History of the Development and Modern Legal Regulation of the Use of the Best Available Technologies in the UK

The aim of the study is to analyze the history of development and to identify the features of modern legal regulation of the use of the best technologies in the UK. The UK has a wealth of experience in applying these technologies. This, in particular, is confirmed by the fact that Directive 96/61/EC On Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control, adopted in the European Union in 1996, was laid down by the legislation on the protection of the environment of Great Britain. In Russia, unlike in the UK, an understanding has recently emerged of the need to accelerate the development of the best available technologies, since this affects national interests in the field of defense, effective development of the country's economy, and the solution of environmental and social problems. The research carried out within the framework of this article allows to summarize and, if possible, implement in the Russian legislation the positive experience of Great Britain in using tools of direct and indirect regulation of environmental users aimed at encouraging the introduction of the best available technologies. In order to achieve this aim, extensive material was studied that included not only EU environmental directives, BAT reference books and UK national regulatory acts, but also a series of regulatory and technical guidelines and foreign scientific literature. The methodological basis of the study was general scientific and specific scientific research methods. The specific historical legal method, formal legal and comparative legal methods have been widely used. The listed methods allowed to determine when the best available technologies were first consolidated in UK legislation, and to analyze their further legal regulation. In general, the study allows to note the high level of lawmaking in the UK. Its distinctive feature is consistency: first, special environmental programs are developed, and only then laws are adopted along with guidelines (regulations) for their application. As a result of this legislative policy of the state, the UK has developed its own unique system of acts regulating the use of the best available technologies. The basic principles on which the application of these technologies in the UK is based are the universal nature of their use (they, compared to EU directives, apply to a wide range of objects) and an individual approach to implementation (it is possible to deviate from the established requirements).

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