National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998)

Regulations in Terms of Chapter 5 of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998

Chapter 1 : Interpretation and purpose of these regulations

1. Interpretation

Purchase

1)	In these Regulations any word or expression to which a meaning has been assigned in the Act has that meaning, and unless the context requires otherwise—

"activity"

means an activity identified—

a)	in Government Notice No. R. 386 and No. R. 387 of 2006 as a listed activity; or

b)	in any other notice published by the Minister or MEC in terms of section 24 of the Act as a listed activity or specified activity;

"alternatives"

in relation to a proposed activity, means different means of meeting the general purpose and requirements of the activity, which may include alternatives to—

a)	the property on which or location where it is proposed to undertake the activity;

b)	the type of activity to be undertaken;

c)	the design or layout of the activity;

d)	the technology to be used in the activity; and

e)	the operational aspects of the activity;

"applicant"

means a person who has submitted or intends to submit an application;

"application"

means an application for—

a)	an environmental authorisation in terms of Chapter 3 of these Regulations;

b)	an amendment to an environmental authorisation in terms of Chapter 4 of these Regulations or

c)	an exemption from a provision of these Regulations in terms of Chapter 5 of these Regulations;

"basic assessment"

means a process contemplated in regulation 22;

"basic assessment report"

means a report contemplated in regulation 23;

"cumulative impact"

in relation to an activity, means the impact of an activity that in itself may not be significant but may become significant when added to the existing and potential impacts eventuating from similar or diverse activities or undertakings in the area;

"EAP"

means an environmental assessment practitioner as defined in section 1 of the Act;

"environmental impact assessment"

in relation to an application to which scoping must be applied, means the process of collecting, organising, analysing, interpreting and communicating information that is relevant to the consideration of that application;

"environmental impact assessment report"

means a report contemplated in regulation 32;

"environment management plan"

means an environmental management plan in relation to identified or specified activities envisaged in Chapter 5 of the Act and described in regulation 34;

"guidelines"

means any national guidelines and provincial guidelines issued in terms of Chapter 8 of these Regulations;

"independent"

in relation to an EAP or a person compiling a specialist report or undertaking a specialised process or appointed as a member of an appeal panel, means—

that such EAP or person has no business, financial, personal or other interest in the activity, application or appeal in respect of which that EAP or person is appointed in terms of these Regulations other than fair remuneration for work performed in connection with that activity, application or appeal; or

b)	that there are no circumstances that may compromise the objectivity of that EAP or person in performing such work;

"interested and affected party"

means an interested and affected patty contemplated in section 24(4)(d) of the Act, and which in terms of that section includes -

a)	any person, group of persons or organisation interested in or affected by an activity; and

b)	any organ of state that may have jurisdiction over any aspect of the activity;

"linear activity"

means an activity that is undertaken across several properties and which affects the environment or any aspect of the environment along the course of the activity in different ways, and includes a road, railway line, power line, pipeline or canal;

"ocean-based activity"

means an activity in the territorial waters of the Republic;

"plan of study for environmental impact assessment"

means a document contemplated in regulation 29(1)(i) which forms part of a scoping report and sets out how an environmental impact assessment must be conducted;

"public participation process"

means a process in which potential interested and affected parties are given an opportunity to comment on, or raise issues relevant to, specific matters;

"registered interested and affected party"

in relation to an application, means an interested and affected party whose name is recorded in the register opened for that application in terms of regulation 57;

"scoping"

means a process contemplated in regulation 28(e);

"scoping report"

means a report contemplated in regulation 29;

"significant impact"

means an impact that by its magnitude, duration, intensity or probability of occurrence may have a notable effect on one or more aspects of the environment;

"specialised process"

means a process to obtain information which—

a)	is not readily available without undertaking the process; and

b)	is necessary for informing an assessment or evaluation of the impacts of an activity,

and includes risk assessment and cost benefit analysis;

"the Act"

means the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998).

When a period of days must in terms of these Regulations be reckoned from or after a particular day, that period must be reckoned as from the start of the day following that particular day to the end of the last day of the period, but if the last day of the period falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, that period must be extended to the end of the next day which is not a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday.