The Digital Waste Tracking (Scotland) Regulations 2026

Made: 11th March 2026

Coming into force: 1st January 2027

The Scottish Ministers make the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 34CA(1), (2), (3), (6), (7), (8) and (9) and 34CB(1), (2), (3), (5) and (6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990[^f00001] and all other powers enabling them to do so.

In accordance with section 160A(2) of that Act[^f00002], a draft of this instrument has been laid before and approved by resolution of the Scottish Parliament.

Part 1 — General

Citation and commencement

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These Regulations may be cited as the Digital Waste Tracking (Scotland) Regulations 2026 and come into force on 1 January 2027.

Interpretation

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In these Regulations—

• “the 1990 Act” means the Environmental Protection Act 1990,

• “the 2018 Regulations” means the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018[^f00003],

• “compliance notice” has the meaning given in regulation 18(1),

• “designated person” means the person designated under regulation 3(1),

• “digital waste record” means an electronic record created using software that has been approved by the designated person in accordance with regulation 3(3),

• “digital waste record number” has the meaning given in regulation 3(4)(a),

• “digital waste tracking system” has the meaning given in regulation 3(2),

• “digital waste tracking system fee” means the fee payable in accordance with regulation 5,

• “digitally excluded number” means the unique identifying number assigned to a digitally excluded operator by— SEPA in accordance with regulation 9(2), or another person in accordance with any provision made under article 5G(6) of the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997[^f00004] or section 34C of the 1990 Act in relation to England and Wales,

• “digitally excluded operator” has the meaning given in regulation 8(1)(a),

• “end of the quarter” means one of the following days, being the end of a quarter— 31 March, 30 June, 30 September, 31 December,

• “enforcement cost recovery notice” has the meaning given in regulation 19(1),

• “hazardous waste” has the meaning given in regulation 2(1) of the 2018 Regulations[^f00005],

• “operator” means the person authorised by permit under the 2018 Regulations to carry on a waste activity at a permitted facility,

• “permitted facility” means a place at which the operator carries on a waste activity,

• “quarter” means any period of three months ending on 31 March, 30 June, 30 September or 31 December,

• “relevant individual” means in relation to a body corporate— a director, member of the committee of management, chief executive, manager, secretary or similar officer of the body, or a person purporting to act in any such capacity, where the affairs are managed by its members, a member, in relation to a Scottish partnership, a partner, in relation to an unincorporated association other than a Scottish partnership, a person who is concerned in the management or control of the association,

• “SEPA” means the Scottish Environment Protection Agency,

• “specified information” means the information specified in Part 2 of schedule 1,

• “specified steps” means those steps specified in regulation 4(4),

• “waste activity” means an activity which falls within paragraph (a) of the definition of “waste management activity” in regulation 4 of the 2018 Regulations[^f00006],

• “working day” means any day which is not— a Saturday or Sunday, Easter Monday, or a bank holiday in Scotland under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971[^f00007].

Part 2 — The digital waste tracking system

Designated person and the digital waste tracking system

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• (1) The Scottish Ministers are the designated person for the purposes of section 34CA(7) of the 1990 Act.

• (2) The designated person must establish, maintain and operate an electronic system (“the digital waste tracking system”) for the purpose of tracking controlled waste[^f00008].

• (3) The functions in paragraph (2) include (but are not limited to) the approval of software.

• (4) Subject to paragraph (5), the designated person must ensure that—

• (a) a unique identifying number is assigned to a digital waste record (“digital waste record number”) when specified information in the digital waste record is entered into the digital waste tracking system,

• (b) the digital waste record number is sent to the operator who recorded the specified information in the digital waste record as soon as possible after the digital waste record number is assigned.

• (5) If the operator has recorded specified information in a digital waste record but has not paid the digital waste tracking system fee in accordance with regulation 5(2), the designated person may withhold the entry of the specified information into the digital waste tracking system.

Entry of specified information into the digital waste tracking system by operator of permitted facility

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• (1) This regulation applies when the operator receives controlled waste at the permitted facility (but see paragraph (2)).

• (2) This regulation does not apply if the permitted facility is a place provided by a waste disposal authority under section 53(1)(a) of the 1990 Act as a place at which to deposit waste.

• (3) The operator must comply with the steps specified in paragraph (4) (“specified steps”) for each load of controlled waste received at the permitted facility by the deadline specified in paragraph (6).

• (4) The specified steps are to—

• (a) record in a digital waste record the specified information, and

• (b) check that the specified information in the digital waste record has been entered into the digital waste tracking system.

• (5) For the purposes of paragraph (4)(b), the requirement to check—

• (a) is satisfied if the operator receives the digital waste record number for the digital waste record in accordance with regulation 3(4)(b),

• (b) is not satisfied if the operator has not received that digital waste record number due to a failure by the operator to—

• (i) pay the digital waste tracking fee in accordance with regulation 5(2), or

• (ii) having received a digital message indicating an error, investigate and correct any error with the digital waste record or any error or omission in the specified information recorded in that digital waste record.

• (6) The deadline for completing the specified steps is the end of the second working day after the day on which the load of controlled waste is received by the operator.

Digital waste tracking system fee

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• (1) The digital waste tracking system fee is £26.

• (2) The operator must pay the digital waste tracking system fee to the designated person on the first occasion that the operator’s obligation to comply with the specified steps under regulation 4(3) arises and then on each anniversary of that occasion.

Outage preventing entry of specified information

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• (1) In the event of an outage, the operator must follow the steps in paragraph (2).

• (2) The steps are to—

• (a) unless the operator has received an outage notification, notify SEPA of the outage as soon as reasonably practicable,

• (b) make a written record of the specified information within the deadline specified in regulation 4(6),

• (c) within 7 days beginning with the day after the day the outage is resolved, ensure the specified information recorded in a written record under sub-paragraph (b) is entered into the digital waste tracking system in accordance with the specified steps.

• (3) The operator—

• (a) may make the written record required under paragraph (2)(b) in electronic form if the operator is able to save the record in a manner that can be easily found and retrieved,

• (b) must, until such time as the step described in paragraph (2)(c) is completed—

• (i) retain the written record made under paragraph (2)(b),

• (ii) if requested to do so, make the written record available to SEPA as soon as reasonably practicable after the request is made.

• (4) In this regulation—

• (a) “outage” means circumstances caused by factors beyond control of the operator of the permitted facility that prevent the entry of the specified information into the digital waste tracking system by the deadline specified in regulation 4(6),

• (b) “outage notification” means a communication informing users of the digital waste tracking system that the system is unavailable.

Correction of digital waste record

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• (1) This regulation applies where—

• (a) the operator discovers they have made an error in a digital waste record, and

• (b) in consequence of such an error, incorrect information about controlled waste is entered into the digital waste tracking system.

• (2) The operator must ensure the correct information is entered into the digital waste tracking system in accordance with the specified steps as soon as reasonably practicable and, in any event, within one month of the date on which the operator becomes aware of the error.

Part 3 — Digitally excluded persons

Written record of specified information by digitally excluded operator

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• (1) This regulation applies when—

• (a) the operator is a digitally excluded person[^f00009] (“digitally excluded operator”), and

• (b) the digitally excluded operator receives controlled waste at the permitted facility (but see paragraph (2)).

• (2) This regulation does not apply if the permitted facility is a place provided by a waste disposal authority under section 53(1)(a) of the 1990 Act as a place at which to deposit waste.

• (3) The digitally excluded operator—

• (a) is exempt from the requirements in regulations 4 to 7,

• (b) must—

• (i) make a written record of the specified information about each load of controlled waste received at the permitted facility by the deadline specified in paragraph (4),

• (ii) include in the written record their digitally excluded number.

• (4) The deadline for making the written record is the end of the second working day after the day on which the load of controlled waste is received by the digitally excluded operator.

Application for digitally excluded number

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• (1) A digitally excluded operator whose principal place of business is in Scotland must apply to SEPA for a digitally excluded number.

• (2) On receiving an application under paragraph (1), SEPA must—

• (a) assign the applicant a digitally excluded number,

• (b) inform the applicant of the digitally excluded number assigned to them.

Ceasing to be a digitally excluded person

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• (1) If an operator to whom a digitally excluded number is assigned under regulation 9(2)(a) ceases to be a digitally excluded person, that operator must give written notice of the fact to SEPA.

• (2) A notice under paragraph (1) must be given as soon as reasonably practicable after the operator ceases to be a digitally excluded person.

• (3) An operator who gives notice under paragraph (1)—

• (a) continues to be, for a period of 28 days beginning with the date of the notice—

• (i) exempt from the requirements in regulations 4 to 7 in accordance with regulation 8(3)(a), and

• (ii) subject to the requirements in regulation 8(3)(b),

• (b) on the expiry of the period of 28 days beginning with the date of the notice, is no longer—

• (i) exempt from the requirements in regulations 4 to 7, or

• (ii) subject to the requirements in regulation 8(3)(b).

List of digitally excluded operators

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SEPA must—

• (a) maintain a list of digitally excluded operators to whom SEPA has assigned a digitally excluded number under regulation 9(2),

• (b) as soon as reasonably practicable after the expiry of the period of 28 days referred to in regulation 10(3)(b), remove from the list any operator who has ceased to be a digitally excluded person.

