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National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998)

Regulations

Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations Listing Notice 1 of 2014

2. Definitions

 

(1) In this Notice, any word or expression to which a meaning has been assigned in the Act shall have the meaning so assigned, and unless the context otherwise indicates—

 

"agri-industrial"

means an undertaking involving the beneficiation of agricultural produce;

 

"associated structures, infrastructure and earthworks"

means any structures, infrastructure or earthworks, including borrow pits, that is necessary for the development and functioning of a facility or activity;

 

"canal"

means an open structure, that is lined or reinforced, for the conveying of a liquid or that serves as an artificial watercourse;

 

"channel"

means an excavated hollow bed for running water or an artificial underwater depression to make a water body navigable in a natural watercourse, river or the sea;

 

"closure"

means to take out of active service permanently or to dismantel partly or wholly, or permanent shutdown a facility to the extent that it cannot be recommissioned;

[Definition inserted by section 27(a) of Notice 517, GG44701, dated 11 June 2021]

 

"concentration of animals"

means the keeping of animals in a confined space or structure, including a feedlot, where they are fed in order to prepare them for slaughter or to produce products such as milk or eggs;

 

"dam"

when used in these Regulations means any barrier dam and any other form of impoundment used for the storage of water;

 

"dangerous goods"

means goods containing any of the substances as contemplated in South African National Standard No. 10234, supplement 2008 1.00: designated "List of classification and labelling of chemicals in accordance with the Globally Harmonized Systems (GHS)" published by Standards South Africa, and where the presence of such goods, regardless of quantity, in a blend or mixture, causes such blend or mixture to have one or more of the characteristics listed in the Hazard Statements in section 4.2.3, namely physical hazards, health hazards or environmental hazards;

 

"decommissioning"

[Definition deleted by section 27(b) of Notice 517, GG44701, dated 11 June 2021];

 

"development"

means the building, erection, construction or establishment of a facility, structure or infrastructure, including associated earthworks or borrow pits, that is necessary for the undertaking of a listed or specified activity, including any associated post development monitoring, but excludes any modification, alteration or expansion of such a facility, structure or infrastructure, including associated earthworks or borrow pits, and excluding the redevelopment of the same facility in the same location, with the same capacity and footprint;

 

"development footprint"

means any evidence of physical alteration as a result of the undertaking of any activity;

 

"development setback"

means a setback line as defined or adopted by the competent authority;

 

"expansion"

means the modification, extension, alteration or upgrading of a facility, structure or infrastructure at which an activity takes place in such a manner that the capacity of the facility or the footprint of the activity is increased;

 

"Financial Provisioning Regulations"

means the Financial Provisioning Regulations published in terms of section 44(1)(aE), (aF), (aG), (aH) read with sections 24(5)(b)(ix), 24(5)(d), 24N, 24P and 24R of the Act;

[Definition inserted by section 27(c) of Notice 517, GG44701, dated 11 June 2021]

 

"hydraulic fracturing"

means a well stimulation technique in which rock is fractured by a pressurized liquid, which process involves the high-pressure injection of fracturing fluids into a wellbore to create cracks in the deep-rock formations through which natural gas, petroleum, and brine will flow more freely;

[Definition inserted by section 27(c) of Notice 517, GG44701, dated 11 June 2021]

 

"indigenous vegetation"

refers to vegetation consisting of indigenous plant species occurring naturally in an area, regardless the level of alien infestation and where the topsoil has not been lawfully disturbed during the preceding ten years;

 

"industrial complex"

means an area used or zoned for industrial purposes, including bulk storage, manufacturing, processing or packaging purposes;

 

"large stock unit"

means domesticated units including but not limited to cattle and horses, as well as game, including but not limited to antelope and buck with an average adult male live weight of 100 kilograms or more;

 

"linear activities"

include railways, roads, funiculars, pipelines, conveyor belts, cableways, powerlines, fences, runways, aircraft landing strips, and telecommunication lines;

 

"maintenance"

means actions performed to keep a structure or system functioning or in service on the same location, capacity and footprint;

 

"maintenance management plan"

means a management plan for maintenance purposes defined or adopted by the competent authority;

 

"marina"

means a constructed waterway that is normally associated with residential or commercial use and that could include mooring facilities;

 

"Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act"

means the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 (Act No. 28 of 2002);

[Definition inserted by section 27(d) of Notice 517, GG44701, dated 11 June 2021]

 

"mining application"

means an application for an environmental authorisation for a permission, right, permit, or consent required in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 (Act No. 28 of 2002) and includes hydraulic facturing and reclamation;

[Definition inserted by section 27(d) of Notice 517, GG44701, dated 11 June 2021]

 

"phased activities"

means an activity that is developed in phases over time on the same or adjacent properties to create a single or linked entity;

 

"previous NEMA notices"

as contemplated in these transitional arrangements means the previous notices published in terms of section 24(2) of NEMA (Government Notices R. 386 and R. 387 in the Government Gazette of 21 April 2006, as amended, or Government Notice No. R. 544, 545 and 546 in the Government Gazette of 18 June 2010, as amended);

 

"small stock unit"

means domesticated units, including sheep, goats and pigs, as well as game, including but not limited to antelope and buck with an average adult male live weight of less than 100 kilograms;

 

"the Act"

means the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998);

 

"throughput capacity"

means the design capacity or maximum capable capacity of a facility, structures or infrastructure, whichever is the greater;

 

"undeveloped"

means that no facilities, structures or infrastructure have been effected upon the land or property during the preceding 10 years;

 

"unit"

in relation to a quantity standard for determining throughput of facilities or infrastructure for the slaughter of animals, has the meaning assigned to it in Regulations promulgated in terms of the Meat Safety Act, 2000 (Act No. of 40 of 2000);

 

"urban areas"

means areas situated within the urban edge (as defined or adopted by the competent authority), or in instances where no urban edge or boundary has been defined or adopted, it refers to areas situated within the edge of built-up areas;

 

"watercourse"

means—

(a) a river or spring;
(b) a natural channel or depression in which water flows regularly or intermittently;
(c) a wetland, lake or dam into which, or from which, water flows; and any collection of water which the Minister may, by notice in the Gazette, declare to be a watercourse as defined in the National Water Act, 1998 (Act No. 36 of 1998); and

a reference to a watercourse includes, where relevant, its bed and banks; and

 

"wetland"

means land which is transitional between terrestrial and aquatic systems where the water table is usually at or near the surface, or the land is periodically covered with shallow water, and which land in normal circumstances supports or would support vegetation typically adapted to life in saturated soil.

 

(2) The following words relevant to coastal activities will have the meaning so assigned to it in the National Environmental Management: Integrated Coastal Management Act, 2008 (Act No. 24 of 2008):
(a) "coastal public property";
(b) "estuary";
(c) "high-water mark";
(d) "littoral active zone";
(e) "sea"; and
(f) "seashore.

 

(3) The following words will have the meaning assigned to them in terms of section 1 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 (Act No. 28 of 2002)—
(a) "exploration right";
(b) "mine";
(c) "mineral";
(d) "mining permit";
(e) "mining right";
(f) "petroleum";
(g) "production right";
(h) "prospecting right";
(i) "reconnaissance permit";
(j) "residue deposit"; and
(k) "residue stockpile".

[Regulation 2(3) substituted by section 27(e) of Notice 517, GG44701, dated 11 June 2021]