National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998)Regulations in Terms of Chapter 5 of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998Chapter 3 : Applications for Environmental AuthorisationsPart 3 : Applications subject to scoping and environmental impact assessment32. Environmental impact assessment reports |
| 1) | If a competent authority accepts a scoping report and advises the EAP in terms of regulation 31(1)(a) to proceed with the tasks contemplated in the plan of study for environmental impact assessment, the EAP must proceed with those tasks, including the public participation process for environmental impact assessment referred to in regulation 2 prepare an environmental impact assessment report in respect of the proposed activity. |
| 2) | An environmental impact assessment report must contain all information that is necessary for the competent authority to consider the application and to reach a decision contemplated in regulation 36, and must include— |
| a) | details of— |
| i) | the EAP who compiled the report; and |
| ii) | the expertise of the EAP to carry out an environmental impact assessment; |
| b) | a detailed description of the proposed activity; |
| c) | a description of the property on which the activity is to be undertaken and the location of the activity on the property, or if it is— |
| i) | a linear activity, a description of the route of the activity; or |
| ii) | an ocean-based activity, the coordinates where the activity is to be undertaken; |
| d) | a description of the environment that may be affected by the activity and the manner in which the physical, biological, social, economic and cultural aspects of the environment may be affected by the proposed activity; |
| e) | details of the public participation process conducted in terms of subregulation (1) , including— |
| i) | steps undertaken in accordance with the plan of study; |
| ii) | a list of persons, organisations and organs of state that were registered as interested and affected patties; |
| iii) | a summary of comments received from, and a summary of issues raised by registered interested and affected parties, the date of receipt of these comments and the response of the EAP to those comments; and |
| iv) | copies of any representations, objections and comments received from registered interested and affected parties; |
| f) | a description of the need and desirability of the proposed activity and identified potential alternatives to the proposed activity, including advantages and disadvantages that the proposed activity or alternatives may have on the environment and the community that may be affected by the activity; |
| g) | an indication of the methodology used in determining the significance of potential environmental impacts; |
| h) | a description and comparative assessment of all alternatives identified during the environmental impact assessment process; |
| i) | a summary of the findings and recommendations of any specialist report or report on a specialised process; |
| j) | a description of all environmental issues that were identified during the environmental impact assessment process, an assessment of the significance of each issue and an indication of the extent to which the issue could be addressed by the adoption of mitigation measures; |
| k) | an assessment of each identified potentially significant impact, including— |
| ii) | the nature of the impact; |
| iii) | the extent and duration of the impact; |
| iv) | the probability of the impact occurring; |
| v) | the degree to which the impact can be reversed; |
| vi) | the degree to which the impact may cause irreplaceable loss of resources; and |
| vii) | the degree to which the impact can be mitigated; |
| l) | a description of any assumptions, uncertainties and gaps in knowledge; |
| m) | an opinion as to whether the activity should or should not be authorised, and if the opinion is that it should be authorised, any conditions that should be made in respect of that authorisation; |
| n) | an environmental impact statement which contains— |
| i) | a summary of the key findings of the environmental impact assessment; and |
| ii) | a comparative assessment of the positive and negative implications of the proposed activity and identified alternatives; |
| o) | a draft environmental management plan that complies with regulation 34; |
| p) | copies of any specialist reports and reports on specialised processes complying with regulation 33; and |
| q) | any specific information that may be required by the competent authority. |