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Hazardous Substances Act, 1973 (Act No. 15 of 1973)

29. Regulations

 

1) The Minister may make regulations—
a) authorising, regulating, controlling, restricting or prohibiting the—
i) manufacture;
ii) modification;
iii) importation;
iv) storage;
v) transportation; or
vi) dumping and other disposal,

of any grouped hazardous substance or class of grouped hazardous substances;

b) regulating, controlling, restricting or prohibiting the application of a grouped hazardous substance for any specific purpose;
c) prescribing the manner in which any particular grouped hazardous substance shall be described or the name under which any such substance may be sold, or prohibiting the sale of any particular grouped hazardous substance under a name other than a name so prescribed or under a specified name, or the advertisement thereof in a manner other than the manner prescribed;
d) prescribing the procedures to be followed, the forms to be completed, the records to be kept and the other requirements to be complied with in connection with the issue of licences in respect of Group III hazardous substances and in respect of the premises on which they are installed, and the conditions to which the issue of any such licence shall be subject;
e) prescribing the precautions to be taken for the protection from injury, ill-health or death of persons in control of or employed or engaged in the manufacture, operation, application or use of grouped hazardous substances or of any other persons who is likely to or may be exposed to grouped hazardous substances as a result of the manufacture, operation, application, use, disposal or dumping thereof;
f) providing for the keeping of records and the submission of statistics and reports relating to—
i) the manufacture, operation, application, modification, use or sale of grouped hazardous substances;
ii) the premises on which grouped hazardous substances are used, sold or installed; or
iii) persons employed in connection with or in control of Group III hazardous substances;
g) prescribing, prohibiting, restricting or otherwise regulating—
i) the packing of any Group I or any Group II hazardous substance or the packing of any such substance in a specified manner or in a manner other than a specified manner; or
ii) the use for the packing of any Group I or any Group II hazardous substance, or any package of a specified condition, form or nature or made from or treated with any specified material or substance;
h) exempting any Group I or any Group II hazardous substance or any such substance of a specified nature or class from the requirements of this Act relating to labelling, and prescribing the conditions (if any) subject to which such exemption shall apply and the prerequisites to be observed before it shall apply;
i) prescribing the addition to a Group I or a Group II hazardous substance of specified additives, in order to render such substance easily distinguishable as such a substance;
j) prescribing the manner in which any Group I or any Group II hazardous substance or its package, or the bulk stock from which it is taken for sale, shall be labelled, the nature of the information to be reflected on the label, the manner or form in which such information shall be so reflected or shall be arranged on the label, or prohibiting the reflecting of information of a specified nature on the label;
k) prescribing the procedures to be followed, the forms to be completed and the registers to be kept in connection with the licensing of persons as suppliers of Group I hazardous substances;
l) prohibiting or regulating the application or other use of any Group I or any Group II hazardous substances for gain;
m) providing for the keeping of records relating to the application or other use of grouped hazardous substances;
n) providing for the notification of cases or suspected cases of poisoning, intoxication, illness or death of persons who have been exposed to grouped hazardous substances;
o) prescribing the conditions under which persons involved in the operation or use of a Group III hazardous substance may be employed;
p) prescribing the duties and responsibilities of any person in control of a Group III hazardous substance or any premises on which such hazardous substance has been or is being used or of any person employed in connection with the operation of such a substance, and generally for the protection of any person from the harmful effects of exposure to radiation emanating from any Group III hazardous substance;
q) providing for the appointment of such committees as he may consider necessary, for the purpose of advising the Director-General on any matter concerning any Group III or Group IV hazardous substance, the calling of meeting of any such committee, the quorum for and procedure at such meetings and the remuneration and allowances, conditions of service and tenure of office of members of any such committee who are not in the full-time employment of the State;
r) prescribing the fees payable in respect of the issuing or renewal of any licence or any written authority under this Act, and the basis on which such fees shall be determined;
s) prescribing the duties to be performed by inspectors, including the procedures to be followed in connection with the inspection of premises, the obtaining or transmitting of samples for analysis or examination, the dealing in other respects with samples, and the records to be kept for the purposes of this Act;
t) prescribing the duties to be performed or the powers which may be exercised by analysts, methods of analysis or examination of samples for the purposes of this Act, the form of any certificate or report to be furnished in connection with such analysis or examination, or the nature or arrangement of particulars to be reflected in such certificate or report, and the records to be kept in connection therewith;
u) with regard to any matter which in terms of this Act may be prescribed or otherwise dealt with by regulation;
v) regarding safety standards in connection with the importation into and exportation from the Republic, manufacture, packing, disposal, dumping, sale, serving, applying, administering or use of grouped hazardous substances, and the manner in which such standards shall be brought to the notice of persons concerned in any of the said activities in respect thereof,

and, in general, with regard to any matter which the Minister considers necessary or expedient to prescribe or regulate in order to attain or further the objects of the Act, and the generality of this provision shall not be limited by the preceding paragraphs of this subsection.

 

2) Regulations made under—
a) subsection (1)(a) may make provision for the issuing of registration certificates or licences under this Act in respect of the performance of any actions mentioned in the said subsection, and the payment of any registration or licence fee in connection therewith; and
b) subsection (1)(t) may prescribe any method for the analysis or examination of a sample set out in any publication which in the opinion of the Minister is generally recognized as authoritative.

 

3) Different regulations may be made in respect of different types, classes or categories of grouped hazardous substances, or different classes or categories of premises, or different classes or categories of persons in control of Group III hazardous substances or premises on which Group III hazardous substances have been installed, or different classes or categories of persons employed in connection with the operation of any Group III hazardous substance.

 

4) No regulation prescribing any fee, remuneration or allowance shall be made except after consultation with the Minister of Finance.

 

5) [Deleted by s. 12(e) of Act No. 53 of 1992.]

 

6) No regulation under subsection (1)(e) shall be made except after consultation with the Minister of Manpower.

 

7) Any regulation may be expressed to apply only in such areas as may be specified in it.

 

8) Any regulation made under subsection (1) may determine that any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any provision thereof, shall be guilty of an offence.

 

9)
a) If the Minister intends to make any regulation under this Act, he shall cause the text of the proposed regulation to be published in the Gazette together with a notice declaring his intention to make such a regulation and inviting interested persons to submit to the Director-General any comments and representations they may wish to make in connection therewith.
b) A period of not less than three months shall elapse between the publication of such text and the publication of the regulation in question.

 

10) The provisions of subsection (9) shall not apply in respect of—
a) an amendment of a proposed regulation in pursuance of the notice published in terms of that subsection; and
b) any regulation in respect of which the Minister is of the opinion that the public interest requires that it be made without delay.