Report incidents, or pay
August 15th, 2009Failure to report an environmental incident in terms of the national environmental legislation, or failure to respond to a directive in terms of an incident, are now offences liable on conviction to a maximum penalty of R1-million or a year in prison.
The National Environmental Laws Amendment Act applies to a number of environmental laws, giving enforcers, named Green Scorpions, more sting. Despite business opposition, the Act was passed by Parliament and has been assented to by the President.
The obligation on the Minister of Water and Environment to establish a national environmental advisory forum, has been removed, and replaced with a discretionary provision to establish any forum or advisory committee, reports the Chemicals and Allied Industries Association (CAIA).
Provision is now made for significant pollution or degradation that took place before the commencement of the Act, to be an offence. The forfeiture of assets contained in the National Environmental Management Act has been extended to all specific environmental acts, CAIA reminds the industry.
Jurisdiction to impose these penalties is assigned to magistrate’s courts. Should a directive issued in terms of the Act not be complied with, the national and provincial departments may apply to the courts for relief, which means that remedial measures can be undertaken at the direction of the court and the costs recovered from the polluter.
Related Posts
- Environmental Compliance Report released
- The National Compliance and Enforcement Report (NCER), which provides an overview of environmental compliance and enforcement activities in the country,
more » - Smaller companies use third party Sheq audits
- Third party verification of Sheq management has been extended to smaller chemicals companies who are members of the Chemicals and
more » - Process safety training plan
- The availability of training material for process safety managers is being investigated by a Work Group of the Responsible Care
more » - Process safety forum
- Process engineers from Durban and Sasolburg joined their Gauteng colleagues at a well-attended Process Safety Forum in Johannesburg in August.
A
more » - Dominoes & Occupational Safety
- The late H W Heinrich used dominos to demonstrate the cause(s) and effects of workplace accidents (1959).
more »
