Chinese iron ore futures dip as price watch plan worsens sentiment

BEIJING, June 22 (Reuters) – Benchmark iron ore futures in China fell for a second straight session on Tuesday, slashing their gains to 30% so far in 2021 from more than 50% earlier, as Beijing plans to step up inspection of commodity prices feeling bumpy.

The most traded iron ore contract on the Dalian Stock Exchange, for delivery in September, fell 5.2% to 1,110 yuan ($ 171.75) per tonne, the lowest in two weeks. It was down 3.6% to 1,128 yuan at 03:20 GMT.

“Following recent macroeconomic policies… speculation has started to calm down and iron ore prices have fluctuated,” Huatai Futures analysts wrote in a note.

The state planner and Chinese market regulator examined the spot market at the Beijing Iron Ore Mall on Monday and said it would closely monitor prices and investigate malicious speculation.

Spot prices for iron ore containing 62% iron for delivery to China, compiled by consultancy SteelHome, fell from $ 7 to $ 210.5 per tonne on Monday. SH-CCN-IRNOR62

Meanwhile, the lean season for steel products and capacity controls at factories have also weakened demand for ingredients for steelmaking, Huatai Futures added.

Dalian coking coal fell 0.8% to 1,945 yuan per ton.

Coke futures on the Dalian Stock Exchange slipped 0.8% to 2,650 yuan per tonne.

Construction rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, for delivery in October, fell 2.3% to 5,126 yuan per ton.

Hot-rolled coils, used in manufacturing, fell 3.0% to 5,126 yuan per ton.

Shanghai stainless steel futures, for July delivery, gained 2.6% to 16,515 yuan per tonne.

$ 1 = 6.4628 yuan Chinese renminbi Report by Min Zhang and Shivani Singh; edited by Uttaresh.V


Source link

EPA fines Benalla company over explosion, surveillance plan

The Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) fined particle board manufacturer Benalla Monsbent Pty Ltd (as D&R Henderson) over $ 16,000 for two offenses, including one involving an explosion reported by a member public.

The second fine was for an insufficient monitoring plan to meet the conditions of the company’s EPA license.

EPA Regional Director for the Northeast, Renee Palmer, said the caller for the EPA pollution hotline also described a plume of smoke rising from the premises.

“The explosion took place inside the facility, the local CFA brigade was called to the scene and WorkSafe was notified, but the company did not report the incident to the EPA,” Ms. Palmer said.

“It is a legal obligation for any company operating under an EPA license to notify the EPA of any violation of its license conditions, and it is a clear responsibility, it is written on its license,” he said. she declared.

The company provided details when contacted by EPA officers, and the EPA has determined that the release of smoke and pressure during the incident is considered a release to air without authorization, which must be reported to the EPA.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The explosion and fire took place around 1 p.m. on November 3, 2020.

Under the Environmental Protection Act 1970 and the Violations Act 2006, the company has the right to have the decision to issue the notice of violation or to have a hearing and a decision reviewed. the case by a court.

Members of the public can report the pollution by calling the EPA’s 24-hour hotline at 1300 EPA VIC (1300 372 842).

/ Public distribution. This material is from the original organization / authors and may be ad hoc in nature, edited for clarity, style and length. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author (s). here.


Source link

Missouri lawmakers approve prescription drug oversight plan; Bill walks up to the governor’s office

JEFFERSON CITY – Missouri is closer than ever to joining all other states in having a statewide prescription drug database, after the House on Tuesday sent in a bill that would create one to Governor Mike Parson for consideration.

The GOP-led House voted 91-64 in favor of the bill, which would allow a state-wide database that would provide doctors and pharmacists with a patient’s prescribing history so that they can they can intervene with medical help for those who may be struggling with an addiction.

Parson said he supports prescription drug monitoring.

Missouri is the only state without a database to track prescriptions, although St. Louis County created one after state lawmakers failed to act. At a minimum, it is estimated that 85% of Missourians are already covered by the surveillance program run by St. Louis County and joined by Greene County and many other counties in the state, according to the County of St. Louis website. St. Louis.

