National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998)RegulationsRegulations to domesticate the requirements of the Rotterdam Convention on the prior informed consent procedure for certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides in international trade, 2023 - effective 1 July 2023Chapter 3 : Processes for the Notification for the Import and Export of Chemicals4. Process for the notification for the import of chemicals and decision-making |
| (1) | Any person wishing to import a chemical must submit a notification in accordance with subregulation (2) to the South African DNA for consent; |
| (2) | The notification referred to in subregulation (1) must be submitted once per calendar year to the South African DNA by the DNA of the country of export, and must include— |
| (a) | a completed official Rotterdam Convention export notification form, signed by the DNA of the country of export, which must be sent by the country of export to South African DNA containing, as a minimum, the information indicated in Annexure II to these Regulations; and |
| (b) | an SOS for the chemical that is to be imported. The chemical must be labelled with information on the risks or hazards that the chemical poses to human health or the environment, or state where the information about the risk or hazard can be obtained. |
| (3) | Upon receipt of the export notification form, the South African DNA will request from the importing company the following— |
| (a) | an applicable registration certificate or authorisation issued in terms of South African legislation, if any is required by any competent authority; and |
| (b) | records of previous uses or international uses aligned with the intended importer's activities, of the chemicals. |
| (4) | The South African DNA must send an acknowledgement of receipt of the notification contemplated in subregulation (1) to the DNA of the country of export, within 10 working days of receipt of the notification. |
| (5) | Subsequent to the issuing of an acknowledgement contemplated in subregulation (4), the South African DNA must process the completed notification contemplated in subregulation (2) with the inclusion of the requirements in subregulation (3)(a) and (b), within 10 working days. |
| (6) | The South African DNA must issue a decision to grant consent, with conditions as stated in the export notification, contemplated in subregulation (2), or deny consent, stating reasons, within 10 working days of the issuing of the acknowledgement contemplated in subregulation (4). |
| (7) | The decision to grant consent or to deny consent will be based on— |
| (a) | availability of the licence/permit/registration certificate from the competent authority for use of the chemical in the country, if applicable, and |
| (b) | acknowledgement of the chemical consignment by the importer. |
| (8) | If the cumulative amount of the chemical to be imported is going to exceed the quantity that the original notification was consented for, for the calendar year, irrespective of the number of consignments, an additional notification must be submitted by the person to the South African DNA, as contemplated in Regulation 4(1). |