| (1) | Subject to the provisions of this section, the Agency— |
| (a) | with the Minister’s approval— |
| (i) | may declare any specified national road or any specified portion thereof, including any bridge or tunnel on a national road, to be a toll road for the purposes of this Act; and |
| (ii) | may amend or withdraw any declaration so made; |
| (b) | for the driving or use of any vehicle on a toll road, may levy and collect a toll the amount of which has been determined and made known in terms of subsection (3), which will be payable at a toll plaza by the person so driving or using the vehicle, or at any other place subject to the conditions that the Agency may determine and so make known; |
| (c) | may grant exemption from the payment of toll on a particular toll road— |
| (i) | in respect of all vehicles of a category determined by the Agency and specified in a notice in terms of subsection (2), or in respect of the vehicles of a category so determined and specified which are driven or used on the toll road at a time so determined and specified; |
| (ii) | to all users of the road of a category determined by the Agency and specified in such a notice, irrespective of the vehicles driven or used by them on the toll road, or to users of the road of a category so determined and specified when driving or using any vehicles on the toll road at a time so determined and specified; |
| (d) | may restrict the levying of toll on a particular toll road to the hours or other times determined by the Agency and specified in such a notice; |
| (e) | may suspend the levying of toll on a particular toll road for any specified or unspecified period, whether in respect of all vehicles generally, or in respect of all vehicles of a category determined by the Agency and specified in such a notice, and resume the levying of toll after the suspension; |
| (f) | may withdraw the following, namely— |
| (i) | any exemption under paragraph (c); |
| (ii) | any restriction under paragraph (d); |
| (iii) | any suspension under paragraph (e). |
| (2) | A declaration, amendment, withdrawal, exemption, restriction or suspension under subsection (1), will become effective only 14 days after a notice to that effect by the Agency has been published in the Gazette. |
| (3) | The amount of toll that may be levied under subsection (1), any rebate thereon and any increase or reduction thereof— |
| (a) | is determined by the Transport Economic Regulator in terms of Part A of Chapter 3 of the Economic Regulation of Transport Act, 2020, on the recommendation of the Agency; |
[Section 27(3)(a) substituted by section 5(1)(a) of Schedule 1: Consequential Amendments of the Economic Regulation of Transport Act, 2024, Notice No. 4958, GG50799 dated 11 June 2024]
| (b) | may differ in respect of— |
| (ii) | different vehicles or different categories of vehicles driven or used on a toll road; |
| (iii) | different times at which any vehicle or any vehicle of a particular category is driven or used on a toll road; |
| (iv) | different categories of road users, irrespective of the vehicles driven or used by them; |
| (c) | [Section 27(3)(c) deleted by section 5(1)(b) of Schedule 1: Consequential Amendments of the Economic Regulation of Transport Act, 2024, Notice No. 4958, GG50799 dated 11 June 2024] |
| (d) | [Section 27(3)(d) deleted by section 5(1)(b) of Schedule 1: Consequential Amendments of the Economic Regulation of Transport Act, 2024, Notice No. 4958, GG50799 dated 11 June 2024] |
| (4) | [Section 27(4) deleted by section 5(1)(c) of Schedule 1: Consequential Amendments of the Economic Regulation of Transport Act, 2024, Notice No. 4958, GG50799 dated 11 June 2024] |
| (5) | Any person liable for toll who, at a toll plaza or other place for the payment of toll determined and made known in terms of subsection (1), refuses or fails to pay the amount of toll that is due— |
| (a) | is guilty of an offence and punishable on conviction with imprisonment for a period not longer than six months or a fine, or with both the term of imprisonment and the fine; and |
| (b) | is liable, in addition, to pay to the Agency a civil fine of R1 000. This amount may be increased in 1999 and annually thereafter in accordance with the increase in the official consumer price index for the relevant year as published in the Gazette. |
| (6) | Any national road or portion of a national road (including any bridge or tunnel thereon) which under section 9 of the previous Act had been declared a toll road for the purposes of that Act and which immediately before the incorporation date exists and is operated as such under the previous Act, will be regarded and treated for all purposes as if it had been declared a toll road under subsection (1) of this section. |
