Over the last two decades KSA has made significant advancements in the development of environmental laws, standards and guidelines. Environmental permitting in KSA is often complex, not least due to parallel regulatory bodies enforcing differing environmental standards and permitting regimes.
The key regulatory bodies / entities in KSA which essentially operate independently and maintain their own environmental permitting systems are:
- GAMEP: Under the General Environmental Regulation (GER), the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME), an agency of the Ministry of Defence, was charged with the general supervision of environmental affairs in Saudi Arabia and had the responsibility of granting environmental permits. The GER was the first comprehensive Saudi Arabian national environmental legislation, enacted in 2001. The GER was revised in 2011, however only certain elements of this revision were approved for implementation. In 2016, the PME was renamed to GAMEP.
- The Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu (RCJY): The RC’s jurisdiction includes the industrial cities of Jazan and Ras Al Khair, as well as Jubail and Yanbu. The RCJY is the statutory body for environmental matters in these industrial cities and enforces arguably the most comprehensive environmental permitting system in the Kingdom, if not the region.
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Article By Dr Ian James
Image Credits: WKC Group