Steven King assesses the likely effectiveness of the new Scrap Metal Dealers Act
The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 (SMDA 2013) is due to come into force on 1 October 2013. It introduces a fully-fledged, industry-funded discretionary licensing regime for scrap metal dealers, including new regulatory offences and enforcement tools for police and local authorities.
The new Act is considerably more ambitious than the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 1964, which will be repealed in its entirety. A full account of all the changes is beyond the scope of this article, in which I shall focus on three key areas: the broad contours of the licensing scheme; the cashless model, and the introduction of closure orders.
Licensing scheme
It is striking that a government which formed a Reducing Regulation Committee and mounted a “Red Tape Challenge” to reduce government burdens on business, has introduced a brand-new licensing regime, particularly considering that legitimate scrap metal dealers are already licensed by the Environment Agency.
The short answer is the chaos and public outrage caused by metal theft, an area beyond the Environment Agency’s remit. The scrap
