QI have been told that I can expect a discount on my environmental permit fee if I adopt an environmental management system (EMS). Is this true and would it be worth my while? Alt is suggested that it is at the discretion of the Environment Agency (EA) as to whether a discount can be applied to permitting fees. The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 sets out the duty of the EA to periodically inspect permitted facilities and also to review permits already issued. The EA operates a regulatory monitoring scheme known as the Environmental Permitting Regulations Operational Risk Appraisal (OPRA for EPR). The EA issues "standard" and "bespoke" permits - the standard permit contains criteria fixed by the EA. An operator requiring more flexible criteria to work to would need to obtain a "bespoke" permit. It appears that this application requires OPRA scrutiny, whereas there is no need to apply this to the issue of a "standard" permit.
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