Many businesses do not comply with the regulations that prohibits the sale of timber impregnated with chromium and arsenic, while the quality of the data reported by many of the companies that have been granted discharge permits by the SFT is unsatisfactory. Eight cases were reported to the police, while for their part, the police asked the SFT to issue expert opinions in eight additional cases in 2003, with the SFT demanding that fines be imposed in seven of these.
More supervision in 2003
2003 saw 1900 inspections conducted, compared to 1200 the year before. The increase in the monitoring activity is the result of the expanded co-operation with the environmental protection departments under the county governors.
Supervision in 2003 placed special focus on three areas:
- use and emissions of substances hazardous to the environment and to health
- waste treatment
- return and recycling arrangements of hazardous substances
Three nationwide inspection campaigns
The environmental protection departments of the county governors and the SFT teamed up to conduct three nationwide monitoring campaigns in 2003. The campaigns focused on the treatment of dangerous waste at small and medium-sized enterprises, the prohibition on selling timber impregnated with chrominum and arsenic, as well as inspections to check that dealers are taking back discarded electrical and electronic equipment and informing their customers of this possibility.
In addition to these monitoring campaigns, the SFT and the county governors checked that importers of electrical and electronic products (EE products) have set up or take part in return and recycling arrangements, while also inspecting other priority sectors and reviewing supervision themes.
Many areas for improvement
The inspections revealed that there are several areas for improvement concerning compliance with the prohibition on selling timber impregnated with chrominum and arsenic. Many importers also have defective systems for collecting and treating electronic waste.
A vast majority of the businesses that were inspected deliver hazardous waste to the established collection system, but there remains a potential for improvement linked to the safe packaging, labelling, storage and declaration of hazardous waste.
The SFT and the county governors will continue to focus on hazardous waste, timber impregnated with chrominum and arsenic and electrical and electronic waste in their inspections in 2004.
Little knowledge of their products
Importers and dealers frequently have deficient knowledge of the substances that are hazardous to health and the environment contained in the products they market. Suggesting substitutes for substances that are hazardous to health and the environment in products so that they can be made less dangerous will continue to be given high priority in the SFT’s monitoring activity.
Companies need to improve their in-house reporting
The inspections revealed the frequent poor quality of the data reported in the declarations from companies that have been granted an discharge permits by the SFT. The declarations concern the figures that the companies themselves report back concerning how environmental requirements are being complied with. New and thorough checks of the reported data will be pursued in 2004.
Sectors that show environmental improvements
The petroleum industry is installing ever more enhanced systems to select and use more environmentally friendly chemicals. A clear environmental improvement has also taken place in the ferrosilicon sector over the last few years.
A control of the quality of 12 selected fuels revealed that fuel for motor vehicles (petrol and diesel) fulfilled the fuel quality requirements (including the content of sulphur, benzene and polyaromatic hydrocarbons or PAH), which are important in terms of emissions and air pollution.
Importers and dealers of children’s products complied with the relevant regulations better in 2003 than in previous years. For example SFT no longer found illegal contents of phthalates (plasticisers) in toys.
Fines and notifications
The SFT reported eight cases to the police in 2003, compared with 13 in 2002. Three cases concerned discharges from the offshore petroleum industry, two involved fraud in the reimbursement system for waste oil, two cases were related to emissions from land-based industry and the last was a case of the illegal import and sale of timber impregnated with chrominum and arsenic.
Decisions to impose coercive fines on 53 companies were made, the majority because of a failure to report products or substances to the Product Register. Most of the companies complied with the requirements in time to avoid the fine.
For enquiries, please contact the SFT:
- Director Marit Kjeldby, Department of Control and International Affairs
tel. 22 57 35 00, e-mail: marit.kjeldby@sft.no - Head of Section Cecilie Kristiansen, Department of Control and International Affairs
tel. 22 57 34 69, e-mail: cecilie.kristiansen@sft.no
