DEAT takes over the waste disposal site permitting process

The long awaited amendment to section 20 of the Environment Conservation Act, 73 of 1989 (“the ECA”) came into effect on 3 January 2005.  Section 20 is now under the administration the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (“the Minister”) rather than the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry.

The issuance of a waste disposal site permit will nevertheless, in future, be subject to the concurrence of the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry and to the inclusion in the permit of any conditions necessary to preserve water resources which are contained in a record of decision issued by the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry.  This is a new requirement. The remainder of section 20 is largely unchanged.

The amendment specifically provides that anything done in terms of the old section 20 of the ECA by the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry, prior to the commencement of the amendment, shall be deemed to have been done by the Minister. This means that waste disposal site permits issued by the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry remain valid. In addition, those persons in possession of existing waste disposal site permits are not required to take any action and are not required to notify DEAT or DWAF.

The effect of the amendment is that from 3 January 2006, all permit applications in respect of new waste disposal sites must be submitted to the national DEAT. However, DEAT have advised us that in the near future, the provincial authorities will also be the relevant administrative authorities in respect of certain waste disposal sites depending on their classifications. DEAT will issue a notice in this regard and we will inform you once this practice has been formalised.

Please do not hesitate to contact Claire Tucker or Mandy Stobart should you wish to discuss your waste disposal licensing requirements.

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The Environment, Mining, Energy and Natural Resources practice area at Bowman Gilfillan.

Bowman Gilfillan provides the Newsflash service to assist our clients to keep up to date and informed of changes to policy and the law in the environmental and mining fields.

This Newsflash is not intended to supplement or amend your environmental legal register. We have presented information regarding changes to policy and the law which may be of interest to you.

Contact Claire Tucker, head of the practice area for more information

Tel: + 27 (11) 669-9402
Fax: + 27 (11) 669-9001
e-mail: c.tucker@bowman.co.za
or visit www.bowman.co.za