Following:Greene County to join Springfield in local prescription drug monitoring program

Following:Report: Stigma is a Barrier to Mental Health and Addiction Treatment in Greene County

Republican backer Rep. Travis Smith stressed on Tuesday that this means state lawmakers have no control over the default surveillance program for most states.

“It allows us to drive the narratives,” he said of the bill.

The bill’s passage came after years of unsuccessful attempts to implement such a program statewide.

Some skeptical Republicans have been the main dissidents, arguing that such databases could be hacked and threaten patient privacy.

“I would be interested to know how many people in this chamber are currently taking antidepressants (or) antipsychotic drugs,” Republican Representative Justin Hill told colleagues in the House. “Because it will all be in a database that the state does not have to manage. “

Missouri’s plan would only collect data on drugs that are considered controlled substances, such as opioid pain relievers and certain anti-anxiety drugs. The data could not be provided to law enforcement and could only be used for medical treatment.

Senator Holly Rehder, a Republican from Sikeston, has worked for this legislation since she was first elected to the House in 2012.

“After nine years of trying and not giving up, we got the PDMP right,” Rehder said in a Facebook video Tuesday. “He is heading to the governor’s office and I am very grateful for the bipartisan support.”

“It’s about families. It’s about substance use disorders,” she said. “It’s about allowing our healthcare professionals to see their patient data so they can make the best informed decision, and we can help stop the opioid epidemic.”

– News-Leader reporter Jackie Rehwald contributed to this report.


Source link

2020 packaging producer responsibility monitoring plan

The Environment Agency monitors businesses to ensure that:

  • packaging producers in England contribute to the recovery and recycling targets of the European packaging directive
  • register of all compulsory producers
  • producer compliance systems fulfill their statutory obligations on behalf of member producers
  • they provide accurate data on packaging handled, recovered and recycled in the UK
  • there is precise data on registered producers
  • processing, recovery and export operators comply with the approval conditions
  • packaging waste is recycled and recovered according to the standards of the directive
  • waste packaging is not transported illegally

Our compliance activities include:

  • documentary assessments and reviews
  • validation checks on data submissions
  • analysis of data trends, search for fraudulent behavior, errors and anomalies
  • site visits

The revenues from packaging costs finance the majority of our compliance work with:

  • producers
  • producer compliance regimes
  • approved reprocessors
  • accredited exporters

We are allocating this funding, along with tax revenues from other producer responsibility regimes, to our national producer responsibility team.

In March 2019, we restructured the way we work to meet the demands of producer responsibility. We have moved to a nationally managed single delivery approach. This left us with a few vacancies, but we have now recruited 14 new agents. They start in February 2020. These agents will need to undergo a training program before they can monitor operators. Therefore, this resource will not be immediately available for site audits.

The revenues from packaging costs do not finance our:

  • inspections of green list waste exports
  • compliance with the Regulation on the cross-border transport of waste
  • surveys of unregistered packaging producers (called “freeriders”)

We pay for these activities with public funds.

1. Noncompliance

The Environment Agency will continue to identify packaging producers who are not registered (freeriders). We will investigate any freeriders that are reported to us. We will use a risk-based approach focusing on the operators with the greatest impact on the environment. We will use various means to bring non-conformers into compliance.

We also fund a specialized waste regime investigation team to support our officers in their investigations and to direct serious and significant cases.

Where appropriate, we will use our enforcement powers and tools in accordance with the Environment Agency’s enforcement and sanctions policy.

2. Evaluation, follow-up and validation of submissions

Submissions include:

  • registrations
  • accreditations
  • quarterly data returns

The Environment Agency performs a number of monitoring activities when processing registrations from both:

  • direct registrants
  • producers adhering to schemes

We monitor the information and data submitted by all (nearly 7,000) registered producers, including comparing data submissions with those from previous years.

