Protection of the Environment Act 2003

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“Interpretation.

3.—(1) In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires—

‘activity’ means any process, development or operation specified in the First Schedule and carried out in an installation;

‘the Act of 1996’ means the Waste Management Act 1996 ;

‘the Act of 2000’ means the Planning and Development Act 2000 ;

‘the Agency’ shall be construed in accordance with section 19(1);

‘atmosphere’ means the gaseous envelope surrounding the earth, and includes air;

‘authorised person’ means a person who is appointed in writing by the Minister, a local authority, the Agency or such other person as may be prescribed to be an authorised person for the purposes of this Act or any Part or section thereof;

‘development’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 3 of the Act of 2000;

‘the Directive’ shall be construed in accordance with section 3A(1);

‘disposal’, in relation to waste, has the meaning assigned to it by the Act of 1996;

‘emission’ means, in relation to an activity referred to in Part IV or IVA, any direct or indirect release of substances, heat or noise from individual or diffuse sources in the activity into the atmosphere, water or land, and includes—

(a) an emission into the atmosphere of a pollutant within the meaning of the Air Pollution Act 1987 ,

(b) the release of a greenhouse gas or a precursor of a greenhouse gas into the atmosphere,

(c) a discharge of polluting matter, sewage effluent or trade effluent within the meaning of the Local Government (Water Pollution) Act 1977 , to waters or sewers within the meaning of that Act, or

(d) waste,

but does not include a radioactive substance within the meaning of Council Directive 96/29/Euratom¹ , a genetically modified micro-organism within the meaning of Council Directive 90/219/EEC² or a genetically modified organism within the meaning of Directive 2001/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council³ ;

‘emission limit value’ means the mass, expressed in terms of a specific parameter, concentration or level of an emission, or both a specific concentration and level of an emission, which may not be exceeded during one or more periods of time;

‘employee of the Agency’ does not include the Director General or other Director of the Agency;

‘enactment’ includes any instrument made under an enactment;

‘environmental impact statement’ has the meaning assigned to it by the Act of 2000;

‘environmental protection’, ‘environmental pollution’, ‘environmental medium’ and ‘environmental quality standard’ have the meanings respectively assigned to them by section 4;

‘established activity’ means—

(a) an activity which on 29 October 1999, or such other date as may be prescribed in relation to the activity, was being carried on and did not involve or have an association with unauthorised development within the meaning of the Act of 2000, or

(b) an activity—

(i)   in respect of which permission under section 34 of the Act of 2000 had been granted, or an application for such permission had been made, before 30 October 1999, or such other date as may be prescribed in relation to the activity, and

(ii)   which on 29 October 2000, or such other date as may be prescribed in relation to the activity—

(I) was being carried on, and

(II) did not involve or have an association with unauthorised development within the meaning of the Act of 2000;

‘functions’ includes powers and duties;

‘greenhouse gas’ means—

(a) carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride, any hydrofluorocarbon or any perfluorocarbon, and

(b) such other gases as may be prescribed,

in so far as the emission of any such gas contributes to global climate change;

‘installation’ means a stationary technical unit or plant where the activity concerned referred to in the First Schedule is or will be carried on, and shall be deemed to include any directly associated activity, whether licensable under this Part or not, which has a technical connection with the first-mentioned activity and is carried out on the site of that activity;

‘land’ includes soil;

‘local authority’ means—

(a) in the case of a city, the city council, and

(b) in the case of a county, the county council,

and references to the functional area of a local authority shall be construed accordingly;

‘the Minister’ means the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government;

‘monitoring’ includes the inspection, measurement, sampling or analysis for the purposes of this Act of any emission, or of any environmental medium in any locality, whether periodically or continuously;

‘noise’ includes vibration;

‘occupier’, in relation to any installation or premises, includes the owner, a lessee, any person entitled to occupy the installation or premises and any other person having, for the time being, control of the installation or premises;

‘person in charge’ includes an occupier of an installation or premises or a manager, supervisor or operator of an activity;

‘planning authority’ has the meaning assigned to it by the Act of 2000;

‘plant’ includes any equipment, appliance, apparatus, machinery, works, building or other structure or any land or any part of any land which is used for the purposes of, or incidental to, any activity specified in the First Schedule;

