Environment Protection (Amendment of Schedule) Regulations 2009

Brief 

The Eleventh Schedule to the Environment Protection Act (EPA) 2002, as amended in 2008, provides for a list of “eyesores”.  This Schedule has now been amended through the gazetting of the Environment Protection (Amendment of Schedule) Regulations, 2009 as per GN No. 18 of 2009, and have come into operation on 1st March 2009.

 The following item has been included to the list of eyesores in the Schedule -

 “Keeping any house, tenement, wall or any other structure or building in a dirty or unsightly state.” 

The objective of this amendment is to make it obligatory for any person to keep his house, tenement, wall or any other structure or building in a clean and aesthetic state in line with Government’s policy to promote cleanliness and make Mauritius a tourist haven.  

Many buildings or structures, particularly those located in commercial and tourist areas, in high residential zones and along our main roads, are often kept in a deplorable state and constitute permanent “eyesores”. There was until now no obligation on the part of an owner or a syndic to keep his house, building or wall with a public frontage in a pleasant aesthetic state.

The above regulations therefore aim at promoting cleanliness all around the country.

Any Police Officer, an Officer of the Department of Environment or any authorized officer from a local authority shall act as enforcement officers in relation to enforcement of these “eyesores”.

Once an enforcement officer has detected an eyesore, he shall serve an Eyesore Abatement Notice onto the owner/occupier/syndic of a building/structure, requiring the latter to take necessary remedial measures within a specified time frame of not more than 30 days.  

Any person not complying with the above notice shall commit an offence under the Ninth Schedule to the EPA and shall be liable to a fixed penalty fine of Rs 10, 000.  The contravener may be prosecuted in court in case of failure to pay the fine within the required time and may, upon conviction, be liable to a fine not less than thrice the relevant amount prescribed above excluding court costs between Rs 1000 to Rs 3000.

Click here to view the full text of the Environment Protection(Amendment of Schedule) Regulations 2009