In April of each year, after the registration deadline, we identify producers who have not re-registered. We contact them for:

  • know why they did not re-register
  • bring them into conformity if necessary

In some cases, we work with compliance programs to achieve this. However, when producers do not register or tell us their status, we will investigate them as freeriders.

At the accreditation application stage, we assess the complete application as well as the submitted sampling and inspection plans. We have to make sure they are sturdy and reliable. After granting accreditation, we will monitor sampling and inspection plans during on-site inspections and desk reviews. We will also verify other supporting documents and activities.

We will send reprocessors and accredited exporters a notice of suspension if they do not submit a quarterly data report. We can follow up on performance improvement requirements or take enforcement action as needed. We may also suspend or cancel accreditation if other accreditation conditions are not met.

3. Surveillance systems, direct registrants and accredited operators

Compliance programs for licensed producers must register their program annually. We perform a detailed compliance assessment of each registration.

We monitor producer compliance programs on a quarterly basis to verify progress in meeting their members’ obligations – for example by verifying procurement models for:

  • packaging recycling notes (PRN)
  • recycling notes for the export of packaging (PERN)

We do this to manage the risk of the UK failing to meet national and EU targets. We check more frequently towards the end of the compliance year. If necessary, we will highlight any issues we have with the program through phone or email discussions.

Towards the end of the compliance period, we check whether producers directly registered with us have fulfilled their obligations. We will contact the producers if there is a problem. We are sending reminders and will also verify that the obligated parties are:

  • to acquire PRN Where PERN
  • accepting PRN
  • submit certificates of conformity

We contact producers when we see a risk of non-compliance, for example if they have not acquired any PRN.

4. Compliance monitoring

Using a risk-based approach, we conduct compliance monitoring of:

  • packaging producers
  • conformity diagrams
  • approved reprocessors
  • accredited exporters

For calendar year 2020, we plan to perform 10 on-site inspections of approved compliance programs. This is in addition to our ongoing, desktop-based, all-program compliance assessments.

We plan to perform a minimum of 110 inspections of accredited operator sites, visiting all operators identified as high risk (sites categorized in red and amber). These site inspections will be guided by our risk profiling assessments. We can visit more sites if we feel it is necessary. We will decide according to the risk of the operator.

We may perform more than one site inspection on certain operators if our information, or our risk assessment, tells us it is necessary. Site inspections can be a pre-arranged or unannounced visit. Some sites can accommodate both types.

5. Summary of planned compliance activities

Producers

We will do it:

  • review and validate all direct listing requests so that national publications contain accurate data
  • investigate all reported freeriders to increase producer registrations – this to reduce non-compliance and ensure a level playing field for all producers
  • contact all producers who do not re-register (deposits) to confirm that they are no longer a producer, or to bring them back into compliance
  • make 83 producer site visits based on the risk we assess in terms of scale, complexity, late registration and data assessment – our goal is to validate data submissions or request that the data be resubmitted
  • contact all direct reporting companies at risk of non-compliance – to ensure they meet their recovery and recycling obligations and submit their certificate of compliance

Producer compliance regimes

We will perform basic checks on all registration datasets so that national publications contain accurate data.

To identify and resolve potential non-conformities, we will use documentary surveillance to:

  • compliance assess all system records
  • monitor all producer compliance programs on a quarterly basis and discuss their compliance position
  • evaluate all ad hoc Environment Agency model submissions (around 200)
  • assess the declaration of conformity for all producer compliance programs

We will perform 10 site inspections to verify that the approval conditions have been met and to identify and resolve any failures.

Accredited operators

We will do it:

  • determine all requests (and sampling and inspection plans) within the legal 12-week deadline and only accredit those that fully meet regulatory requirements
  • perform desk reviews of all quarterly data returns and correct any anomalies identified
  • perform a minimum of 110 site inspections, visit all red and orange sites (based on our risk profile) to verify compliance with accreditation conditions, and use improvement, enforcement, or two, to remedy any failure

6. Caveat

We reserve the right to refocus our efforts and priorities based on emerging threats throughout a year.


