| (1) |
The holder of an environmental authorisation must, for the period during which the environmental authorisation and EMPr, and the closure plan in the case of a closure activity, remain valid— |
| (a) |
ensure that the compliance with the conditions of the environmental authorisation, the EMPr, and the closure plan in the case of a closure activity, is audited; and |
| (b) |
submit an environmental audit report to the relevant competent authority. |
[Regulation 34(1) substituted by section 13(a) of Notice No. 517, GG44701, dated 11 June of 2021]
| (2) |
The environmental audit report contemplated in subregulation (1) must— |
| (a) |
be prepared by an independent person with the relevant environmental auditing expertise; |
| (b) |
provide verifiable findings, in a structured and systematic manner, on |
| (i) |
the level of performance against and compliance of an organisation or project with the provisions of the requisite environmental authorisation, EMPr and the closure plan in the case of a closure activity; and |
| (ii) |
the ability of the measures contained in the EMPr and closure plan to sufficiently provide for the avoidance, management and mitigation of environmental impacts associated with the undertaking of the activity; |
[Regulation 34(2)(b) substituted by section 13(b) of Notice No. 517, GG44701, dated 11 June of 2021]
| (c) |
contain the information set out in Appendix 7; and |
| (d) |
be conducted and submitted to the competent authority at intervals as indicated in the environmental authorisation. |
| (3) |
The environmental audit report contemplated in subregulation (1) must determine— |
| (a) |
the ability of the EMPr, and the closure plan in the case of a closure activity, to sufficiently provide for the avoidance, management and mitigation of environmental impacts associated with the undertaking of the activity on an ongoing basis and to sufficiently provide for the avoidance, management and mitigation of environmental impacts associated with the closure of the facility; and |
| (b) |
the level of compliance with the provisions of environmental authorisation, EMPr and where applicable, the closure plan. |
[Regulation 34(3) substituted by section 13(c) of Notice No. 517, GG44701, dated 11 June of 2021]
| (4) |
Where the findings of the environmental audit report contemplated in subregulation (1) indicate— |
| (a) |
insufficient mitigation of environmental impacts associated with the undertaking of the activity; or |
| (b) |
insufficient levels of compliance with the environmental authorisation, EMPr or closure plan; |
the holder must, when submitting the environmental audit report to the competent authority in terms of subregulation (1), submit recommendations to amend the EMPr or closure plan in order to rectify the shortcomings identified in the environmental audit report.
[Regulation 34(4) substituted by section 13(d) of Notice No. 517, GG44701, dated 11 June of 2021]
| (5) |
When submitting recommendations in terms of subregulation (4), such recommendations must have been subjected to a public participation process, which process has been agreed to by the competent authority and was appropriate to bring the proposed amendment of the EMPr or closure plan, to the attention of potential and registered interested and affected parties, including organs of state which have jurisdiction in respect of any aspect of the relevant activity and the competent authority, for approval by the competent authority. |
[Regulation 34(5) substituted by section 13(e) of Notice No. 517, GG44701, dated 11 June of 2021]
| (6) |
Within 7 days of the date of submission of an environmental audit report to the competent authority, the holder of an environmental authorisation must notify all potential and registered interested and affected parties of the submission of that report, and make such report immediately available— |
| (a) |
to anyone on request; and |
| (b) |
on a publicly accessible website, where the holder has such a website. |
| (7) |
An environmental audit report must contain all information set out in Appendix 7 to these Regulations. |
Statistics Act, 1999
