Under the Red Tape Challenge, set up to reduce the regulatory burden on businesses, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Environment Agency are seeking views on environmental regulation guidance, including those covering waste management, which could be drawn together to make it easier and cheaper for businesses to comply.
A consultation, entitled Smarter Guidance and Data, seeking views on which guidance could be simplified has begun today (May 16) and is open until July 5. Defra and its regulators are also reviewing all the environmental information required by businesses to make sure it is needed.
The Department hopes that the outcome of the review will be that firms will be able to identify which environmental regulations apply more quickly, and that the regulations are clearer to understand. It also hopes to provide a simpler reporting process for essential environmental information.
Protection
Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, said: This is not about reducing the quality of environmental regulations. The same protection levels will stay. We want to make it easier for businesses to find and follow the law with a single version of straightforward guidance for each topic. Right now businesses are wading through too much complex information. We should also be smart about the information we ask from businesses and how we collect it.
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Taking up too much of businesses time can be an unseen barrier to growth. With clearer, simpler guidance we can save a great deal of time and money for businesses to put to better use. As we implement these reforms we will be asking you to tell us how we can make it easier for businesses to do their part in improving the environment.
It is hoped that the project will be completed by March 2014, when the simplified guidance will be available online.
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