COMMENTS BY THE CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS ON THE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE FINANCIAL PROVISIONING REGULATIONS, 2015

The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) submitted comments to the Department of Environmental Affairs on October 7, 2016, regarding proposed amendments to the Financial Provisioning Regulations, 2015. The CER argues that several proposed deletions of appendices and clauses would create legal uncertainty, reduce transparency, and weaken the state's ability to ensure that mining rehabilitation funds are available and used correctly.

• The CER opposes the proposed amendment to Regulation 7 that would shorten the financial provision period to the validity of the right or permit if it is less than 10 years. The CER argues that rehabilitation obligations often extend beyond the permit period and that an arbitrary 10-year limit could lead to "a shortfall on closure, or as happens too frequently in South Africa, mine abandonment and/or insolvency."
• The CER argues against the deletion of Appendices 1 and 2, which provide standard forms for financial guarantees and trust instruments. Without a standard form for trusts (Appendix 2), the CER claims the Minister would have "no control over the content of a trust deed" and no protections if funds were "dissipated or used for some other purpose."
• The CER warns that deleting clause 1 from Appendices 3, 4, 5, and 6 would create uncertainty regarding whether annual rehabilitation plans, final closure plans, environmental risk reports, and care and maintenance plans are part of environmental management programmes (EMPRs). This uncertainty could undermine requirements for public participation and transparency as mandated by the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (NEMA).
• The CER recommends that the Regulations be amended to explicitly require that independent audit reports be made available to the public on the holder's website, citing the constitutional right to access information and NEMA principles.
• The CER suggests that the composition of specialist teams for financial provision assessments should be prescribed in the Regulations or official guidelines, recommending the inclusion of "at least a mining engineer, an environmental scientist, a surveyor and a resource economist," and that these teams be independent.
• The CER proposes that the scope of financial provisioning regulations should be expanded beyond the mining and production industry to include all sectors and activities that may impact the environment, as the definition of "financial provision" in NEMA is sufficiently broad to allow this.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (2016). COMMENTS BY THE CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS ON THE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE FINANCIAL PROVISIONING REGULATIONS, 2015. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/7-October-2016-CER-comments-FinancialProvisionRegs.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. COMMENTS BY THE CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS ON THE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE FINANCIAL PROVISIONING REGULATIONS, 2015. 2016. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/7-October-2016-CER-comments-FinancialProvisionRegs.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=COMMENTS BY THE CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS ON THE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE FINANCIAL PROVISIONING REGULATIONS, 2015 |date=7 October 2016 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/7-October-2016-CER-comments-FinancialProvisionRegs.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centreforenvironmentalrights2016comments, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{COMMENTS BY THE CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS ON THE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE FINANCIAL PROVISIONING REGULATIONS, 2015}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2016}, month = oct, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/7-October-2016-CER-comments-FinancialProvisionRegs.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }