LAPSED OR REFUSED ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORISATIONS

WHEN ARE APPLICANTS EXEMPTED FROM RE-SUBMITTING A NEW SCOPING REPORT ?

Photo by Thanos Pal on Unsplash

The EIA Regulations, 2014 seem to have attempted to cover (and thus regulate) every conceivable outcome or possibility during the EIA process in South Africa. The result is a somewhat dense and convoluted set of regulations, which is the primary reason why most people feel our environmental laws are a bit over-regulated.

One possible outcome of embarking on an EIA process, is having the environmental authorisation refused because of insufficient information, or having the application for environmental authorisation, lapse.

In these situations, the EIA Regulations [ Regulation 21(2) ] make it somewhat easier to re-submit an application by providing that a Scoping Report need not be submitted when the applicant re-submits an application for authorisation.

In order for this “benefit” to accrue, certain conditions must be met, namely:

1. The findings of the previous Scoping Report must still be valid;

2. The environmental context of the EIA should not have changed;

3. The previous Scoping Report should have been accepted by the Competent Authority;

4. The previous application should have lapsed or have been refused because of insufficient information;

5. Registered interested and affected parties who participated in the public participation process conducted as part of the previous application, should have been notified of the intended resubmission;

6. The application must be submitted for the same development and by the same applicant;

7. The Environmental Impact Report (EIR) should be submitted within a period of two years from the date of acceptance of the Scoping Report.

WHEN WILL THIS EXEMPTION NOT APPLY ?

The exemption from re-submitting a Scoping Report would not apply if:

1. The previous application was refused for reasons, other than insufficient information;

2. If the development proposal or the identity of the Applicant has changed;

3. If new issues or impacts have been identified which will require further investigation and assessment, or alternatively, the previous Scoping Report failed to identify crucial issues and impacts; and this has changed the environmental context under which the previous Scoping exercise operated.

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