Comments on the Draft National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory System (NAEIS) Reporting Regulations

The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), representing several environmental justice organisations, submitted comments on the draft National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory System (NAEIS) Reporting Regulations. The CER argues that the draft regulations contain overly broad confidentiality restrictions that hinder public access to emissions data, contradicting international best practices and South African constitutional and statutory principles.

• The CER contends that the draft NAEIS regulations include an "unreasonably broad restriction on public disclosure of environmental information" that deviates significantly from the regulatory frameworks used in the European Union and the United States.
• The CER highlights that international standards, such as the Aarhus Convention and the EU Environmental Information Directive, create a presumption of public disclosure for environmental information and strictly limit the grounds upon which authorities can withhold emissions data for commercial or industrial confidentiality.
• In the United States, under the Clean Air Act and EPA regulations, emission data cannot be withheld for business confidentiality reasons, and the burden of proof lies with the regulated facility to justify any claim of confidentiality at the time of submission.
• The CER criticizes draft regulation 11, which makes the disclosure of confidential information a criminal offence, arguing it lacks a definition of "confidential information" and provides no public interest exceptions, potentially discouraging the reporting of accurate data.
• The CER asserts that draft regulation 11 is misaligned with section 31Q of the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), which excludes the disclosure of information regarding environmental quality, risks to public health, and legislative contraventions from being considered an offence.
• The CER identifies technical deficiencies in the draft regulations, specifically that the term "criteria pollutants" is not defined in the Air Quality Act (AQA) or the regulations, and the required reporting format for Groups A, C, and D is not specified.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (2014). Comments on the Draft National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory System (NAEIS) Reporting Regulations. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/CER-Submissions-on-Draft-National-Atmospheric-Reporting-Regulations_18-A....pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. Comments on the Draft National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory System (NAEIS) Reporting Regulations. 2014. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/CER-Submissions-on-Draft-National-Atmospheric-Reporting-Regulations_18-A....pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=Comments on the Draft National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory System (NAEIS) Reporting Regulations |date=18 August 2014 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/CER-Submissions-on-Draft-National-Atmospheric-Reporting-Regulations_18-A....pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centreforenvironmentalrights2014comments, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{Comments on the Draft National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory System (NAEIS) Reporting Regulations}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2014}, month = aug, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/CER-Submissions-on-Draft-National-Atmospheric-Reporting-Regulations_18-A....pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }