Green compliance
Published : October 2007
With environmental legislation increasing at a rate of knots, how are businesses expected to maintain the legality of these changing practices? Ruari McCallion looks at the current framework and asks what's next on the Government's agenda?
The good news is: no-one has yet gone out of business as a direct result of the raft of environmental legislation that has arrived and been implemented over the past several years. The bad news is: the costs of doing business in the UK - and the broader EU - has gone up. This affects competitiveness in the global economy and there are companies that have reacted to the increased burden by moving production to areas where regulations are perceived as less onerous. Longer term, as the EU expands and the Accession States progress through their transition, the number of 'havens' reduces. Furthermore, the EU and developed countries around the world are effectively imposing their standards on emerging economies, by requiring that goods sold within their borders comply with local legislation.
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