(1)
| (a) | Any proposed amendments to this Act that may have the effect of amending the provisions of the Agreement, must be subject to concurrence between the Minister, the Minister responsible for mineral resources and the Minister responsible for environmental affairs; and |
| (b) | Any intervention contemplated in paragraph (a) that may lead to the amendment of the provisions of the Agreement must be tabled in Parliament prior to any steps being taken to effect those changes and Parliament may express its view on the proposed amendment of the Agreement. |
| (2) | Agreement for the purpose of subsection (1) means the Agreement reached between the Minister, the Minister responsible for mineral resources and the Minister responsible for environmental affairs titled One Environmental System for the country with respect to mining, which entails: |
| (a) | that all environment related aspects would be regulated through one environmental system which is the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998) and that all environmental provisions would be repealed from the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 (Act No 28 of 2002); |
| (b) | that the Minister responsible for environmental affairs sets the regulatory framework and norms and standards, and that the Minister responsible for mineral resources will implement the provisions of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998) and the subordinate legislation as far as it relates to prospecting, exploration, mining or operations; |
| (c) | that the Minister responsible for mineral resources will issue environmental authorisations in terms of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998) for prospecting, exploration, mining or operations, and that the Minister responsible for environmental affairs will be the appeal authority for these authorisations; and |
| (d) | that the Minister, the Minister responsible for mineral resources and the Minster responsible for environmental affairs agree on fixed timeframes for the consideration and issuing of the authorisations in their respective legislation and also agreed to align the time frames and processes. |
[Section 163A inserted by section 5 of Act No. 27 of 2014]
