Law Compliance Report - current edition - Report - Page 6
August 2024 Edition
New South Wales Update
Environment Protection Legislation Amendment (Stronger Regulation
and Penalties) Act 2024 (NSW)
On 3 April 2024, the Environment Protection Legislation Amendment (Stronger Regulation
and Penalties) Act 2024 (NSW) (the Amending Act) commenced. The Amending Act has
amended a range of legislation, including, the Protection of the Environment Operations Act
1997 (NSW) (the POEO Act), the Protection from Harmful Radiation Act 1990 (NSW) (the
Radiation Act) and the Pesticides Act 1999 (NSW) (the Pesticides Act).
Operationally Significant Changes
The Amending Act increased penalties and
empowered the Environment Protection Authority
(EPA) to address environmental offences more
effectively by amending a range of environmental
legislation. The most significant changes (from an
operational perspective), include:
•
significantly increasing maximum penalties for a
wide range of environmental offences, including
under the POEO Act, the Radiation Act and the
Pesticides Act;
•
introducing into the POEO Act new offences for
illegal dumping and littering dangerous material;
and
•
giving the EPA new powers, under the POEO Act,
including the power to issue preliminary
investigation notices and recall notices.
Further Information
Significant increase in penalties
The Amending Act has doubled the maximum
penalties for various offences under the POEO Act.
Some examples of where the maximum penalties
have doubled, include:
•
For tier 1 offences (in section 119), the maximum
penalty is $10,000,000 for corporations and
$2,000,000 for individuals. This change is
relevant to a range of offences under the POEO
Act, such as the offence in section 115 of wilfully
disposing waste in a manner that harms or is
likely to harm the environment.
•
For asbestos-related pollution and waste offences
(in Part 5.6), where the highest maximum
penalties for certain offences is $4,000,000 for
corporations and $1,000,000 for individuals, with
additional penalties for a continuing offence.
•
For contraventions of the duties to notify of
pollution incidents (in Part 5.7), the maximum
penalty is $4,000,000 for corporations and
$1,000,000 for individuals, with additional
penalties for a continuing offence.
In the Pesticides Act, for certain offences relating to
the control of pesticides, such as where a person
causes injury to persons or damage to property, or
harm to animals or plants resulting from pesticide
use, the maximum penalty is more than double,
having increased from $250,000 to $2,000,000 for
corporations. Similarly, in section 24 of the
Radiation Act, the maximum penalty for causing
serious harm to a person, animal, thing or the
environment by exposure to radiation is more than
double, increasing from $10,000 to $2,000,000 for
a corporation.
Offences for illegal dumping and littering
dangerous material
The Amending Act has introduced section 144AE
into the POEO Act which is an offence for the illegal
dumping of waste or litter that is more than 50L or
50kg on a public place or in an open private place.
In addition, the Amending Act has introduced
section 145A into the POEO Act which is an offence
for littering dangerous materials in a public place or
an open private place. Relevantly, dangerous
materials are defined and include an e-cigarette, a
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