6. Hazardous substances

Changes and developments since last year

• the European Commission granted the UK an exemption from the application of the Biocidal Products Regulations 2001 in February 2014, allowing the UK essential use of water treatment systems using elemental copper for legionella control;

• a European Directive on the control of major accident hazards involving dangerous substances (known as Seveso III) was published in July 2012, strengthening areas including public access to information and standards of inspection and requiring new UK Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations (COMAH) from 1 June 2015;

• the Department for Education is considering feedback from its recent consultation before reviewing its policy on Managing Asbestos in Schools;

• seven sets of domestic regulations which support EU legislation on biocides, the export and import of hazardous chemicals (PIC) and the classification and labelling of chemicals (CLP) regulations will be simplified and consolidated into one new statutory instrument; and

• the Mesothelioma Act 2014 became law in January 2014 and made provision for a new compensation scheme.