Source link

Nigeria: 2021 Needs and Response Monitoring Plan (April 2021) – Nigeria

Part 1

introduction

“If I only had an hour to fell a tree, I would spend the first 45 minutes sharpening my ax.” – Abraham Lincoln

The Transformation Agenda affirmed that coordination and leadership in the humanitarian system are essential to ensure that populations affected by conflict or disasters receive timely, life-saving assistance based on need.

Strengthening coordination and leadership requires commitment at all stages of the humanitarian program cycle (HPC) to jointly assess the situation; develop operational plans to cover priority humanitarian needs; mobilize and allocate resources according to priorities; monitor progress; assess whether it is having the expected and sufficient effect for the various affected populations; adjust strategy and plans accordingly; and document how this is done to support accountability and transparency.

The monitoring of humanitarian aid delivered to affected populations has existed for some time. Humanitarian actors, during the implementation of projects, establish systems and procedures that measure what is implemented and delivered, the results obtained and the quality.

However, monitoring the collective results of a large-scale multi-agency intervention is less standardized. In recent years, efforts to follow up on the response on this larger scale have gained momentum and several initiatives have been undertaken. The current monitoring plan stems from this, setting the basic principles for monitoring the collective response to humanitarian crises.


Source link

DHCP server monitoring made easy with OpUtils

In today’s complex IT infrastructures, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) servers play an indispensable role in automating IP allocation and configuration. The ability of a DHCP server to allocate IPs to requesting clients in real time is one of the factors that ensures constant availability of dynamic networks.

However, even if a network’s availability depends on it, DHCP servers are often not closely monitored by IT teams. This can lead to dreaded resource outage issues, leading to costly network downtime. To avoid encountering these issues, it is essential that you monitor the availability metrics of DHCP servers, such as their scopes and IP address pools.

While it is possible to monitor availability metrics using several stand-alone tools, a solution with a built-in IP address manager that can monitor all of these metrics is most effective. This integrated approach enables efficient troubleshooting of network problems by correlating the real-time IP state of the network with the data tracked by the DHCP servers.

Eliminating the need to switch between tools lets you manage IP addresses, monitor scopes, view leased IP lists, reserve IP addresses, and generate usage reports – all from a single console.

Improved OpUtils DHCP Server Monitoring

OpUtils’ DHCP server monitoring capability not only gives you insight into aspects of your DHCP server, but also improves the process with its advanced IP address management capabilities. This allows you to receive a clear overview of your IP address usage with information about DHCP-specific metrics such as leased IP addresses by scope and available IP addresses.

With increasingly dynamic networks, managing IP addresses in tandem with DHCP IP pool monitoring allows you to plan ahead and avoid network problems such as IP outages.

How Does OpUtils DHCP Server Snooping Help Your Network?

Monitor DHCP scope and its real-time IP pool status from one place

Many networks today support several advanced features such as dynamic IP allocation and bring your own device policies. With multiple devices joining and leaving your network constantly, you should closely monitor IP availability and DHCP scopes to ensure that each requesting device is assigned an IP address to connect to your network. Organizational networks can span multiple DHCP servers. This makes manual cross-checking of the IP usage data from each DHCP server with the actual data on your network impractical.

OpUtils’ integrated approach to managing DHCP servers as part of IP address management completely bypasses the above hurdle. View the MAC address associated with an IP, its availability status, the associated DNS, and the reservation in the DHCP IP pool. Network administrators can now cross-reference their DHCP server and scope data, while the OpUtils IP address manager manages the usage and status of their IP addresses.

Instant alert and efficient troubleshooting

Staying on top of network events allows you to quickly and easily diagnose and resolve network issues. Real-time alerts help proactively monitor your DHCP servers and their IP addresses. OpUtils threshold-based alerts ensure you stay ahead of network incidents by escalating any emerging issues directly to your email and syslog files.

