” means the Industrial Pollution Control (Northern Ireland) Order 1997;

• “the Water Order” means the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999[^f00010];

• “the Batteries Directive” means Directive 2006/66/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators as last amended by Directive (EU) 2018/849;

• ...

• “the Community Regulation” means Regulation (EC) No. 1069/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down health rules as regards animal by-products and derived products not intended for human consumption and repealing Regulation (EC) No. 1774/2002 (Animal by-products Regulation) as amended by Directive 2010/63/EU of the European Parliament of the Council;

• “the Directive” means Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on waste as last amended by Directive (EU) 2018/851;

• “the End of Life Vehicles Directive” means Directive 2000/53/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council[^f00023] as last amended by Directive (EU) 2018/849;

• “the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive” or “WEEE Directive” means Directive 2012/19/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4th July 2012 on waste electrical and electronic equipment[^f00007] as last amended by Directive (EU) 2018/849;

• “agriculture” has the same meaning as in the Agriculture Act (Northern Ireland) 1949;

• “agricultural waste” means waste from premises used for agriculture within the meaning of the Agriculture Act (Northern Ireland) 1949;

• “animal by-products” has the same meaning as in Article 3(1) of the Community Regulation.

• “authorised treatment facility” means any establishment or undertaking carrying out the treatment of end of life vehicles under a waste management licence or a disposal licence and in compliance with Article 6 of the End of Life Vehicles Directive and Articles 9, 10 and 11 of the Directive;

• “automotive battery or accumulator” means any battery or accumulator used for automotive starter, lighting or ignition power;

• “battery or accumulator” means any source of electrical energy generated by direct conversion of chemical energy and consisting of one or more primary battery cells (non-rechargeable) or consisting of one or more secondary battery cells (rechargeable);

• “battery pack” means any set of batteries or accumulators that are connected together or encapsulated within an outer casing so as to form a complete unit that the end-user is not intended to split up or open;

• “best available treatment, recovery and recycling techniques” has the meaning given in the document published by the Department on 5th December 2006, entitled “Guidance on Best Available Treatment, Recovery and Recycling Techniques (BATRRT) and Treatment of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE);

• “broker” means any undertaking arranging the recovery or disposal of waste on behalf of others, including such brokers who do not take physical possession of the waste;

• “CIWM” means the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management;”; and

• “clinical waste” has the meaning given by regulation 2(1) of the Controlled Waste Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002[^f00026];

• “construction work” includes the repair, alteration or improvement of existing works;

• “controlled waste” means household, industrial and commercial waste or any such waste;

• “dealer” means any undertaking which acts in the role of principal to purchase and subsequently sell waste, including such dealers who do not take physical possession of the waste;

• “depollute”, in relation to an end of life vehicle, means to carry out on it any of the operations described in paragraph 3 of Part II of Schedule 5 and only when all such operations have been completed shall a vehicle be regarded as “depolluted”; “depollution” and any cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly;

• ...

• “distributor” means any person that provides batteries or accumulators on a professional basis to an end-user;

• “disposal” means any operation which is not recovery even where the operation has as a secondary consequence the reclamation of substances or energy (Annex I to the Directive[^f00024] sets out a non-exhaustive list of disposal operations);

• “disposal licence” means a licence issued under Article 7 of the 1978 Order;

• “electrical and electronic equipment” or “EEE” means equipment which is dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to work properly and equipment which is for the generation, transfer and measurement of such currents and fields and designed for use with a voltage rating not exceeding 1000 volts for alternating current and 1500 volts for direct current;

• “electric vehicle” means a vehicle which uses electricity as a source of power for propulsion and includes a vehicle which in addition uses, or is capable of using, other sources of power for this purpose;

• “end-of-life vehicle” means any vehicle which is waste;

• ”European Waste Catalogue” means the List of Wastes as set out in the Annex to Commission Decision 2000/532/EC, as amended from time to time and as also defined in regulation 5 of the Hazardous Waste Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005;

• “EU Skills” means Energy and Utility Skills Limited;

• “exempt activity” means any of the activities set out in Part I of Schedule 2;

• “fibre-based composite material” means packaging material which is made of paperboard or paper fibres, with a layer of plastic, and which may also have layers of other materials, to form a single unit that cannot be separated by hand;

• “impermeable pavement” means a pavement in the area where a waste recovery or storage operation takes place which is capable of containing any spillage of waste received and is connected to a drainage system with impermeable components which does not leak and which will ensure that –no liquid will run off the pavement otherwise than via the drainage system; andexcept where they may be lawfully discharged, all liquids entering the drainage system are collected in a sealed sump;

• “industrial battery or accumulator” means any battery, accumulator or battery pack which is—designed exclusively for industrial or professional uses;used as a source of power for propulsion in an electric vehicle;unsealed but is not an automotive battery or accumulator; orsealed but is not a portable battery or accumulator;

• “materials facility” means––a facility or part of a facility where waste material is received in order to-–separate it into specified output material; orconsolidate it into bulk quantities (whether as a first point of consolidation for such waste or following the first consolidation of bulk quantities transferred from other suppliers);for the purpose of selling it, or transferring it to other facilities or persons to enable that material to be prepared for re-use or recycling;any reference to a “materials facility” excludes a facility or part of a facility––at which all the waste material received during a reporting period is attributable exclusively to a single supplier, unless the waste material so received is separated into specified output material at that facility;that is provided pursuant to arrangements made under section 25(1)(b) of the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997;that undertakes the processing or sorting of waste electrical and electronic equipment, waste batteries or accumulators;

• “Materials Facilities Code” means the Code of Practice on Sampling and Reporting at Materials Facilities issued by the Department on 31st January 2025;

