Purpose:

The Act aims to protect and enhance the quality of the environment, prevent environmental degradation and harm to human health by promoting pollution prevention, clean production, reuse, recycling, waste minimisation, and by establishing processes for the management and remediation of contaminated land.

Objectives:

• Protect and enhance the quality of the environment.
• Prevent environmental degradation and risk of harm to human health by promoting pollution prevention, clean production technology, reuse and recycling of materials, and waste minimisation programs.
• Require people engaging in polluting activities to make progressive environmental improvements.
• Achieve effective integration of environmental, economic, social and cultural considerations in decision-making processes.
• Facilitate the implementation of national environment protection measures under national scheme laws.
• Provide for the monitoring and reporting of environmental quality on a regular basis.
• Ensure that contaminated land is managed having regard to human health and the environment.
• Coordinate activities needed to protect, restore or improve the ACT environment.
• Establish a process for investigating and, where appropriate, remediating land areas where contamination is causing or is likely to cause a significant risk of harm to human health, or of material environmental harm or serious environmental harm.

Key Provisions:

• Establishment and functions of the Environment Protection Authority, including public access to documents and a register of contaminated sites.
• Imposition of general environmental duties and duties to notify the authority of actual or threatened environmental harm or contaminated land.
• Framework for developing and implementing environment protection policies and accrediting codes of practice.
• Provisions for economic measures such as bubble licences and tradeable permits.
• Mechanisms for environmental protection agreements between the authority and persons conducting activities.
• Requirements for environmental authorisations for prescribed classes of activities, including their grant, variation, suspension, and cancellation.
• Tools for environmental protection such as environmental improvement plans, environmental audits, emergency plans, and financial assurances.
• Procedures for the assessment and remediation of contaminated land and recovery of associated costs.
• Requirements for providing fuel sales information and provisions regarding confidential commercial information.
• Powers of authorised officers for entry, inspection, seizure, and emergency situations.
• Powers of analysts and rules of evidence for analysis.
• Enforcement measures including environment protection orders and injunctive orders.
• Provisions for notification and review of decisions, and enforceable undertakings.
• Establishment of environmental offences, extensions of liability for executive officers and representatives, and available defences (due diligence, emergency).

Evidence of Compliance Requirements For Agricultural Organisations:

