16Requirement in lieu of regulatory additionality requirement

16 Requirement in lieu of regulatory additionality requirement

(1) For the purposes of subparagraph 27(4A)(b)(ii) of the Act, this requirement applies in lieu of the regulatory additionality requirement.

(2) The project must not be required to be carried out by or under a law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory.

(3) A requirement to carry out an activity under a conservation covenant entered into with:

(a) the Commonwealth, a State, a Territory or a local governing body; or

(b) an authority of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory;

is not a requirement for the purposes of subsection (2).

Part 4—Stratification, estimating project removals and calculating project emissions

Division 1—Defining strata and delineating boundaries

17 Defining strata in the project area

(1) The project proponent must define one or more strata in the project area, in accordance with the CFI Mapping Guidelines, as areas for which abatement will be calculated in accordance with this Part.

(2) A stratum must consist of eligible land on which a permanent planting has been established in accordance with section 11 (Project mechanisms).

Note: The extent of a stratum is defined essentially by the stems of the trees in the planting. See section 18.

(3) Strata may be defined on the basis of any characteristics that tend to make the growth characteristics of trees in a stratum more uniform.

Note: The following are examples of such characteristics:

• time of planting;

• tree species;

• observed or measured growth trends;

• growing regions;

• climatic conditions;

• soil types;

• disturbance history;

• land management units;

• management regime;

• any other characteristics that may be likely to influence project tree growth.

(4) The project proponent must define at least one stratum before the submission of the first offsets report.

(5) The project proponent may define new strata at any time.

Note: New strata may be required by this determination in certain circumstances, for example, in the event of a growth disturbance (see section 19).

(6) A new stratum may consist of any eligible land in the project area, including land in an existing stratum.

Note: In such a case:

(a) a full inventory will be required (see subsection 85(4)), which is subject to section 19); and

(b) any superseded strata are reported on under section 21.

(7) If a new stratum includes part of an existing stratum, then:

(a) the existing stratum is superseded; and

(b) another new stratum may be defined from the remainder.

Note: See section 21 for reporting on superseded strata.

(8) When a stratum is defined:

(a) it must be given a stratum identifier; and

(b) its extant project forest boundary and its stratum boundary must be delineated in accordance with section 18; and

(c) its stratum area must be calculated from the stratum boundary.

(9) If there is a change to the project trees in a stratum that affects the extant project forest boundary:

(a) its extant project forest boundary and its stratum boundary must be delineated in accordance with section 18; and

(b) its stratum area must be calculated from the new stratum boundary.

Example: Subsection (9) might apply if trees near the boundary of the stratum are removed in accordance with section 12 in such a way that re-stratification is not required.

Strata in a pre-existing project

(10) For a pre-existing project to which section 15 applies, each stratum reported in the relevant offsets report mentioned in section 15 is taken to be defined as a stratum of the project under this determination (a pre-existing stratum).

Note: If the proponent wishes to change a pre-existing stratum, it will become a superseded stratum subject to section 21.

(11) Subsection (8) applies to a pre-existing stratum.

(12) For a pre-existing stratum, the following apply:

(a) any full inventory or PSP assessment conducted in the stratum in accordance with the former determination is taken to have been conducted in accordance with this determination;

(b) any TSPs or PSPs established in the stratum in accordance with the former determination are taken to have been established in accordance with this determination;

(c) any data collected in relation to the TSPs or PSPs in accordance with the former determination is taken to have been collected in accordance with this determination;

(d) if a full inventory was conducted in the stratum in accordance with the former determination, subsection 85(4) does not apply to the stratum;

(e) in subsection 19(1), subsection 47(2), subsections 95(3) and (4) (definitions of Vj, vj and SEVj), subsection 96(3), subsection 98(3) (definition of Qj,p), section 99 (definitions of Rj,p and Qj,p), subsection 115(3) (definition of Image unavailable in extracted textNF,j), and subsection 116(1) (definition of Image unavailable in extracted textNF,j):

(i) a reference to a ‘previous reporting period’ includes a reference to a reporting period under the former determination; and
(ii) a reference to an offsets report includes a reference to an offsets report under the former determination; and
(iii) a reference to a certificate of entitlement includes a reference to a certificate of entitlement issued under the former determination.

Note: The main effects of this subsection are that:

(a) if PSPs were established under the former determination, the proponent will be able to continue using the PSPs and existing PSP data to conduct PSP assessments until 5 years after the last full inventory conducted under the former determination; and

(b) sections 19 (revision of strata after growth disturbances) and 115 (calculation of fire emissions) apply to a pre-existing stratum during the first reporting period under this determination.

(13) In this section, former determination has the same meaning as in section 15.