With OpUtils, integrating DHCP server snooping with IP address management speeds up the diagnostic process and ensures efficient troubleshooting. For example, if your DHCP server is running out of available IP addresses, you can identify transient IP addresses by correlating the IP address pool data from the DHCP server in the IP address manager. These IP addresses can then be made available, thus avoiding a possible failure of IP resources.

Track usage and plan efficiently ahead with granular reporting

As networks continually grow, it is important to plan effectively in advance for your capacity needs to ensure constant availability of your network. Tracking the IP allocation of your DHCP server helps you identify the IP usage pattern over time.

OpUtils’ various reporting options help you analyze different aspects of your network resource usage and availability metrics. With its granular reporting on monitored DHCP servers, you can track your DHCP server scope and IP pool metrics such as IP leases and IP availability. You can configure reports to schedule and send directly to your email or export them as PDF or CSV. OpUtils’ diverse set of granular reports helps you perform effective network audits and improve your capacity planning process.

Supports a wide range of DHCP servers

IT administrators deploy a variety of DHCP servers that can meet their specific networking needs. OpUtils DHCP Server Snooping supports commonly used DHCP servers, including:

  • Microsoft DHCP server 2003, 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2019
  • Palo Alto DHCP server
  • Linux ISC DHCP Server
  • CISCO DHCP Server
  • Fortinet DHCP server

Getting started with OpUtils

OpUtils is more than just a DHCP server monitoring solution. It is an affordable, easy-to-use real-time monitoring solution designed to help network engineers efficiently manage their IT resources. With advanced IP address management and switch port mapping capabilities, OpUtils has over 30 built-in tools that enable efficient troubleshooting. Helping you secure and optimize the use of your network’s IP resources and switch ports, OpUtils offers rogue detection and other networking tools such as Wake on LAN and bandwidth monitoring. .

New to ManageEngine OpUtils?
See how OpUtils helps you easily monitor your IP-centric network resources. Download a 30-day free trial or schedule a free, personalized demo with a product expert.

DHCP post-server monitoring made easy with OpUtils first appeared on the ManageEngine blog.

*** This is a syndicated Security Bloggers Network blog from ManageEngine Blog written by Sharon Abraham. Read the original post at: https://blogs.manageengine.com/network/oputils/2021/04/19/dhcp-server-monitoring-made-easy-with-oputils.html


Source link

Datadog is the first to launch Windows Server monitoring of live traffic

NEW YORK, March 31, 2021 / PRNewswire / – Datadog, Inc. (NASDAQ: DDOG), the monitoring and security platform for cloud applications, today announced the extension of Network Performance Monitoring (NPM) to Windows. Datadog NPM now monitors the performance of network communications between applications running on Windows Server and Linux, providing transparent network visibility into cloud environments, on-premises data centers and operating systems.

Datadog Network Performance Monitoring translates distributed traffic from complex network architectures into meaningful application dependencies, so customers can spot latencies or inefficiencies that negatively contribute to application performance, infrastructure load, and network costs. With this enhanced functionality, organizations can monitor their entire network on different operating systems, providing complete visibility.

“At Datadog, we push the boundaries of what it means to holistically monitor Windows Server workloads by analyzing every aspect of their health, from infrastructure, application, network to security,” said Ilan Rabinovich, VP, Product and Community, Datadog. “With this latest development, we are excited to create new opportunities for all Windows Server customers to isolate the root cause of their application problems, whether it’s upstream code errors, heavy network traffic or regional outages. “

“Evaluating the performance of critical application traffic in our Windows environment was previously very difficult,” said Alex Kanevski, Principal architect at Generali Global Assistance. “With Datadog Network Performance Monitoring, we can quickly determine whether our network is at fault for slow traffic or poor connectivity before our applications are impacted, so that travel insurance is a seamless experience for our customers.”