• General Environmental Duty (Section 22(1)): Organisations must take steps that are practicable and reasonable to prevent or minimise environmental harm or environmental nuisance caused, or likely to be caused, by an activity conducted by the organisation.
• Duty to Notify of Actual or Threatened Environmental Harm (Section 23(3)): If an organisation becomes aware that its activity has caused, is causing or is likely to cause serious or material environmental harm from pollution (an “environmental situation”), it must notify the authority of the situation, its nature and the action taken to deal with it, and any environmental harm caused, as soon as reasonably practicable. Failure to comply without reasonable excuse carries a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units.
• Duty to Notify Existence of Contaminated Land (Section 23A(1)): A relevant person (occupier, lessee, or sublessee) must notify the authority in writing as soon as practicable after becoming aware that land is contaminated in such a way as to present, or be likely to present, a significant risk of harm to human health or a risk of material or serious environmental harm. Failure to comply without reasonable excuse carries a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units.
• Compliance with Accredited Codes of Practice (Section 33): Substantial compliance with an accredited code of practice for a specified activity or industry is deemed compliance with the general environmental duty. Organisations should maintain records demonstrating adherence to relevant accredited codes.
• Environmental Protection Agreements (Part 7): Organisations may enter into written environmental protection agreements (Section 38(1), Section 39(a)). These agreements must specify the period of effect (Section 39(b)) and may include terms for specific actions, compliance with industry standards or codes, meeting progressively higher environmental standards, provisions for changes in the person conducting the activity, and consequences of breach or termination methods (Section 39©). Any variations must be in writing by the parties (Section 39(d)).
• Holding Environmental Authorisations (Section 42):
  • Organisations conducting Class A activities listed in Schedule 1 must hold an environmental authorisation (e.g., operating a facility milking more than 800 animals per day, processing more than 30,000t of agricultural crops per year, operating a stock feedlot for over 200t live animal weight, keeping poultry/game birds/emus over 180t live animal weight, operating commercial stock saleyards over 10,000t live animal weight per year, operating an abattoir processing over 3,000kg live animals per day, commercial wool cleaning/carbonising over 200t per year, certain burning of plant matter, commercial use of chemical products for pest/turf control, logging over 5,000t timber per year, commercial alcoholic beverage production over specified thresholds, application of organic products from sewerage for soil improvement over 500t per year, composting animal waste over 200t or plant waste over 5,000t per year, timber chipping/pulping/milling over 30,000m3 per year, wood preservation using chemicals over 10,000m3 per year). Failure to hold an authorisation carries a maximum penalty of 200 penalty units.
  • Organisations conducting Class B activities listed in Schedule 1 must either hold an environmental authorisation or be a party to an environmental protection agreement (e.g., wood preservation less than 10,000m3 per year, forestry activities). Failure to comply carries a maximum penalty of 200 penalty units.
• Application for Environmental Authorisation (Section 47): Applications must be in writing, specify the kind of authorisation sought (standard, accredited, or special), and include written consent from the lessee/sublessee or relevant authority if the applicant is not the land’s lessee/sublessee. A fee may be determined for this application.
• Compliance with Environmental Authorisation (Section 45(1)): Organisations must not contravene any conditions of an environmental authorisation. Contravention carries a maximum penalty of 200 penalty units.
• Payment of Authorisation Fees (Section 53, 55): Holders of environmental authorisations are liable to pay annual fees (for unlimited period authorisations) or a whole-of-period fee (for specified period authorisations). Failure to pay by the due date may result in cancellation of the authorisation, following written notice requiring payment.
• Notification of Ceasing Activity (Section 67): If the holder of an environmental authorisation permanently ceases the authorised activity, the authority must be notified in writing within 10 working days, without reasonable excuse. Failure to comply carries a maximum penalty of 10 penalty units.
• Environmental Improvement Plans (Division 9.1):
  • If required by the authority (Section 69(1)), organisations must prepare and submit a draft environmental improvement plan within the specified date (not earlier than 20 working days after the notice), addressing specified matters, and paying the specified fee (Section 69(2)). Failure to comply carries a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units.
  • Upon approval (Section 71(1)©), organisations must implement the plan as approved. If rejected, the plan must be amended according to the notice and resubmitted (Section 71(1)(d)). Failure to comply with implementation or amendment/resubmission requirements carries a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units.
  • For voluntary plans, applications for accreditation must include a request for accreditation and a copy of the plan specifying the implementation period and measures to achieve best environmental practice (Section 72(2)).
• Environmental Audits (Division 9.2):
  • If required by the authority (Section 76(1), (2)), organisations must commission an environmental audit of the activity or contaminated land and submit a report to the authority by the specified date (not earlier than 20 working days after the notice), and pay the specified fee (Section 76(4)). The auditor must be approved by the authority (Section 75(1)). For contaminated land audits, the auditor must not have carried out previous assessment/remediation of that land (Section 76(3)). Failure to comply carries a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units.
  • Auditors must provide written notice to the authority within 7 working days of receiving a request for a contaminated land audit, specifying the requester, reasons, land location, and estimated completion time (Section 76A(1)).
  • Auditors must provide a copy of the site audit statement to the authority within 15 working days after completing an audit (Section 76A(2)).
  • Auditors must submit an annual report to the authority about each contaminated land audit carried out under this or another Act during that year, within 60 working days after the end of each financial year (Section 76B).
  • The authority may require further specified information from organisations who submitted audit reports within a specified date (not less than 10 working days after notice) (Section 77(1)©). Failure to comply carries a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units.
