National Environmental Management Laws Amendment Bill IV revived in Parliament

​On 17 October 2019, sitting at its first session of the Sixth Parliamentary term, the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) revived 15 Bills which were not finalised when the 5th term ended and had accordingly lapsed.  The National Environmental Management Laws Amendment Bill [B14D-17] (NEMLAA4 Bill) is one of the bills.

The proceedings on the NEMLAA4 Bill should re-commence as from just prior to lapse. We expect the NCOP to approve the NEMLAA4 Bill without any major changes, after which the NEMLAA4 Bill should be ready to be presented for Presidential signature.

The NEMLAA4 Bill is vitally important to the evolving environmental framework and the strengthening of the One Environmental System. To highlight a few change areas, it seeks to:

  • revise the regulation of residue stockpiles and deposits by removing same from the ambit of the Waste Act and placing it under NEMA, together with necessary transitional provisions;
  • extensively amend the financial provision empowering provision (section 24P of NEMA) which is needed for the replacement Financial Provisioning Regulations to be published in final form;
  • extend the availability of the section 24G rectification process, but also to require the mandatory cessation of unlawful operations in rectification scenarios; and
  • extend and clarify certain delegations of ​authority to municipal managers and to DMRE officials.

We will continue to track the NEMLAA4 Bill's progress through the Parliamentary process.

Disclaimer

These materials are provided for general information purposes only and do not constitute legal or other professional advice. While every effort is made to update the information regularly and to offer the most current, correct and accurate information, we accept no liability or responsibility whatsoever if any information is, for whatever reason, incorrect, inaccurate or dated. We accept no responsibility for any loss or damage, whether direct, indirect or consequential, which may arise from access to or reliance on the information contained herein.


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