“At AWS, we strive to ensure that Windows applications can meet the digital transformation goals that customers have set for themselves,” said Fred wurden, Managing Director, Amazon EC2 Enterprise & Benchmarking, AWS. “Now, with Datadog Network Performance Monitoring, we can empower our mutual customers to manage their complex service dependencies, improving the digital experience for everyone. “

According to Gartner, Inc., “A strong network is critically important to digital business projects; however, the level of agility and visibility of the network often does not meet the requirements of these initiatives.1

Datadog NPM helps monitor distributed traffic in on-premises and cloud environments, so organizations can:

  • Identify cost and performance bottlenecks: Identify unexpected or costly communications between services and cloud regions to quickly spot where network connectivity and latency issues are concentrated.
  • Isolate the root cause: Determine when application and infrastructure issues are causing bad dependencies, misconfigured connection pooling, or cloud provider failures.
  • Visibility for each engineer: Visualize connection data at the application layer, so it can be analyzed and understood by network, application and reliability engineers.

For more information, please visit: https://www.datadoghq.com/blog/npm-windows-support/

About Datadog

Datadog is the monitoring and security platform for cloud applications. Our SaaS platform integrates and automates infrastructure monitoring, application performance monitoring, and log management to provide unified, real-time observability of our customers’ entire technology stack. Datadog is used by organizations of all sizes and across a wide range of industries to enable digital transformation and cloud migration, foster collaboration between development, operations, security and business teams, accelerate time-to-market the application market, reduce problem resolution time, secure applications and infrastructure, understand user behavior, and track key business metrics.

Forward-looking statements

This press release may include certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or of the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views on our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects, which are based on information currently available to us and on the assumptions we have made. Actual results may differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements and are subject to a variety of assumptions, uncertainties, risks and factors beyond our control, including the risks detailed under “Risk Factors”. and elsewhere in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2021, as well as future filings and reports from us. Except as required by law, we assume no duty or obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events, changes in expectations, or otherwise.

1 Market guide for monitoring and diagnosing network performance. Josh chessman, March 5, 2020

Contact
For Datadog
Martin bergman
[email protected]

SOURCE Datadog, Inc.

Related links

www.datadoghq.com


Source link

Premier League team keep tabs on Derby County players as takeover saga continues

West Ham are keeping tabs on five Derby County players as they look to take advantage of the Rams’ tough financial situation, although no move will occur until the summer.

As has been well documented, the Championship squad is currently in an uncertain position as Sheikh Khaled’s potential takeover has yet to materialize.

Although it had been approved in november, it’s still not over, and this has led the Derby players not be paid on time.

Therefore, reports emerged suggesting the Rams might need to take advantage of some of their more talented youngsters, and it looks like West Ham is watching the situation closely.

It is after the reliable @exWHU employee affirmed that the Hammers are looking for Lee Buchanan, Max Bird, Jason Knight, Louie Sibley and Morgan Whittaker.

The five players have all broken through in the past 18 months and all feature prominently in Wayne Rooney’s plans right now as the rookie boss seeks to guide the club to safety.

Despite West Ham’s interest, the update says no formal offers can be made until the summer.

The verdict

Derby is in a vulnerable position right now, so news like this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

If the takeover doesn’t go through and the new investment doesn’t arrive, the reality is they will have to sell players, and the five mentioned will have a lot of suitors.

So it’s something to watch out for if the takeover doesn’t happen, but everyone who is logged in at the club is hoping an announcement will come in the next few days.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.


Source link

2021 packaging producer responsibility monitoring plan

Our monitoring policy

The Environment Agency monitors the compliance of companies in England with responsibilities under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007 (amended). This includes:

  • producers
  • approved compliance programs
  • accredited reprocessors and exporters

We monitor businesses to ensure that:

  • packaging producers in England contribute to UK recycling targets
  • register of all compulsory producers
  • producer compliance systems fulfill their legal obligations on behalf of member producers
  • producers and producer compliance programs provide accurate data on packaging handled and recycled in the UK
  • there are precise data on registered producers
  • reprocessors and exporters comply with their legal obligations, including accreditation conditions
  • packaging waste is recycled according to the correct standards
  • waste packaging is legally recycled

Under the packaging waste regulations, we receive information and data from producers, compliance programs, reprocessors and exporters. This includes:

  • accreditation and approval requests
  • registration requests
  • quarterly returns
  • resubmissions
  • certificates and declarations of conformity

We monitor this information to assess and determine compliance.

