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Open consultation

Enforcement and sanctions policy updates on new water and waste enforcement powers

From:
Environment Agency
Published:
10 August 2026

Applies to England

Summary

We want your views on proposed updates to the Environment Agency’s enforcement and sanctions policy.

This consultation is being held on another website.

This consultation closes at

Consultation description

In the main enforcement and sanctions policy we want to:

  • change the general principles including how we assess enforcement undertakings
  • add an additional enforcement penalty principle to better protect the interests of victims
  • simplify our public interest factors

We also want to update the annexes and add a new annex (Annex 5):

  • Annex 3 – update to clarify our enforcement approach under the Control of Mercury (Enforcement) Mercury Regulations 2017
  • Annex 4 – update to set out our enforcement approach for The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024, the proposed enforcement approach for the first phase of Digital Waste Tracking as enacted by The Digital Waste Tracking (England) Regulations 2026 and the proposed enforcement approach for the Deposit Returns Scheme as enacted by The Deposit Scheme for Drinks Containers (England and Northern Ireland) Regulations 2025
  • Annex 5 – a new annex to explain how we propose to apply Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 civil sanctions, particularly civil variable monetary penalties, automatic penalties and fixed monetary penalties

Updates to this page

Published 10 August 2026

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