| (1) | The producer that establishes and implements their own scheme must— |
| (a) | allocate funding for implementation of the extended producer responsibility scheme; |
| (b) | conduct internal biannual financial audits and make these audit reports available to the department upon request; |
| (c) | make the internal biannual audit reports available to the external auditor; |
| (d) | appoint an independent financial auditor to annually: |
| (i) | conduct an external audit of the financial records; and |
| (ii) | include the internal biannual audit findings in the annual audit report; |
| (e) | submit this annual audit report to the Department within 60 days after finalisation of the audit, which annual audit report will be uploaded onto the South African Waste Information Centre (SAWIC) for public access; |
| (f) | collect, record, manage and submit data to the South African Waste Information System as required in regulation 8 of these Regulations; |
| (g) | where external services are required, contract with the existing downstream value chain before outsourcing, where the value chain comprises the collection of the identified products, sorting and processing thereof; |
| (h) | where external services are required, contract for the collection, recycling and recovery of the identified products, if outsourced, through a fair and transparent process; |
| (i) | keep record of quantity of identified products: |
| (i) | placed on the market by the producer; |
| (j) | manage services that have been awarded to service providers in particular, these services include the fulfilment of collection and recycling by waste management companies; |
| (k) | co- operate with all municipalities (where applicable), within 3 years of implementation of their extended producer responsibility scheme, to increase the recovery of identified products from municipal waste; |
| (I) | integrate informal waste collectors, reclaimers and pickers into the post consumer collection value chain; |
| (m) | develop and establish secondary markets for recycled content; |
| (n) | utilise new and existing infrastructure across extended producer responsibility schemes in a collaborative manner where feasible, or establish and operate new infrastructure within 3 years after completion of feasibility studies, where the initial feasibility study must be undertaken within 2 years of implementation of the extended producer responsibility scheme, that identifies the need for additional infrastructure; |
| (o) | prioritise the promotion of small businesses and entrepreneurs with a special focus on women, youth and persons living with disabilities; |
| (p) | compensate informal waste collectors, reclaimers and pickers, who register with the National Registration Database, for collection services and environmental benefits, through the collection service fee by November 2022. The collection service fee shall be reviewed annually by the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries; and |
| (q) | implement transformation within those entities with whom they contract, with a special focus on women, youth and persons living with disabilities. |
[Regulation 5B inserted by section 6(g) of Notice No. 400, GG44539, dated 5 May 2021]
