Form

Terms for using the definition of waste service

Updated 19 April 2024

Applies to England

1. Information about us

1.1 The Environment Agency is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the UK government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), whose head office is at Horizon House, Deanery Road, Bristol BS1 5AH.

1.2. If you need to contact us about the definition of waste service please email dowservices@environment-agency.gov.uk

2. Interpretation

The following terms have these meanings:

‘assessment’

Means the work that we undertake to provide an opinion. Our assessment includes evaluation and analysis of the submission and the application of the legal tests in Article 3(1) (discard), Article 5 (by-products) and Article 6 (end of waste) of the Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC), as appropriate.

‘definition of waste service’

Means work carried out by us, including the assessment, to provide you with an opinion. It is a pay to use service charging on a time and materials basis.

‘interim fee’

Means a non-refundable payment, payable in advance of us providing the definition of waste service. The amount is published in the guidance on how to use the definition of waste service.

‘opinion’

Means the Environment Agency’s view whether a material is a waste or not, or whether we are unable to give a view (with reasons as appropriate).

‘party, parties’

Means you and us.

‘submission’

Means your request for our opinion, through your form and all supporting data and information submitted to us.

‘we, us, our’

Means the Environment Agency, including our officers, employees, contractors and agents.

‘you, your’

Means the natural or legal person named in the submission as the requester of our services, including their officers, employees, contractors and agents.

3. Applicable law

3.1 These terms are subject to English law and to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England.

4. Making a submission to the definition of waste service

4.1 Please read these terms carefully before you make a submission.

4.2 By making a submission, you confirm that you have read, understood and accept these terms and that you agree to comply with them. If you do not agree to these terms you must not make a submission.

4.3 Making a submission is voluntary. You are not required to seek our opinion and can come to your own view about the waste or non-waste status of your material.

4.4 If you make a submission and comply with our terms for obtaining an opinion (including payment of the required fees), subject to our terms we will carry out an assessment, to provide you with our opinion.

4.5 We will use reasonable skill, care and diligence when we carry out our assessments and provide you with our opinion, which will be based on the data and information you have provided to us and the laws in place at the time.

4.6 Our assessment will be based on our interpretation of the Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC) and applicable English and Welsh case law. By requesting our opinion you understand this.

4.7 You acknowledge and agree that in carrying out our assessment we are under no obligation to give a favourable opinion, in particular that a material is not waste, or has end-of-waste or by-product status.

4.8 Our obligations to you under these terms may be suspended at any time because of any event which is beyond our reasonable control and which means we cannot carry out the assessment.

4.9 If you consider that any of your submission is commercially confidential you must inform us of this when making the submission. We may still be obliged to disclose your data and information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR). See section 9 for further details.

5. Data and information standards

5.1 The standards set out in this section apply to each part of data and information you provide to our definition of waste service as well as to its whole and to all data and information you input and any changes you make to it. They must be complied with in spirit as well as to actual wording used. We will determine, acting reasonably, whether the data and information provided breaches these standards.

5.2 It is your responsibility to provide all relevant and appropriate data and information to enable us to come to our opinion. Data and information may include but is not limited to:

• relevant reports
• market information
• risk assessments
• processing and treatment details
• quality management systems
• product standards
• specifications
• analyses and sample data of the material inputs
• outputs and non-waste comparators

5.3 You are solely responsible for the data and information you provide. You may not provide or make available any data or information that you either did not create or that you do not have permission to use. By providing data and information, you warrant and represent that you own or have the necessary permissions to use it.

5.4 We will not be responsible for the content or accuracy of the data and information you provide.

5.5 Your data and information must meet all the following:

5.5.1 be accurate (where it states facts) and reasonably and honestly held (where it states opinion) and not misleading in any material respect

5.5.2 be for the purposes of making a submission to us to request our opinion, which will incur a fee

5.5.3 not prejudicially affect security of persons or create any risk of vandalism whether national or local or environmental

5.5.4 comply with the law applicable in England and in any country from which it is provided

5.6 The data and information you provide must not do any of the following (‘inappropriate use’) whether or not they are unlawful:

5.6.1 cause any person to commit, or otherwise aid, abet, counsel, procure or incite any person to commit or assist in the commission of, any unlawful or criminal conduct

5.6.2 be obscene, defamatory, offensive, threatening, hateful or inflammatory

5.6.3 promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age

5.6.4 be likely to harass, upset, embarrass, alarm or annoy any other person

5.6.5 impersonate any person, or misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person

5.6.6 give the impression that the content of your data and information emanates from us or any other third party if this is not the case

5.7 We may disclose your identity to any third party who is claiming that any submission constitutes a violation of their intellectual property rights.

5.8. You warrant that any such submission complies with these data and information standards, and you will be liable to us and indemnify us for any breach of that warranty.

6. How we will use your data and information once you have submitted it to us

6.1 We will process your data and information so that we can do both of the following:

6.1.1 make an assessment

6.1.2 provide an opinion

6.2 We may also process or release the data and information for any of following:

6.2.1 offer you documents or services relating to the definition of waste service

6.2.2 consult the public, public bodies and other organisations (for example, the Health and Safety Executive, local authorities, the emergency services, Defra) on matters relating to the definition of waste service

6.2.3 carry out research and development work on environmental issues

6.2.4 prevent anyone from breaking environmental law, investigate cases where environmental law may have been broken, and take any action that is needed

6.2.5 assess whether customers are satisfied with our service, and improve our service

6.2.6 respond to requests for information under the FOIA and the EIR

6.2.7 comply with any statutory or regulatory obligations and with any law or order of a court of competent jurisdiction

6.3 We may also pass the data and information on to our agents or representatives to do these things for us.

7. Personal data

7.1 To the extent that the data and information you provide to us with your submission is ‘personal data’ (as defined in the Data Protection Act 2018 in force from time to time), we will process it in accordance with this section.