  • For voluntary audits, the organisation must submit the auditor’s report to the authority within 20 working days after receiving it (Section 78(5)). Failure to comply carries a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units.
• Emergency Plans (Division 9.3):
  • If required by the authority (Section 82(1)), organisations must prepare and submit a draft emergency plan within the specified date (not earlier than 20 working days after the notice), addressing specified environmental emergencies, potentially including preparation requirements and qualifications for the preparer, and paying the specified fee (Section 82(2)). Failure to comply carries a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units.
  • Upon approval (Section 84(1)©), organisations must implement any preparation requirements in the plan. If rejected, the plan must be amended according to the notice and resubmitted (Section 84(1)(d)). Failure to comply with implementation or amendment/resubmission requirements carries a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units.
• Financial Assurances (Division 9.4): If required as an authorisation condition (Section 85(1)), organisations must provide financial assurance in the form of a bank guarantee, bond, insurance policy, or other authority-approved security (Section 85(2)). The amount is determined based on the foreseeable environmental harm (Section 85(3)). If the authority proposes this, it will provide written notice, specifying grounds, amount, and inviting the applicant to show cause (Section 86(1), (2)). If imposed, the assurance must be provided by a specified date (Section 86(3)(b)). Non-provision leads to authorisation cancellation (Section 87). Organisations are also subject to claims on financial assurance for remediation costs incurred by the authority, after receiving written notice and an opportunity to make representations (Section 89(1)). If costs exceed the realised assurance, the organisation must pay the difference by a specified date (Section 90(1), (2)).
• Assessment and Remediation Orders for Contaminated Land (Division 9.5):
  • An appropriate person (e.g., person responsible for contamination, lessee/sublessee) may be ordered by written notice to conduct an assessment (Section 91C(1)(a)) or remediation (Section 91D(1)(a)) of contaminated land.
  • The order specifies the person, land, period for assessment/remediation, nature of contamination, and actions to take in assessing/remediating and reporting (Section 91C(2), Section 91D(2)).
  • The person must conduct the assessment/remediation within the specified period, in accordance with prescribed standards and procedures (including relevant national environment protection measures) and the order’s terms (Section 91C(4)(a), Section 91D(4)(a)).
  • The person must commission an environmental audit of the assessment/remediation by an approved auditor (Section 91C(4)(b), Section 91D(4)(b)), and submit the auditor’s name for approval within 10 working days of the order date (Section 91C(6), Section 91D(6)).
  • Failure to comply with an assessment order carries a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units (Section 91C(8)). Failure to comply with a remediation order carries a maximum penalty of 200 penalty units (Section 91D(9)).
  • The lessee (or sublessee) of land under a remediation order must not transfer or sublet the land while the order is in force without the authority’s consent (Section 91D(8)).
  • If the authority conducts assessment or remediation, it may require the appropriate person to pay the reasonable costs and expenses incurred by written notice within a specified date (not earlier than 20 working days after the notice) (Section 91K(1), (2)).
• Fuel Sales Information (Section 92): Occupiers of service stations must give the director-general details of liquid fuel sold in the year ending on the preceding 30 June, by 30 September. Further information reasonably required for verification must also be provided. Failure to comply with a director-general’s requirement carries a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units (strict liability).
• National Pollutant Inventory (Section 159A(1)): The occupier of a facility to which the national environment protection (national pollutant inventory) measure applies must give the authority information required by that measure in accordance with the measure. Failure to comply carries a maximum penalty of 10 penalty units.
• Recovery of Clean-up Costs (Section 160(2)): If a person fails to take specified action required by an environment protection order, or breaches the general environmental duty causing harm, and the authority takes the action, the authority may require the person to pay reasonable costs and expenses incurred. A notice will specify the amount and the payment date (not earlier than 20 working days after the notice).
• Verifying Information (Section 162(1)): If required to give information, the authority may also require a statement verifying the truth of the information.
• Notice to Transferee on Transfer of Activity or Place (Section 148(1)): Before transferring ownership of an activity or place with an environmental instrument (environmental authorisation, agreement, or specific notices such as improvement plan, audit, emergency plan, protection order) in effect, the transferor must notify the transferee of the instrument’s existence and content without reasonable excuse. Failure to comply carries a maximum penalty of 20 penalty units.
• Notice to Authority of Alteration to Equipment and Works (Section 149(1)): Holders of environmental authorisations must notify the authority in writing of any proposed installation, construction, or modification to prescribed equipment and works on the premises (related to pollutant discharge/emission or treatment/storage). This can be done by providing a copy of the development or building approval application (Section 149(2)). The authority may require further specified information (including plans and drawings) by a specified date within 10 days of notification (Section 149(3)). Failure to comply carries a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units.
• Inspections and Audits: Organisations must permit authorised officers to enter premises (non-residential at reasonable times, residential with consent or warrant) for routine inspections (Section 96, Section 97, Section 99). Officers can take measurements, conduct tests, take samples, examine records/documents, and take photographs/recordings (Section 99, Section 100). They may also require the occupier or a person on the premises to answer questions, give information, make records/documents available, and provide reasonable assistance (Section 100(2), Section 101).

Metadata Keywords:

Environment Protection, Legislation, ACT, Australian Capital Territory, Environmental Authorisation, Contaminated Land, Pollution Control, Environmental Duty, Waste Management, Agricultural Activities.

Publication Information:

Republication No 69 Effective: 15 May 2025 Republication date: 15 May 2025 Last amendment made by A2024-35

Agricultural Industry Alignment:

Beef & Veal, Chicken, Coarse Grains, Cotton, Dairy, Eggs, Fisheries, Forestry, Horticulture, Oilseeds, Pig, Sheep Meat, Sugar, Wheat, Wine, Wool.

Date Added to database:

This document was parsed and added to the database on 25-07-2025

URL:

https://www.legislation.act.gov.au/DownloadFile/a/1997-92/current/PDF/1997-92.PDF →