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About

In December 2020 SEPA lost access to much of our public register documentation.

We are now publishing the following documentation on the Find an authorisation document service:

  • Licence level authorisation documentation, including new authorisations and changes to existing authorisations that SEPA has issued under the Pollution Prevention & Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012 (“PPC” Part A) – Industrial Activities
  • Key PPC Part A documentation received or issued by SEPA prior to January 2021 and now published has been subjected to a verification process prior to being published.
  • Monitoring/environmental reports (known as ‘data returns’ submitted by operators of PPC Part A activities from 2024 onwards.
  • Licence level authorisation documents, including new authorisations and changes to existing authorisations that SEPA has issued since January 2021 for:
  • Registration level authorisation documents, including new authorisations and changes to existing authorisations that SEPA has issued since February 2024 excluding any issued via the digital online application system for:
    • Registrations under the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 (“the 2011 regulations” or “CAR”) – Water activities

How do I find documents?

The main page has a Search function at the top where you can filter on one or more of the headings. When you click into any of the white boxes under a heading you can type in the information you are looking for. You can filter on more than one heading. There are two headings which use a “drop-down” list to select from:

Authorisation Status

  • Granted – the authorisation is currently active
  • Surrendered – the authorisation was surrendered within the last 12 months

Authorisation Level

  • CAR Complex Licence – a licence level authorisation under the CAR regulations
  • CAR Simple Licence – a licence level authorisation under the CAR regulations
  • PPC Part A – a licence level authorisation under the PPC regulations
  • PPC Part B – a licence level authorisation under the PPC regulations
  • Waste Management Licence – a licence level authorisation under the WML regulations
  • CAR Registration – a registration level authorisation under the CAR regulations

Under the “View Documents” column you will see the Authorisation Number which is a hyperlink to the documents. When you click on the link under View documents, you will be taken to another window called SEPA Public Register. You should see an index for the Authorisation Number you have searched for with folder(s) and an index.html. The index.html does not link to anything useful for the user, it is part of the file structure and does not contain any Public Register documents or details.

The folders can be accessed by clicking on each folder and you will be shown a list of documents available. To access the document, click on the document name.

The data table and documents are updated every 24 hours.

What is not available?

If your search brings up the notification “Document not found” this means there are currently no published documents available for that authorised site, there are different reasons for that:

  • The redaction and upload of the documentation issued from 1 January 2021 is ongoing. We are continually increasing the number of authorised sites for which authorisation documents have been published. You may wish to search again at a later point or contact Registry; or
  • In limited circumstances there may be legal reasons why the documentation has not been published.
  • In general, documentation received or issued before 1 January 2021 is not readily available. If such documentation is requested, we will provide the best information we currently have available but can't confirm it is complete or accurate. Any use made of this information will be at the requester's own risk. You can request this documentation through our access to information service

Additional documentation for waste, water and industrial activities received or issued from 1 January 2021 onwards is available on request by emailing Registry.