Retention and making available written records

12

A written record made under regulation 8(3)(b)(i) must—

• (a) be retained by the operator for at least 3 years beginning with the date on which the record is made,

• (b) if requested by SEPA, be made available by the operator to SEPA as soon as reasonably practicable after the request is made.

Part 4 — Monitoring

Monitoring functions

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SEPA[^f00010] must monitor compliance with these Regulations.

Recording of information by SEPA

14

SEPA may enter any information contained in a written record and made available to SEPA under Parts 2 or 3 of these Regulations into the digital waste tracking system.

Part 5 — Offences, compliance notices and enforcement cost recovery notices

Chapter 1 — Offences

Offences

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• (1) A person who fails to comply with any of the provisions specified in paragraph (2) commits an offence.

• (2) The provisions are—

• (a) regulation 4(3) (comply with specified steps),

• (b) regulation 6(2)(a) (notify of outage),

• (c) regulation 6(2)(b) (make a written record during outage),

• (d) regulation 6(2)(c) (written record into digital waste tracking system),

• (e) regulation 6(3)(b) (retain and make available outage written record),

• (f) regulation 7(2) (correction of digital waste record),

• (g) regulation 8(3)(b)(i) (make a written record),

• (h) regulation 8(3)(b)(ii) (record digitally excluded number in written record),

• (i) regulation 9(1) (application for digitally excluded number),

• (j) regulation 10(1) (notice of ceasing to be a digitally excluded person),

• (k) regulation 10(2) (deadline for giving notice),

• (l) regulation 12 (retain and make available written record).

• (3) A person who fails to comply with a compliance notice imposed under regulation 18 commits an offence.

• (4) A person commits an offence if the person—

• (a) makes a statement which that person knows to be false or misleading in a material particular, or recklessly makes a statement which is false or misleading in a material particular, if the statement is made in purported compliance with a requirement imposed by or under these Regulations,

• (b) intentionally makes a false entry in any record of information required to be made, kept or entered into the digital waste tracking system in compliance with a requirement imposed by or under these Regulations, or

• (c) provides any information to SEPA in connection with SEPA’s functions under these Regulations which that person knows to be false or misleading in a material particular, or recklessly provides information which is false or misleading in a material particular.

Offences: supplementary

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• (1) Where—

• (a) an offence under these Regulations has been committed by a body corporate, or a Scottish partnership or other unincorporated association, and

• (b) it is proved that the offence was committed with the consent or connivance of, or was attributable to any neglect on the part of—

• (i) a relevant individual, or

• (ii) an individual purporting to act in the capacity of a relevant individual,

the individual as well as the body corporate, Scottish partnership or unincorporated association commits an offence and is liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

• (2) If an offence committed by a person under these Regulations is due to the act or default of some other person, that other person is also guilty of the offence and liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly, whether or not proceedings for the offence are taken against the first-mentioned person.

Penalties for offences

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An offence under regulation 15 or 16 is punishable—

• (a) on conviction on indictment, by a fine,

• (b) on summary conviction, by a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum.

Chapter 2 — Compliance notices and enforcement cost recovery notices

Compliance notices

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• (1) Where SEPA is satisfied on the balance of probabilities that a person has contravened a requirement specified in paragraph (2) (“a relevant requirement”), SEPA may, in relation to that contravention, impose on that person a compliance notice in accordance with this regulation (“compliance notice”).

• (2) The requirements are—

• (a) regulation (4)(3) (comply with specified steps),

• (b) regulation 6(2)(a) (notify of outage),

• (c) regulation 6(2)(b) (make a written record during outage),

• (d) regulation 6(2)(c) (written record into digital waste tracking system),

• (e) regulation 6(3)(b) (retain and make available outage written record),

• (f) regulation 7(2) (correction of digital waste record),

• (g) regulation 8(3)(b)(i) (make a written record),

• (h) regulation 8(3)(b)(ii) (record digitally excluded number in written record),

• (i) regulation 9(1) (application for digitally excluded number),

• (j) regulation 10(1) (notice of ceasing to be digitally excluded person),

• (k) regulation 10(2) (deadline for giving notice),

• (l) regulation 12 (retain and make available written record).

• (3) Where SEPA is satisfied on the balance of probabilities that—

• (a) a relevant requirement has been contravened by a body corporate, a Scottish partnership or other unincorporated association, and

• (b) the contravention occurred with the consent or connivance of, or was attributable to any neglect on the part of—

• (i) a relevant individual, or

• (ii) an individual purporting to act in the capacity of a relevant individual,