ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION ACT 1993 - SECT 50A

ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION ACT 1993 - SECT 50A

50A—Avoidance of duplication of procedures etc

        (1)         The purpose of this section is to provide for the avoidance of unnecessary duplication of procedures and compliance requirements under the Commonwealth Act and this Act where an activity requires environmental authorisation under this Act and approval under the Commonwealth Act.

        (2)         Despite any other provision of this Act, the Authority may—

            (a)         accept a Commonwealth Act document as an application, notice or other document for the purposes of this Act if (subject to subsection (5)) the document complies with the requirements of this Act; and

            (b)         direct that a procedure taken under the Commonwealth Act in relation to a Commonwealth Act document that has been accepted by the Authority under paragraph (a) will be taken to have fulfilled the requirement for a procedure in relation to the relevant document under this Act if the requirements of this Act in relation to the procedure have been complied with; and

            (c)         instead of the Authority, or some other person, preparing a plan, report, statement, assessment or other document under this Act, adopt or accept the whole or part of a document (whether a plan, report, statement, assessment or other document of the same kind or not) used, or to be used, for the purposes of the Commonwealth Act as the document required under this Act if (subject to subsection (5)) the document has been prepared in compliance with this Act and complies with the requirements of this Act.

        (3)         To avoid doubt, where a controlled action under the Commonwealth Act is an activity or part of an activity, or includes an activity, for which an environmental authorisation is required under this Act, the Authority may, when considering an application for an environmental authorisation, or for the variation of an environmental authorisation, for the activity, use information and other material provided to the Commonwealth Minister under the Commonwealth Act for the purpose of deciding whether to give his or her approval to the controlled action under that Act.

        (4)         Where a controlled action under the Commonwealth Act is an activity or part of an activity, or includes an activity, for which an environmental authorisation is required under this Act, the Authority—

            (a)         must, if the Commonwealth Minister has given his or her approval to the controlled action, consider whether the conditions (if any) to be imposed on the authorisation should be consistent with the conditions (if any) attached to the Commonwealth Minister's approval under the Commonwealth Act;

            (b)         may impose a condition on the authorisation that requires compliance with all or some of the conditions attached to the Commonwealth Minister's approval under the Commonwealth Act.

        (5)         A document accepted or adopted under subsection (2)—

            (a)         may be in a form that does not comply with the requirements of this Act; and

            (b)         may include information or other material that is irrelevant for the purposes of this Act.

        (6)         Once a document is accepted or adopted under subsection (2) or a direction has been given in relation to a procedure under subsection (2)(b), the document or procedure will not be invalid or ineffective for the purposes of this Act because a court, tribunal or other authority has decided that it is invalid or ineffective for the purposes of the Commonwealth Act.

        (7)         In this section—

"assessment report" means—

            (a)         an assessment report as defined in the Commonwealth Act by reference to section 84(3), 95, 100 or 105 of that Act; or

            (b)         a report under section 121 of the Commonwealth Act;

"Commonwealth Act" means the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 of the Commonwealth;

"Commonwealth Act document" means—

            (a)         a referral under section 68, 69 or 71 of the Commonwealth Act; or

            (b)         information given by a person to the Minister under the Commonwealth Act under section 86 of that Act; or

            (c)         information and invitation published by a proponent under section 93 of the Commonwealth Act; or

            (d)         guidelines prepared under section 97 or 102 of the Commonwealth Act; or

            (e)         a draft report prepared under section 98 of the Commonwealth Act; or

            (f)         a finalised report prepared under section 99 of the Commonwealth Act; or

            (g)         a draft statement prepared under section 103 of the Commonwealth Act; or

            (h)         a finalised statement prepared under section 104 of the Commonwealth Act; or

                  (i)         an assessment report.