Olivia Jamison
Updates
Energy & Natural Resources
Government consults on ecodesign and energy information laws changes
United Kingdom | 19 October 2020Until 11 November 2020, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is consulting on the draft Ecodesign for Energy-Related Products and Energy Information Regulations 2021. The consultation asks stakeholders to comment on the ecodesign and energy labelling proposals, BEIS's assessment of the costs and benefits and the intended timetable for reviewing the draft regulations after they came into force, noted in each product-specific section.
OPRED consults on new civil penalties for illegal oil and gas-related activity
United Kingdom | 03 December 2018The Department for Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning recently launched a consultation on the draft guidance to accompany the Offshore Environmental Civil Sanctions Regulations 2018. The overarching message of the new penalties regime is that the processes and outcomes of enforcement with regard to offshore companies engaged in illegal oil and gas-related activity will change considerably.
Energy performance of buildings and Brexit: the final cut (for now)
United Kingdom | 04 June 2018The Council of the European Union has announced the agreement on the final version of the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. The directive will enter into force 20 days after publication in the Official Journal and member states will have 20 months to transpose it. There are several long-tail requirements for which compliance queries will not arise until well after this period. A practical difference will be any surveillance or enforcement and the consultation on a 'green watchdog' in respect of England.
Product Regulation & Liability
Consultation on introduction of market restrictions on certain single-use plastics in Scotland
United Kingdom | 26 November 2020The Scottish government has launched a public consultation on the introduction of market restrictions on certain single-use plastic items. Responses to the consultation must be submitted before 4 January 2021. The proposed market restrictions on single-use plastics follow and may extend beyond the provisions in Article 5 of the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive 2019/904.
Real Estate
Indemnity for cost of contaminated land
United Kingdom | 30 October 2020A recent case concerning a landlord's counterclaim for the cost incurred by it in remediating its property prior to undertaking a major redevelopment project provides a useful reminder to tenants on the extent of their potential liability at the end of the term of their lease and sounds a cautionary note to any party undertaking works under licence. The landlord was entitled to recover the full cost of the remediation work to deal with asbestos contamination caused by the previous tenant and its parent company.
