ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION ACT 1997 - SECT 21 Exclusion of material

ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION ACT 1997 - SECT 21

    (1)     If for this Act, a person provides a document to the authority in relation to—

        (a)     the grant, variation or review of an environmental authorisation; or

        (b)     the submission of an environmental improvement plan; or

        (c)     the approval of an emergency plan; or

        (d)     the entry into an environment protection agreement; or

        (e)     the making of an order under section 91C or section 91D; or

        (f)     the making of an environment protection order; or

        (g)     setting out the results of monitoring or testing required by the authority to be conducted; or

        (h)     the submission of an environmental audit report; or

              (i)     the conduct of an activity to which section 159A applies;

the person who provided the document, or a person whose interests are affected by the provision of the document, may apply to the authority to exclude so much of the document as is specified in the application from inspection by the public under section 19 on the ground that—

        (j)     the disclosure would reveal a trade secret; or

        (k)     the disclosure would, or would reasonably be expected to, adversely affect the person in relation to the lawful business affairs of that person;

and it would not be in the public interest for that part to be published.

    (2)     An application under subsection (1) must—

        (a)     be in writing; and

        (b)     be made at the same time the document to which the application relates is provided to the authority.

    (3)     If the authority is satisfied that a ground mentioned in subsection (1) exists for the exclusion of a document or part of a document, the authority must exclude that part from each copy of a document made available for public inspection under that subsection.

    (4)     If a part of a document is excluded from the copy made available for public inspection, each copy must include a statement to the effect that an unspecified part of the document has been excluded for the purpose of protecting the confidentiality of information included in that part.

    (5)     The authority must not permit the inspection of a document or part of a document under section 19 to which an application under subsection (1) relates—

        (a)     until 28 days after the authority has made a decision under subsection (1) excluding or refusing to exclude all or part of the document from inspection; or

        (b)     if an entity has applied to the ACAT for review of the decision—until the application has been decided by the ACAT.