To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the costs of pollution prevention and control permits in other EU member states for benchmarking purposes; and if he will make a statement. (204524)

My Department does not hold any information of the costs of pollution prevention and control (PPC) permits in other EU member states. Directive 2008/1/EC concerning integrated pollution prevention and control (codified version) is silent on the subject of member states charging for PPC permits. Some member states may not charge for IPPC permit applications, but may recover varying proportions of their costs from the regulated industry, while others bear the cost in general taxation. This is a political decision for each national Government. The differing practices which are in place make it difficult to make comparisons of the costs of PPC permits across the EU. In England and Wales regulators are required, in accordance with HMT guidance and the ‘Polluter Pays Principle’, to recover the costs of regulation from those they regulate.