‘premises’ includes any messuage, building, vessel, structure or land (whether or not there are structures on the land or whether or not the land is covered with water) or any hereditament of any tenure, together with any out-buildings and curtilage;

‘prescribed’ means prescribed by regulations by the Minister under this Act;

‘previous Part IV’ shall be construed in accordance with section 82(1);

‘public authority’ means—

(a) a Minister of the Government,

(b) the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland,

(c) a local authority for the purposes of the Local Government Act 2001 ,

(d) a harbour authority within the meaning of the Harbours Act 1946 ,

(e)    (i)   a health board,

(ii)   the Eastern Regional Health Authority, or

(iii) an Area Health Board established under the Health (Eastern Regional Health Authority) Act 1999 ,

(f) a board or other body (but not including a company under the Companies Act 1963 to 2001) established by or under statute,

(g) a company under the Companies Acts 1963 to 2001, in which all the shares are held—

(i)   by or on behalf of a Minister of the Government,

(ii)   by directors appointed by a Minister of the Government, or

(iii) by a board or other body referred to in paragraph (f) or by a company to which subparagraph (i)   or (ii)   applies,

(h) such other body as may be prescribed for the purposes of any provisions of this Act;

‘public place’ includes any place to which the public have access, whether by right or by permission, or whether subject to, or free of charge;

‘recovery’, in relation to waste, has the meaning assigned to it by the Act of 1996;

‘sanitary authority’ means a sanitary authority for the purposes of the Local Government (Sanitary Services) Acts 1878 to 2001;

‘soil’ means the top layer of the land surface of the earth that is composed of disintegrated rock particles, humus, water and air;

‘statutory undertaker’ has the meaning assigned to it by the Act of 2000;

‘vessel’ means a waterborne craft of any type, whether self propelled or not, and includes an air cushion craft and any structure in or on water;

‘waste management plan’ means a waste management plan or a hazardous waste management plan within the meaning of the Act of 1996 that is for the time being in force;

‘waters’ has the meaning assigned to it by the Local Government (Water Pollution) Act 1977 ;

‘works’, in relation to sections 106 and 107, has the meaning assigned to it by the Act of 2000.

(2) In this Act a reference to—

(a) the date on which a licence or revised licence is granted is a reference to the date on which the licence or revised licence is sealed with the seal of the Agency, and

(b) the date on which a decision by the Agency to refuse a licence or a revised licence is made is a reference to the date on which that decision, as reduced to writing, is so sealed.

(3) In this Act a reference to a section, Part or Schedule, is a reference to a section or Part of, or a Schedule to, this Act, unless it is indicated that reference to some other enactment is intended.

(4) In this Act a reference to a subsection, paragraph or subparagraph is a reference to the subsection, paragraph or subparagraph of the provision in which the reference occurs, unless it is indicated that reference to some other provision is intended.

(5) In this Act a reference to any enactment shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended or adapted by or under this or any subsequent enactment.

(6) The activities to which this Act applies include activities operated by or in the charge of the State.

Community act given effect to by certain amendments of this Act.

3A.—(1) The purposes for which the amendments of this Act by the Protection of the Environment Act 2003 are made include the purpose of giving effect to Council Directive 96/61/EC of 24 September 1996 concerning integrated pollution prevention and control¹ (in this Act referred to as ‘the Directive’).

(2) The Agency shall be the competent authority for the purposes of the Directive.

(3) As competent authority for the purposes of the Directive, the Agency shall, amongst other things—

(a) keep itself informed of developments in best available techniques,

(b) maintain such data and information, provide for the supply of data to the Commission of the European Communities and undertake such reporting as may be necessary for the proper implementation of relevant Community acts (including compliance with the requirements of Articles 15 and 16 of the Directive),

(c) when requested to do so by the Minister, participate in the Committee to assist the Commission of the European Communities on the basis provided for in Article 19 of the Directive.

Power to amend First Schedule in certain circumstances.

3B.—The Minister may by regulations amend the First Schedule if either or both of the following conditions is or are satisfied—

(a) as a result of an act adopted by an institution of the European Communities, the continued operation of that Schedule and section 82 would, unless such amendment were to be made, not be in conformity with that act,

(b) the amendment proposed to be made does not, in the opinion of the Minister, involve any deviation from the principles or policies of that Schedule and section 82.”.