Section 3: Interpretation

3. Interpretation In this Act— “accredited laboratory” means a public or private laboratory accredited by MAURITAS to conduct analyses of environmental samples and provide environmental data; “air” includes ambient or localised air within a building, vehicle, enclosure or structure; “authorised officer” means an officer designated under section 8 (5) and includes a police officer; “Board” means the Board referred to in section 61; “Board of Investment” means the Board of Investment established under the Investment Promotion Act; “Central Water Authority” means the Central Water Authority established under the Central Water Authority Act; “Chief Commissioner” has the same meaning as in the Rodrigues Regional Assembly Act; “clinical waste” means waste produced by, discharged by, or derived from or associated with the operation of, a health institution, hospital, pathological laboratory or sanatorium, and includes human and animal tissue or excretions, drugs, medicinal products; “Commission” means the National Environment Commission referred to in under section 5; “Committee” means the Environment Coordination Committee referred to in section 14; “contingency plan” means measures intended to be applied in the event of a spill or an environmental emergency; “Department” means the Department of Environment referred to in section 8 (1); E12 – 3 [Issue 2] Environment Protection Act “Director” means the Director of Environment appointed under section 8 (2); “discharge” includes deposit, emission and leakage; “effluent” means wastewater, whether treated, untreated, or partially treated, produced by or discharged from agricultural, industrial, commercial or domestic premises; “effluent limitations” means any restriction prescribed under section 39 on quantities, rates and concentrations of chemical, biological or other constituents which are discharged into the environment; “EIA” means an environmental impact assessment; “EIA Committee” means the EIA Committee established under section 22; “EIA licence” means a licence issued under section 23 (8); “EIA/PER Monitoring Committee” means the Committee set up under section 28A; “EIA report” means a document containing the information required under section 18; “enforcement notice” means a notice referred to in section 71; “enforcing agency” means an enforcing agency designated under section 13; “environment” includes— (a) land, air, water, or any one of, or any combination of, these media; (b) all living organisms; (c) any built-up environment; “environment liaison officer” means an environment liaison officer designated under section 13 (2); “environmental data” means data obtained from the laboratory analyses of environmental samples; “environmental law” means— (a) this Act and any regulations made under this Act, and includes any direction, order, notice issued under, or any requirement imposed by, this Act; (b) any other enactment, or part of any other enactment which the Minister may, by regulations, declare, to be an environmental law; “exempt undertaking” means an undertaking by a public department in relation to which a declaration is made under section 28; [Issue 2] E12 – 4 Revised Laws of Mauritius “Finance Officer” means the Finance Officer posted at the Ministry; “financial year” has the meaning assigned to it in section 111 of the Constitution; “Fund” means the National Environment Fund established under section 59; “hazardous waste” means waste, natural or artificial, whether in solid or re, to be an environmental law; “exempt undertaking” means an undertaking by a public department in relation to which a declaration is made under section 28; [Issue 2] E12 – 4 Revised Laws of Mauritius “Finance Officer” means the Finance Officer posted at the Ministry; “financial year” has the meaning assigned to it in section 111 of the Constitution; “Fund” means the National Environment Fund established under section 59; “hazardous waste” means waste, natural or artificial, whether in solid or liquid form, or in the form of gas or vapour, declared as hazardous waste under section 42, and includes clinical waste; “ICZM Committee” means the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Committee referred to in section 50; “Island Chief Executive” has the same meaning as in the Rodrigues Regional Assembly Act; “local authority” has the meaning assigned to it in the Local Government Act; “MAURITAS” means the Mauritius Accreditation Service established under the Mauritius Accreditation Service Act; “MEA”— (a) means a multilateral environmental agreement to which Mauritius is a party; (b) includes a treaty, convention, protocol, covenant or other internationally binding instrument dealing with environmental matters, to which Mauritius is a party; “MEAs Co-ordinating Committee” means the Committee set up under section 12A; “medium” means environmental medium and includes air, land and water; “Minister” means the Minister to whom responsibility for the subject of environment is assigned; “Ministry” means the Ministry responsible for the subject of environment; “monitoring” includes the inspection, measurement, sampling or analysis of any discharge of a pollutant, or of any environmental medium in any locality, whether periodically or continuously; “national environmental standards” means standards referred to in Part VI; “National Network for Sustainable Development” means the network established under section 10; “noise” includes vibration; “non-hazardous waste” means waste other than hazardous waste; E12 – 5 [Issue 2] Environment Protection Act “notice” means an enforcement notice, an eyesore abatement notice, a fixed penalty notice, a programme notice, a prohibition notice, a stop order or a variation notice; “owner of a pollutant” means the owner or the person having the charge, management or control of a pollutant which is spilled or unlawfully discharged; “PER” means a preliminary environmental report referred to in section 16; “PER Committee” means the Committee set up under section 16 (5A); “Permanent Secretary” means the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry; “person responsible” means the owner or the person having the charge, management or control of an activity, enterprise, or undertaking; “pesticide residue” means any substance resulting from the use of a pesticide or of the derivation of a pesticide; “Police de l’Environnement” means the unit referred to in section 9; “pollutant” means a substance which may cause harm, damage or injury to the environment, to plant or animal life, or to human health, and includes any substance from which a pollutant is derived; “programme approval” means a programme approval referred to in section 70 (3); “programme of measures” includes steps, plans, proposals; “prohibition notice” means a notice referred to in section 72; “proponent”, subject to section 26, means a person who— (a) is the owner of or who has the charge, management, or control of an undertaking; or (b) carries out or proposes to carry out an ent, to plant or animal life, or to human health, and includes any substance from which a pollutant is derived; “programme approval” means a programme approval referred to in section 70 (3); “programme of measures” includes steps, plans, proposals; “prohibition notice” means a notice referred to in section 72; “proponent”, subject to section 26, means a person who— (a) is the owner of or who has the charge, management, or control of an undertaking; or (b) carries out or proposes to carry out an undertaking; “public comment” means a submission made under section 20 by any person, other than a public department, on an EIA; “public department” means a Ministry in the Government of Mauritius, a parastatal body or a public authority established under any enactment and includes an enforcing agency; “relevant enforcing agency” means the enforcing agency designated in the Fourth Schedule in relation to a specified medium or pollutant; “relevant local authority” means the local authority in the administrative area of which an undertaking is situated; “Rodrigues Environment Committee” means the Rodrigues Environment Committee referred to in section 90; [Issue 2] E12 – 6 Revised Laws of Mauritius “spill” means a discharge of a pollutant into the environment from or out of a structure, vehicle, vessel, craft, or other carrier or container, which— (a) is abnormal having regard to all the circumstances of the discharge; and (b) poses a serious threat to the environment; “standards” includes criteria and specifications; “stop order” means an order referred to in section 73; “substance” means any natural or artificial substance, whether in solid or liquid form or in the form of a gas or vapour, and includes mixtures of any substance, electricity and heat; “technical advisory committee” means a committee referred to in section 12; “undertaking”— (a) means an enterprise or activity, referred to in section 15 (2), or a proposal, plan or programme in respect of an enterprise or activity by a public department, a local authority, or any other person; (b) includes a modification or an addition to an undertaking; “zone” has the meaning assigned to it in section 49. [S. 3 amended by s. 3 of Act 6 of 2008 w.e.f. 15 July 2008; s. 8 (1) (a) of Act 5 of 2012 w.e.f. 1 October 2012.]