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This Act implements the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction in the UK.
The Act amended marine licensing and environmental impact assessment legislation to require potential impacts on marine areas outside national jurisdictions to be considered. The Act also aims to facilitate the fair sharing of benefits from marine genetic resources.
These regulations amend the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018.
Amongst other changes, the environmental authorisations regime is applied to fish farm discharges throughout the Scottish Marine Area. Permits for waste management facilities need to include conditions requiring systems to identify and manage radioactive contamination in waste.
These regulations will prohibit the sale and supply of wet wipes containing plastic for domestic use in most cases. These restrictions mirror bans being applied elsewhere in the UK, albeit from different dates.
These regulations amended the European Union (Renewable Energy) Regulations (2) 2022. These amendments increase targets on the average annual increase in the share of renewable energy used in heating and cooling across the Republic of Ireland.
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) is also required to assess the potential for energy from renewable sources and the use of waste heat and cold in the heating and cooling sector.
The Finance Act 2026 establishes the UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (UK CBAM), which will apply from 1 January 2027.
The UK CBAM will require qualifying importers of certain goods from the aluminium, fertiliser, cement, hydrogen and iron and steel sectors to register for this tax.
This tax will apply to the embodied emissions associated with the imported goods, which aims to tackle the risk of 'carbon leakage' when production is outsourced to countries with less strict climate change legislation.
These regulations came partially into force on 26 March 2026. The scheme is due to operate from 1 October 2027.
A deposit will be charged when a drink in a qualifying bottle or can is supplied. This deposit will be refunded on return of the container.
Unlike elsewhere in the UK, the Welsh scheme will also cover glass bottles, but no deposit will be charged on these containers until 30 September 2031.
These regulations will implement the first phase of the mandatory digital waste tracking system in Wales from 1 October 2026. In this phase, facilities in Wales that are permitted to receive waste will need to register with the digital waste tracking system and enter specified information on waste received into the system.
The forthcoming second phase, expected in 2027, will apply to producers, carriers and brokers of waste.
This draft legislation will amend the assimilated, Great British version of the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006.
The amendments will further delay deadlines for transitional registrations of chemicals under UK REACH, where these were previously registered under EU REACH. The first transitional registration deadline will be 27 October 2029, rather than 27 October 2026 as beforehand.
