Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Barbara Creecy has published, for public comment, a notice of her intention to amend the Section 24H Registration Authority Regulations of the National Environmental Management Act.
This is aimed at extending the date for the compulsory registration of environmental assessment practitioners (EAPs) from February 8, this year, to February 8, 2022.
Previously, these regulations took effect 24 months from the date of the appointment of the Environmental Assessment Practitioners Association of South Africa (Eapasa) as the single registration authority on February 8, 2018.
If Section 24H is amended, Regulation 14 of these regulations will take effect 48 months from the date of the appointment of Eapasa.
Interested and affected parties have 30 days from January 24 to submit written comments about the matter.
To date, Eapasa has received 400 applications, of which 121 have been approved as registered EAPs and 17 have been approved as candidate EAPs, while others have been deemed incomplete and returned to applicants.
As the first statutory environmental assessment professional body recognised by the South African Qualifications Authority, Eapasa encourages all practising EAPs with the primary responsibility of preparing and reviewing environmental-impact assessments, to submit their applications as soon as possible to ensure they are registered by the new deadline.