المملكة: One million riyals fine for violators.. “Environment” approves a new regulation to address pollution – Urgent

Pollution Control

The Ministry explained that this principle ensures that the polluter bears the burden of combating pollution, reducing its damage, and completely rehabilitating the environment.

The provisions of the regulation apply to all persons and activities that produce pollution or deterioration in environmental environments within a territory. The Kingdom.

The legislation stressed the necessity of immediately stopping the source of pollution and removing it when any activity that harms the environment occurs.

Environmental requirements and controls

The competent authority, represented by the Ministry, its affiliated national centers, and the General Corporation for the Conservation of Coral Reefs, undertakes the tasks of preparing environmental requirements and controls.

These authorities also undertake the preparation of financial claims for the damages incurred, and notify the perpetrator of them, leading to resorting to the judiciary or concluding a settlement. Regular settlements to be collected.

The regulations published on the polling platform required those responsible to prepare plans to address the damage or environmental rehabilitation and submit them to the National Center for Environmental Compliance Oversight within a period not exceeding thirty days from the date of reporting the damage.

Wildlife

The regulations required that these plans be prepared exclusively through environmental service providers licensed and approved by the center.

The instructions indicated that submitting the plan is considered A mandatory requirement when environmental accidents occur, approved standards are exceeded, or when some activities are closed. In addition, it has been proven that there are negative cumulative effects on wildlife associated with the practice of the activity according to the results of monitoring.

With regard to damage to wildlife, plants and animals, the regulations entrusted the inspectors of the competent authority to document the incident and control violations immediately.

Imposing a financial fine

The regulatory texts clearly confirmed that imposing a financial fine does not in any way waive the obligation of the perpetrator to treat and rehabilitate the damage.

Once the plan was approved, The violator is obligated to implement them under the supervision of the competent authority and within a period of time commensurate with the extent of the damage, not exceeding one year in a normal situation.

The implementers must submit periodic reports supported by photos, coordinates, and analysis results to ensure transparency and follow up on progress.

The regulations indicate the right of the competent authority to immediately implement remediation procedures through specialized authorities and at the expense of the perpetrator, in the event that sixty days have passed from being notified without initiating implementation. The same procedure is applied immediately if the pollution leads to the spread of pollutants outside the site or the perpetrator fails to contain them.

To ensure future compliance, the instructions stipulate the requirement to provide a financial guarantee or pledge from a reliable financial body to cover the rehabilitation costs. This guarantee is imposed in particular if the activity requires the removal of environmental components or the creation of a temporary disturbance that requires repair later.

Regulation of Violations

Concerning deterrent penalties, the regulation classified violations into serious and non-serious, setting the fine for providing incorrect information at up to one hundred thousand riyals for the third category the second time.

While the fine for refraining from implementing the environmental rehabilitation plan for the third category amounted to one million Saudi riyals, with the violator required to correct The situation.

The regulation did not ignore the economic dimension of establishments, as the value of fines for non-serious violations is calculated at a rate of twenty-five percent for individuals and very small establishments.

Remediation plans

This percentage increases gradually to reach fifty percent for small establishments, and seventy-five percent for medium establishments, and is fully applied at a rate of one hundred percent to large establishments.

The legislation has given room to correct the situation, as it is permissible to Giving the violator a period of time to make amends before imposing the penalty in the event of his voluntary disclosure of the violation.

The executive annexes also detail strict time frames for the center’s response to remediation plans, ranging from five to fifteen working days to ensure speed of response and avert risks.