20AAExcluded offsets projects—general

20AA Excluded offsets projects—general

(1) For paragraph 27(4)(m) and subsection 56(1) of the Act, the following kinds of project are excluded offsets projects: (a) a project that involves an activity that: (i) was mandatory under a Commonwealth, State or Territory law; and (ii) is no longer mandatory because the law was repealed, or amended to be less onerous, after 24 March 2011; (b) the planting of a species in an area where it is a known weed species; (c) the establishment of a forest under a forestry managed investment scheme for Division 394 of Part 3‑45 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997; (d) the establishment of vegetation on land that has been subject to illegal clearing of a native forest, or illegal draining of a wetland; (e) the establishment of vegetation on land that has been subject to clearing of a native forest, or draining of a wetland (that was not an illegal clearing or draining), within: (i) 7 years of the lodgement of an application for the project to be declared an eligible offsets project; or (ii) if there is a change in ownership of the land that constitutes the project area, after the clearing or the draining—5 years of the lodgement of an application for the project to be declared an eligible offsets project; (f) a project that protects native forest on freehold or leasehold land, for which a clearing consent or harvest approval plan was granted on the basis that the clearing or harvesting of the native forest: (i) would lead to an environmental improvement or benefit, or would maintain an environmental outcome; or (ii) was for fire management purposes. (2) Subparagraph (1)(f)(i) does not apply to a project if: (a) the clearing consent or harvest approval plan provides options for vegetation management; and (b) the project provides active and on‑going management of the project area in accordance with one of those options. (3) In this section:

2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories means the report titled IPCC 2006, 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, prepared by the National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme, as in force from time to time.

Note: In 2022 the report is accessible at www.ipcc.ch/.

clearing means the conversion, caused by people, of native forest to cropland, grassland or settlements (within the meaning of “cropland”, “grassland” and “settlements” in the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories).

consent means approval to commence clearing or conversion to a plantation, required by Commonwealth, State or Territory law, issued by the relevant Commonwealth, State, Territory or local regulatory authority responsible for giving the approval.