The Act Commentary on Sections Part 5: Waste Section 38 Failure to produce authority: fixed penalty notices
135.Section 38 inserts sections 5B and 5C into the Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989. Under section 5B, where it appears to an authorised officer of a regulation authority that a person has committed an offence under section 5(7)(a) (failure to produce authority for transporting controlled waste) he may issue that person with a notice, offering him an opportunity to discharge by payment of a fixed penalty any liability to conviction for the offence. By section 5B(9) the fixed penalty is set at £300, though a different amount may be substituted by an order made by the appropriate person under section 5B(10). By section 5B(11) a regulation authority may make provision for treating a fixed penalty as having been paid if a lesser amount is paid within a shorter specified period, and by section 5B(12) the extent and circumstances for doing so may be subject to restrictions in regulations made by the appropriate person.
136.Section 5C allows a waste collection authority to retain the receipts arising from fixed penalty notices issued pursuant to section 5B, and specifies the functions for which the receipts may be used. Section 5C(9) makes similar provision to that made by section 8 (subsection (8)) as described in paragraph 44 above.