Hazardous substances meaning

Does a seller need to disclose land contamination to a buyer? If the seller knows the land is contaminated, there is no obligation to reveal this to a purchaser; the principle of ‘buyer beware’ applies. However, when responding to CPSE enquiries, the seller must avoid any misleading statements. 16.4 Please provide (so far as the Seller is aware) details of: (a) historic and current uses of the Property and activities undertaken there; and (b) whether any hazardous substances, or contaminative or potentially contaminative materials, are in, on or beneath the Property, including asbestos or asbestos-containing materials, any known waste deposits, present or former storage areas for hazardous or radioactive substances, existing or previous storage tanks (above or below ground), and any parts of the Property that are or were landfill. A seller will typically seek the benefit of the ‘sold with information’ statutory exclusion and authorise the buyer to carry out its own site investigations. A typical response would be: ‘the buyer may undertake its own investigations...

In this issue: Air emissions and climate change Contamination and pollution Energy efficiency and buildings Energy for environmental lawyers Environmental information Environmental taxes, reliefs and incentives ESG and sustainability Hazardous substances and chemicals Nature, biodiversity and habitat conservation Waste Water, flooding and drainage Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Air emissions and climate change Greenhouse Gas Removals (GGR)-UK government publishes Business Model documentation On 27 August 2025, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) released a suite of papers on its proposed Greenhouse Gas Removals (GGR) Business Model and accompanying policy. The Lexis+ Energy team, working with Navraj Singh Ghaleigh, Senior Lecturer in Climate Law at the University of Edinburgh Law School, set out the context for the GGR Business Model; its relationship with the Power BECCS Business Model; the technologies the GGR framework intends to encompass; its legal footing and principal features; and how...

In this issue: Air emissions and climate change Energy efficiency of products Energy for environmental lawyers ESG and sustainability Hazardous substances and chemicals Marine Nature, biodiversity and habitat conservation Waste Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Air emissions and climate change Defra opens consultation on industrial emissions permitting reforms The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has begun consulting on plans to modernise England’s environmental permitting regime for industrial emissions. The package aims to foster innovation, adopt agile standards, secure proportionate and coherent regulation, boost regulator effectiveness and efficiency, and deliver a transparent system. Suggested measures include a new registration route for low-risk installations, flexible site permits setting overall emissions caps, and faster approvals for time‑limited technology trials. The proposals reflect the Corry Review’s critique of regulatory inefficiency. The Environment Agency intends to roll out changes that could cut permit queues from months to days and lower...

In this issue: Air emissions and climate change Energy for environmental lawyers Environmental disputes and proceedings Environmental permits and consents Environmental taxes, reliefs and incentives ESG and sustainability Hazardous substances and chemicals Marine Nature, biodiversity and habitat conservation Waste Waste producer responsibility regimes Water, flooding and drainage Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Air emissions and climate change DESNZ releases quarterly waste data reporting template for the UK ETS. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has issued a template for quarterly waste data submissions under the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS). It is designed for waste operators to use when sending quarterly data reports to their regulator during the voluntary monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) period. See: LNB News 19/02/2026 50. AFME responds to European Commission consultation on climate resilience legislative framework. The Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) has provided...

Nanotechnology—opportunities and risks Nanotechnology deals with the fabrication and application of matter at ultra-small scales. Nanomaterials are quantified in nanometres (nm) and can be many thousands of times thinner than a human hair; a single hair measures around 80,000 to 100,000 nm across. At these dimensions, substances display properties that diverge from those of the same material in bulk form, enabling novel uses while potentially introducing distinct hazards. Current adopters span key fields and wider industries: Biomedicine, electronics and energy Cosmetics, defence, automotive and agriculture Applications range from high-volume commodities, for example carbon black in car tyres, through to specialised, low-volume technologies. Cosmetics commonly incorporate nano titanium dioxide and zinc oxide to deliver functions such as UV filtering, while gold and silver nanoparticles feature in medical diagnostic tools. A 2023 report put the global nanotechnology market at US$69.15bn in 2022, projecting expansion to US$248.56bn by 2030. The European Commission regards micro/nano—electronics and photonics as a Key Enabling Technology that should be...

Waste from extractive operations (‘mining waste’) Mining waste encompasses materials that must be removed to gain access to mineral resources (but are not actually processed), for example topsoil, overburden and waste rock, as well as tailings—the material left over after the process of extracting the valuable content from an ore. Some fractions are inert and unlikely to present a significant environmental threat; others, in particular those from the non‑ferrous metal mining industry, may contain hazardous substances, such as heavy metals. For more information see Practice Note: Waste types and controls—extractive waste/mining waste The regulation of mining waste in England and Wales is primarily through the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 (EPR 2016), SI 2016/1154 (as variously amended), which is the main regulatory legislation governing the environmental permitting and compliance regime applying to a range of activities and industries. EPR 2016 came into force on 1 January 2017 and consolidated all of the amendments to the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 (EPR 2010), SI 2010/675. EPR...

Background and key developments Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, known as the EU Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) Regulation, gives effect to the United Nations’ Globally Harmonised System for classifying and labelling chemicals (UN GHS) within the EU. Its principal purposes are to: determine which characteristics of substances and mixtures warrant a hazardous classification, and ensure this identification is communicated appropriately to customers The EU CLP Regulation has applied since 20 January 2009 (with staged transition periods up to 2015) and is directly applicable to suppliers that manufacture, import, use or distribute chemical substances and mixtures. This Practice Note addresses the packaging requirements under the EU CLP Regulation. For details on other elements of the EU CLP framework, see Practice Notes: EU classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures (CLP): Regulation (EC) 1272/2008—snapshot EU CLP—chemicals classification EU CLP—chemicals labelling EU CLP—notifications to the classifications and labelling inventory EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability reforms...

1 Definitions Within this clause [ 1 ] the following meanings apply: Contaminated Land Regime • Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, as amended from time to time, and the Statutory Guidance Contamination • the existence or build-up of any Hazardous Substances at, in, on or under the Property [ at or prior to the Completion Date ] [ at any time whether before or after the Completion Date ] Environment • any or all of the following media, namely air, land, water (including surface water and groundwater) and any living organisms (including man) or systems sustained by those media Environmental Law • all applicable laws, statutes, secondary legislation, common law, directives, regulations, codes of practice and guidance notes that have legal effect [ and are in force at the Completion Date ] in ...

1 Definitions Contamination – the presence or build-up of any Hazardous Substances at, in, on, under or around the Premises. Environment – all or any of the following media, namely air (including the air within buildings and the air within other natural or man-made structures above or below ground), land and water (including surface water and groundwater) and any ecological systems or living organisms (including humans) supported by those media. Environmental Information – [ list any environmental reports that have been provided to the Tenant (eg desktops, phase one reports, phase two reports, validation reports, geotechnical)... ]

Definitions Environment – any or all of the following media: (a) air, including air inside buildings or other structures and at levels below or above ground; (b) land, covering buildings and any other structures or erections upon, in or beneath it, together with soil and anything beneath the land's surface; and (c) water, including groundwater and surface water, plus any ecological systems or living organisms (humans included) sustained by those media. EHS Laws – all relevant legislation (whether civil, criminal or administrative), statutes, statutory instruments, directives, regulations, common law, codes of practice and guidance notes (having legal effect), and any instructions or decisions of any court or regulatory authority that concern EHS Matters. EHS Matters – any issues connected with the Environment, energy efficiency, climate change, or health and safety...