Guyana’s Environmental Protection Act, Cap. 20:05 of the Laws of Guyana (Act No. 11 of 1996), establishes a wide range of sanctions for violations of the Act, as well as directions by the Environmental Protection Agency that are necessary for the implementation of any obligations of Guyana under any treaty or international law relating to environmental protection [Section 13(1)(c)]. These sanctions include, but are not limited to:
- Monetary fines. If the offender benefited monetarily from the violation, the court may impose an additional fine in an amount equal to the court’s estimation of the amount of those monetary benefits. To expedite payment, authorised officers of the Agency can offer the offender the possibility to discharge liabilities if they immediately pay the Agency an amount of two-thirds of the minimum penalty prescribed.
- Suspension, cancellation, or revocation of a permit or authorisation.
- Order to cease (or make no changes to) construction, operation, or other activities.
- Prohibition notices (similar to an injunction).
- Take certain actions to prevent, correct, mitigate, restore, or otherwise address environmental harm within a specified time.
- Community service.
- Naming and shaming. A convicted environmental offender can be ordered to publish the facts and notify the aggrieved party or parties at the offender’s own cost. If the offender does not comply with this order, the Agency may publish and recover its costs.
- Post a bond or pay an amount of money to court as necessary to ensure compliance.
- Compensate the Agency for remedial or preventive action (including costs of an independent study into the excessive discharge of contaminants, where the violation related to excessive discharge) as a result of the offence.
To encourage violators to come into compliance quickly, the Act provides that if offences continue after a conviction, penalties are instituted for each day that the offence continues.
The Act empowers the Minister to undertake emergency response activities as required to protect human health or the environment, and in conjunction with other appropriate governmental entities, particularly where a person has not complied with an enforcement order.
Guyana also imposes an obligation on authorities to enforce environmental laws diligently. Local authorities and other authorities who are aware of an environmental violation and do not notify the Agency, do not apply all possible measures to prevent an environmental violation, or do not carry out the orders of the Minister, are also liable to penalties.
The Agency maintains open-to-the-public registers of each cancellation, revocation, variation or transfer, enforcement and prohibition notice, incident or occurrence causing environmental harm, prosecution, enforcement action, annual returns, type and quantity of contaminants/pollutants, etc. Developers are required to submit annual returns and other pollutant information failing which penalties are instituted.
The Fifth Schedule of the Environmental Protection Act sets forth prescribed penalties for various offenses established in the Act.
For more information, see http://www.epaguyana.org or contact Ms. Eliza Florendo eflorendo@epaguyana.org or Ms. Emilia Maslen emaslen@epaguyana.org