Review of Scrap Metal Dealers Act extended on BMRA’s request

By Carolina Curiel

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Home Office has decided to extend the review of Scrap metal Dealers Act launched in early-December last year. The review period was initially announced to be of seven weeks duration. However, the British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA) has noted that this timeframe is inadequate and hence must be extended to twelve weeks. According to BMRA, the Home Office has agreed in principle to extend the deadline, but a written confirmation is yet to be received.

The Home Office under the UK government had launched a review of the Act in December 2016, nearly eighteen months ahead of the due date, upon request by BMRA. Section 18 of the bill places the duty on the Secretary of State to review the Act within five years of coming into force. This makes a review due only in 2018. However, it was decided to conduct the review ahead of the schedule on BMRA’s charges that lack of effectiveness in implementation of the law has led to huge sufferings for the members’ businesses.

The consultees were initially allowed seven weeks time to submit their views and provide evidences on how effective the Act has been in curbing metal thefts. Since every single BMRA member, ranging from small to large businesses are directly impacted by the Act, the period of seven weeks is inadequate for all the members to come up with constructive suggestions. Moreover, it is assumed that members are unlikely to get a second chance for review of the policy, BMRA noted.

The BMRA Board meet held in December had decided to submit a comprehensive written response to the Home Office, with regards to its concerns including lack of enforcement and ambiguous data being provided by the Office for National Statistics on scrap metal theft cases. The Association had also decided to consult with other related industry stakeholders and seek parliamentary support on major issues surrounding the Act. To this effect, BMRA had also appointed an agency to co-ordinate meetings with key parliamentarians and industry partners. In additions, meetings with various government agencies are scheduled to be held later this month.

The recent statistics released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) indicate dramatic decline in metal theft offences recorded by the police. As per figures, the 42 police forces across the country recorded 16,155 metal theft offences during the year ending March 2016, significantly lower by 38% when matched with the previous year. Infrastructure-related metal theft offences declined by 36%, whereas the non-infrastructure-related metal thefts were down by 40%.

The new Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 brings forward a revised regulatory regime for the scrap metal dealing and vehicle dismantling industries. It gives local authorities the power to better regulate these industries by providing a power to grant a license and revoke the same if the dealer is considered 'unsuitable’. The Act requires all individuals and businesses to complete an enhanced application process to obtain a scrap metal dealer license. Also, it requires all sellers of metal to provide personal identification at the point of sale. In addition, the law makes it an offence to deal with cash during scrap metal transactions.