National Environment (Audit) Regulations, 2020 (No. 47 of 2020).

These regulations, composed by 27 articles divided in 5 parts plus two schedules are made under sections 126 and 179 of the National Environment Act, 2019, Act 5 of 2019 (the Act). According to the first part, they apply to an environmental audit for a project or activity for which environmental and social assessment has been undertaken. An environmental audit shall be undertaken to ensure compliance by the developer with the Act and all legislation made under the Act (part I). The second part of the Act is dedicated to the Environmental enforcement audit, which can be lead by the National Environment Management Authority, at its own or at any person's instance, on projects that may have adverse human health, environmental, socio-economic or cultural impacts. This Part also describes the powers conferred to the Authority in exercise of such audit, the public involvement in the audit, the rules for the conduct of the audit, the report to be prepared (as per Schedule 2) on completion of the audit and the corrective measures that the developer must adopt following the notification by the Authority of its findings. The third part treats the environmental compliance audit, which the developer of a project or activity listed in Schedule 3 must carry out and provides for the guidelines issued by the Authority for the conduct of such audits. This part also covers the content and the submission of the report which will then be reviewed by the Authority and, in case, by a lead agency. The fourth part covers the Environmental compliance agreement (which may be entered into by the Authority and the developer where non-compliance has been identified during an environmental enforcement audit or environmental compliance audit) and the Environment Management System (which is established, maintained and implemented by a developer in accordance with section 49 of the Act). The fifth part is general and covers the documents submitted to the Authority under these Regulations, which are deemed to be public; the guidelines which can be made by the Authority in collaboration with the relevant lead agency, for different sectors; the offences and penalties under this Act.