ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION ACT 2017 - SECT 88 Certain persons prohibited from engaging in particular activities

ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION ACT 2017 - SECT 88

    (1)     A person is a prohibited person if—

        (a)     within the preceding 10 years, the person has been convicted or found guilty of—

              (i)     an offence involving fraud, dishonesty or violence that was punishable by a term of imprisonment of 3 months or more at the time of the conviction or finding of guilt; or

              (ii)     an indictable offence against this Act or the Environment Protection Act 1970 ; or

              (iii)     an offence that, if committed in Victoria, would constitute an offence referred to in subparagraph (i) or (ii); or

              (iv)     an indictable offence against the Dangerous Goods Act 1985 , the Equipment (Public Safety) Act 1994 , the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 or the Planning and Environment Act 1987 ; or

        (b)     the Authority has revoked a permission held by the person under section 61(1); or

        (c)     any licence or permit issued to the person under a law of another State or a Territory that the Authority considers to be equivalent to a permission has been revoked on a ground equivalent to one or more of the grounds set out in section 61(1); or

        (d)     the person is an insolvent under administration; or

        (e)     the person is an externally-administered company under the Corporations Act; or

        (f)     in the case of a body corporate—

              (i)     one or more of the officers is a person referred to in paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d); or

              (ii)     one or more of the officers is or was an officer of another body corporate that is or was a person referred to in paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d).

    (2)     A prohibited person must not engage in an activity that is prescribed for the purposes of this section.

Penalty:     In the case of a natural person, 240 penalty units or 2 years imprisonment or both;

    In the case of a body corporate, 1200 penalty units.

Note

Section 314 provides that subsection (2) is a civil penalty provision. The penalties for contravention of these civil penalty provisions are set out in the table in section 314.

    (3)     The Minister may recommend that an activity be prescribed for the purposes of this section only if the activity is not a permission activity and either—

        (a)     the activity relates to—

              (i)     the receiving, handling, storing, processing or disposal of waste; or

              (ii)     resource recovery; or

        (b)     the Minister is satisfied that the activity poses a serious risk of harm to human health or the environment.

    (4)     If, as the result of the operation of Part 11.8, a person who is an officer of a body corporate commits an offence against subsection (2), a sentence of imprisonment must not be imposed on the officer in respect of a conviction or finding of guilt in respect of that offence unless the body corporate was prohibited from engaging in the prescribed activity that was the subject of the offence because the officer is a prohibited person referred to in subsection (1)(a), (b), (c) or (d).

S. 89 inserted by No. 39/2018 s. 7 (as amended by Nos 27/2019 ss 12− 30, 3/2020 ss 42– 44, 47/2020 s. 26).