Wee Notes & Breaking News

Update on EASR

Many of you will already know about the changes to Environmental Authorisations in Scotland but a wee update is, I think, in order.

Many environmental maters have now come under the new Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018 (EASR) since November 2025. The aim of the EASR integrated framework is to streamline the regulation of activities in order to simplify compliance and support sustainable resource use. The EASR amends or replaces a number of different regulations. These include the following amongst others: 

• The Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 (CAR) 

• Pollution Prevention & Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012 (PPC) 

• The Waste Management Licensing (Scotland) Regulations 2011 (including exemptions) 

The new EASR are issued in the form of permits, registrations, notifications, or through compliance with General Binding Rules (GBRs).  

Focusing on the old Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations the new EASR lean on the SEPA publications WAT-G-023 and R-WAT-F2 amongst others which form the backbone of any new registrations with the aim to achieve a ‘Good Practice’ standard. Whilst the application charges are generally modest, working your way through the labyrinth of standards and guidelines in order to achieve a robust design is where Terrenus can assist. Feel free to give me a call to discuss.