7.2 We require identity data (including your title, name, username or similar identifier) and contact details (address, email address and telephone numbers) to provide the definition of waste service. Where you fail to provide that information, we may have to decline to provide our definition of waste service or cancel our contract with you (or both) but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

7.3 We are the data controller and responsible for your personal data. We will only use the personal data you provide for both of the following:

7.3.1 for the purposes set out in section 6

7.3.2 where necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests

7.4 We may have to share your personal data with service providers, professional advisers, HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities based in the UK for the purposes set out in section 6.

7.5 We will retain personal data supplied with your submission for at least 6 years. You may withdraw your consent for us to retain and process that information at any time.

7.6 We will not transfer your personal data outside the UK or the European Economic Area.

7.7 You have the right to any of the following:

7.7.1 request access to your personal data

7.7.2 request correction of the personal data that we hold about you

7.7.3 request erasure of your personal data

7.7.4 object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party)

7.7.5 request restriction of processing of your personal data

7.7.6 request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party

7.7.7 withdraw consent at any time

7.8 We have appointed a data protection officer who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to your personal data. If you have any questions about how we will use your personal data, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please email dowservices@environment-agency.gov.uk

7.9 You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues. We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance in accordance with section 12.

8. Limitations of our opinion

8.1 We can only provide you with an opinion in relation to the waste status of material in England. Any opinion will be based on our interpretation of the Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC), as amended to account for EU exit, and case law applicable in England and Wales.

8.2 Our opinion relates only to the material’s waste status for the purposes of establishing whether waste regulatory controls apply and does not cover other regulatory aspects of activities involving the material that we are responsible for (for example, groundwater authorisations) nor does it cover regulatory aspects that are the responsibility of other regulatory bodies (for example animal by-products, REACH authorisations, National Trading Standards and product legislation requirements). These examples are not exhaustive.

8.3 By providing our opinion we shall not be under any obligation to take or refrain from taking any related regulatory steps, including granting consents or permits or refrain from taking enforcement action (or both), that we are responsible for taking.

8.4 You are responsible for the consequences of any use to which you put our opinion.

8.5 We reserve the right to change our opinion, for example in response to new data or information, or if the law changes.

9. Copyright and database rights

9.1 By making a submission you agree to grant us a worldwide, royalty free, perpetual, non-exclusive licence to use the data and information within that submission in whole or in part and any way for the purposes set out in section 6.

9.2 This licence shall grant us the right to grant sub-licences over the whole or any part of your submission for the purposes set out in section 6.

9.3 We may exercise all copyright and publicity rights in the material contained in your submission in all jurisdictions, to their full extent and for the full period for which any such rights exist in that material.

9.4 You must ensure that your submissions do not infringe any intellectual property rights of any person. By submitting data and information to us, you are warranting that you have the right to grant us the non-exclusive copyright licence and right to sub-licence described above.

9.5 If you are not in a position to grant such a licence in respect of any or all the data or information you wish to include, you must not make the submission, or must exclude that data and information from the submission.

10. Confidential information

10.1 As a public authority we are subject to the FOIA and the EIR. If you consider that any of the data and information within your submission is confidential it is important that you understand that as a public authority we may still be obliged to disclose that information in response to requests under the FOIA or EIR.

10.2 There are only limited exceptions to the presumption of disclosure and we have to balance the need to protect the interests of a particular business against a wider test of public interest. We are able to withhold only the data and information within the submission to which the exceptions apply. In our absolute discretion we may choose to consult with you before releasing any data and information but the decision to release any data and information is ours.

10.3 You can find out more about the obligations of public authorities to disclose information to the public in the:

• guide to freedom of information

• guide to the environmental information regulations

10.4 We cannot take a decision on whether we consider an exception can be applied and balance the relevant public interest factors at the time you make your submission, because we are obliged to make this assessment when a request is received.

10.5 If you are concerned by the possible release of data and information when an information request is received please do not submit the sensitive data and information to us.

11. Fees and billing

11.1 We will charge you for our costs of reviewing your submission on a time and materials basis as set out in the guidance Check if your material is end of waste.

11.2 When we receive your submission, we will contact you to arrange payment of the interim fee. This fee will be used towards the initial work to check the submission for completeness, manage the submission, identify the nature and amount of technical and legal input required to carry out the assessment and prepare a cost estimate for the provision of our definition of waste service.

11.3 The interim fee is non-refundable even in the event that we are unable to make an assessment of the submission or give an opinion due to inadequate data and information.

11.4 Upon receipt of the interim fee, we will provide you with a cost estimate for provision of the definition of waste service.

11.5 On receipt of the cost estimate, you can either:

11.5.1 withdraw your submission without incurring charges beyond the interim fee

11.5.2 agree to proceed on the basis of our terms for the provision of our opinion (in particular our cost estimate and payment terms set out in a charging agreement)

12. Complaints

12.1 If you would like to make a complaint you can follow the Environment Agency’s complaints procedure.

12.2 We aim to inform you of the outcome of our review of any complaint within 10 working days. If we are unable to respond within these timescales we will let you know. Please also review the Environment Agency customer service commitment.

13. Changes to these terms

13.1 We may, at our complete discretion, revise these terms at any time.

13.2. We will provide you with a copy of any revised terms. If you are unhappy with any revision you may withdraw your submission without incurring charges beyond the interim fee. If you have already agreed to proceed on the basis of our charging agreement you may terminate that agreement in accordance with its terms.