Our monitoring activities include:

  • assess the performance and behavior of companies to identify potential non-conformities
  • assess and determine accreditation and approval requests
  • evaluate and determine records
  • investigation into “dropouts” of producers (producers already registered who do not re-register)
  • investigate the “free riders” (obligated unregistered producers)
  • validation of submissions
  • evaluate and investigate late or missing submissions
  • evaluate and analyze the recycling ratings of packaging (PRN) and recycling notes for the export of packaging (PERN)
  • evaluate and analyze waste files and issue PRN and PERN
  • assess and determine the certificate and declarations of conformity
  • intelligence gathering and data trend analysis
  • risk profiling
  • monitor companies at risk for the environment and the packaging regime

Funding

Most of our compliance work is funded by packaging costs. We are allocating this funding, along with tax revenues from other producer responsibility regimes, to our national producer responsibility team.

We also fund a dedicated waste regime investigation team to support our investigations of serious and significant non-compliance.

The revenues from packaging costs do not finance our:

  • inspections of green list waste exports
  • compliance with the Regulation on the cross-border transport of waste
  • enforcement activity under the packaging regime (e.g. withdrawal of approval, revocation of accreditation and prosecution)

We pay for these activities with public funds.

Our watch activity

Producers

At a minimum, we will monitor all registered producers by:

  • validate, evaluate and analyze the information and data submitted during registration (around 7,000 producers), and after resubmissions
  • identify, assess and investigate late or missing submissions
  • surveillance PRN and PERN – we will contact producers who may not comply to ensure they meet recycling obligations and submit a certificate of compliance
  • evaluate certificates of conformity
  • risk profiling
  • identify and contact unregistered packaging producers (drop-offs and free-riders) and bring them into compliance

We can perform additional compliance checks throughout the year. This may include site visits or a remote audit.

Compliance diagrams

At a minimum, we will monitor all approved compliance programs by:

  • validate, evaluate and analyze the information and data submitted during registration and after resubmissions
  • evaluate and investigate late or missing submissions
  • surveillance PRN and PERN – we will contact compliance systems that may not comply to ensure they meet recycling obligations and submit a declaration of compliance
  • assess declarations of conformity
  • risk profiling

We can perform additional compliance checks throughout the year. This may include site visits or a remote audit.

Retractors and exporters

At a minimum, we will monitor all accredited reprocessors and exporters by:

  • assess and determine accreditation requests
  • validate and analyze the information and data submitted during the request (for accreditation, following quarterly returns and resubmissions)
  • evaluate and investigate late or missing submissions
  • evaluate and analyze the waste registration, and issue PRN and PERN
  • risk profiling

We can perform additional compliance checks throughout the year. This may include site visits or a remote audit.

Noncompliance

When we identify a business that is not in compliance, we can work with them to bring them into compliance. If necessary, we will use our enforcement powers under our Enforcement and Sanctions Policy and Code of Regulators.

Our approach will depend on:

  • severity of non-compliance
  • attitude of the offender
  • risk to the environment and the packaging regime

Risk assessment

We follow an intelligence and risk-based approach that focuses on the companies that have the greatest impact on the packaging regime and the environment.

We will continue to review our approach to ensure we respond and address all risks and issues. Our monitoring activities in this plan may change.


Source link

Kingston Council adopts oversight plan for short-term rentals

Author of the article:

Elliot Ferguson

Release date :

Dec 17 2020 • December 17, 2020 • 4 minutes to read

Kingston City Council is discussing a new set of regulations for short-term rental properties in a virtual meeting on Wednesday. Photo by Elliot Ferguson /The Whig-Standard

KINGSTON – Despite concerns about the potential for city-sponsored oversight of its citizens, city council has approved a new set of regulations for the short-term rental industry.

The new rules, the result of three years of hard work by city staff, require short-term rental hosts to obtain a municipal operating license and pay the municipal lodging tax of four percent for each reservation.

The new bylaw also provides for the hiring of Harmari STR, of Toronto, to provide software that will allow the city to identify the exact addresses where short-term rentals are based, monitor bookings through online sites, and create an online portal where guests can pay the municipal lodging tax.

“We believe that enforcement must, in part, take place in the digital realm,” said Paige Agnew, the city’s community services commissioner who has led efforts to develop the new regulations.

The board’s decision to pursue a contract with Harmari overturned a recommendation by the Administrative Policy Committee last week not to use a compliance monitoring company and instead consider collecting tax revenue directly from Airbnb, the platform. -form used by approximately 85% of the 488 short-term rental properties in Kingston.

Since the proposed settlement was first submitted to council earlier this year, the city has removed requirements that properties must be rented a maximum of 180 days per year and limited to the hosts’ primary residence.

But it was the plan to hire a company to monitor short-term rentals that was the most controversial.

During presentations to the board, several hosts said the surveillance would violate their privacy and that of their guests.

“We should do it in a way that is not going to treat us like criminals and thugs but as collaborative and contributing members of the city who want to do things the right way and want to be a part of and add to this community.” . “said host Kurt Khan.

“Hosts are individuals who make ends meet, mostly solo entrepreneurs,” added host Adrienne Montgomery. “We are not Airbnb; we just use their reservation system.

The CEO of Harmari described the company’s surveillance as “open source intelligence” that searches the Internet for publicly available information to determine short-term rental transactions.

Still, some councilors were uncomfortable hiring a company to monitor local citizens.

Pittsburgh District Council. Ryan Boehme said the city should have more “faith” and “trust” in local short-term rental hosts to comply with municipal lodging tax requirements.

“We’re essentially hiring a SWAT team when just a little bit of public education will likely produce the exact same results,” Boehme said.

Commune District Campaign. Gary Oosterhof said he was “embarrassed” by the proposed monitoring arrangements.

“Harmari is nothing more than a big hammer used to kill a mosquito,” he said.

One of the main reasons for the new regulations, besides tax collection, is to protect the existing rental housing stock.

There are approximately 70,000 residences in Kingston. According to the city, 488 are advertised as short-term rental properties, but many advisers said they were still suspicious of the area’s impact on the city’s housing stock.

“We are still in a housing crisis,” King’s Town District Council said. said Rob Hutchison. “We want to protect the existing building stock and we want to protect our neighborhoods. “

Without a company like Harmari, Agnew said, city staff would have to manually monitor short-term rentals by scrolling through their posts to determine the number of stays booked and the amount of taxes payable.

Many advisers have played down concerns about how intrusive Harmari’s efforts will be.

“There will never be anyone standing on someone’s lawn in Hamari asking people why certain dates have been listed as blocked,” the Lakeside District Council said. Wayne Hill, who proposed the amendment that reintroduced the company’s hiring into the regulations.

Other advisors weren’t content to just accept information Airbnb would be willing to provide instead of what Harmari can find.

Knowing more about short-term rental properties would also allow the city to better monitor them for other safety regulations and property standards, she added.

City treasurer Desiree Kennedy also expressed concern about receiving a one-time lump sum payment from Airbnb instead of individual guest payments.

“It can be a challenge if the city doesn’t have the host information,” Kennedy said. “We are required to make sure that our income is complete, that we collect whatever is owed to the city. This can become a challenge if we do not have the details to support these funds.

“If the money comes in and we don’t know where it came from or how it was calculated, it is difficult for us to validate that these revenues are complete. When you have an entity like Airbnb collecting it, we have no control over their processes.


Source link