• “mines or quarries waste” means waste from a mine or quarry;

• “operational land” has the meaning given by Article 2 of the Planning (General Development) Order (Northern Ireland) 1993[^f00031];

• “plant tissue” means tissue from a plant and “plant” has the same meaning as in Article 2 of the Plant Health Order (Northern Ireland) 2006

• “portable battery or accumulator” means any battery, accumulator or battery pack which—is sealed;can be hand-carried by an average natural person without difficulty; andis neither an automotive battery or accumulator nor an industrial battery or accumulator;

• “recovery”—...in relation to any type of waste , means any operation the principal result of which is the waste serving a useful purpose by replacing other materials which would otherwise have been used to fulfil a particular function, or waste being prepared to fulfil that function, in the plant or in the wider economy. Annex II to the Directive ... sets out a non-exhaustive list of recovery operations;

• “Relevant Waste” has the meaning given in Schedule 1A;

• “recycling”—in relation to waste batteries or accumulators, means the reprocessing in a production process of waste materials for their original purpose or for other purposes, but excluding energy recovery;in relation to any other waste, means any recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed into products, materials or substances whether for the original or other purposes. It includes the reprocessing of organic material but does not include energy recovery and the reprocessing into materials that are to be used as fuels or for backfilling operations;

• “resolution” means a resolution passed under Article 13 of the 1978 Order;

• “re-use” means any operation by which products or components that are not waste are used again for the same purpose for which they were conceived;

• “scrap metal” has the meaning given by regulation 1(2) of the Controlled Waste (Duty of Care) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002[^f00032] except, unless otherwise stated, scrap metal shall not include end of life vehicles or their components unless and until such vehicles or their components have been depolluted in accordance with Part II of Schedule 5;

• “specified output material” means a batch of material (whether or not waste) that is—produced from a separating process for waste material; andmade up of one or more of the following kinds of material—glass;metal;paper;card;plastic;fibre-based composite material;

• “hazardous waste” means that term as defined by regulation 6 of the Hazardous Waste Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005;

• “treatment”—in relation to waste batteries or accumulators, means any activity carried out on waste batteries and accumulators after they have been handed over to a facility for sorting, preparation for recycling or preparation for disposal;in relation to any other waste, means recovery or disposal operations, including preparation prior to recovery or disposal;

• “treatment of end of life vehicles” means any activity after the end of life vehicle has been handed over to an authorised treatment facility for depollution, dismantling, shearing, shredding, recovery or preparation for disposal of the shredded wastes and any other operation carried out for the recovery and/or disposal of the end of life vehicle and its components;

• “waste” means— Relevant waste;radioactive waste where it is—exempt from the requirement for authorisation by virtue of an order which was made, or has effect as if made, under section 15(2) of the Radioactive Substances Act 1993[^f00025]; andsubject to an activity falling within Schedule 2 of these Regulations and regulation 15 of the Hazardous Waste Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005[^f00026];

• “waste battery or accumulator” means any battery or accumulator which which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard;

• “waste electrical and electronic equipment” or “WEEE” means electrical or electronic equipment which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard , including all components, sub-assemblies and consumables, which are part of the product at the time of discarding;

• “waste material” means waste that—is household waste, or originates from a source other than household waste but is similar to household waste in terms of its nature or composition;has been separately collected (whether as a single kind of material or two or more kinds of material mixed together) for the primary purpose of preparing it for re-use or recycling; andconsists (whether wholly or in part) of any of the following kinds of material—glass;metal;paper;card;plastic;fibre-based composite material;

• “waste oils” means any mineral or synthetic lubrication or industrial oils which have become unfit for the use for which they were originally intended, such as used combustion engine oils and gearbox oils, lubricating oils, oils for turbines and hydraulic oils;

• “waterway” has the meaning given by Article 2(2) of the Water Order;

• “work” includes preparatory work.

• (4) For the purposes of these Regulations a person carries on business as a scrap metal dealer if he carries on a business which consists wholly or partly of buying and selling scrap metal, whether the scrap metal sold is in the form in which it was bought or otherwise, other than a business in the course of which scrap metal is not bought except as materials for the manufacture of other articles and is not sold except as a by-product of such manufacture or as surplus materials bought but not required for such manufacture.

• (4A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (5) Any six digit code used to refer to a waste in these Regulations is a reference to that waste as specified by the six digit code in the European Waste Catalogue.

• (6) In a Directive mentioned in paragraph (7) any references to a duty or function of a Member State shall be read as a reference to a duty or function of the Department.

• (7) These are—

• (a) the End-of-Life Vehicles Directive;

• (b) the Batteries Directive;

• (c) Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on waste; and

• (d) the WEEE Directive.

• (8) Expressions used in both these Regulations and in a Directive mentioned in these Regulations and not otherwise defined in these Regulations have the same meaning as in that Directive immediately before IP completion day.

• (9) In these Regulations a reference to an Article or Annex of a Directive is to be read as a reference to that Article or Annex as immediately before IP completion day.

Offences

2

Schedule 6 has effect to prescribe offences for the purposes of Article 3(3)(a) of the 1997 Order.

Technical competence

3

• (1) Without prejudice to the European Union (Recognition of Professional Qualifications) Regulations 2015, the qualifications and experience required of a person to be considered technically competent for the purposes of Article 3(3)(b) of the 1997 Order (management of activities to be in the hands of a technically competent person), is either:

• (a) an Operator Competence Certificate awarded by CIWM to carry on the specific activities which are authorised by a waste management licence; or

• (b) a Competence Management System Certification awarded by EU Skills.