The Act's primary subjects are "proponents" – defined in s 2(1) as "the person or body who is carrying out or proposing to carry out any works". This term is deliberately wide and captures both private developers and public entities. For works declared under s 3, the proponent bears the statutory duty to prepare and fund the Environment Effects Statement (s 4(1)–(4)), any supplementary statement (s 5), and associated fees.

"Public works" are defined to mean works undertaken or proposed by or on behalf of the Crown or public statutory bodies, but expressly exclude works undertaken by municipal councils. The relevant Minister for any works is "the Minister concerned with the undertaking of those works". Once a declaration is made under s 3, or once a s 8B(4)(a)(i) notice is issued, the works are treated as public works to which the Act applies.

The Act also directly regulates "relevant decision-makers" – any person or body required by another Act or law to make a decision in respect of works that could have a significant effect on the environment. Section 8(1) allows such decision-makers to seek ministerial advice; s 8(2) makes seeking that advice mandatory if requested by the Minister administering the other legislation. Section 8(4) empowers the Minister to compel a relevant decision-maker to refer a matter for advice. Once a matter is referred, s 8A permits the Minister to direct both the relevant decision-maker and any other authorised person or body not to make a decision until advice is given.

The Secretary (defined by reference to the Conservation, Forests and Lands Act 1987) is given a statutory duty under s 8G(1) to provide technical advice and assistance to proponents upon request. The 2025 amendments subject that assistance to a prescribed fee.

Finally, the Minister administering the Act receives broad discretionary powers: to declare works (s 3), call for statements or supplementary statements (ss 5, 6), issue advice notices (s 8B), appoint inquiry panels (s 9), issue guidelines (s 10), and determine fees (via regulations under s 10A). The Governor in Council is involved in approving inquiry panels and making the fee regulations.

Because s 8F preserves the Act's operation for certain Planning and Environment Act 1987 decisions (scheme adoption, permit grants, etc.), planning authorities, responsible authorities and the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (when exercising planning jurisdiction) are indirectly affected. Proponents who fail to comply with conditions imposed under s 8B(3)(b) face the prospect of the Minister reactivating the full assessment regime under s 8E.

Proponent duties

• Prepare and submit an Environment Effects Statement before commencing declared public works (s 4(1)).
• Submit a copy to the relevant Minister (s 4(2)).
• Bear the full cost of preparation and submission (s 4(3)).
• Pay any prescribed fee before ministerial assessment (s 4(4)).
• Prepare and submit any supplementary statement required under s 5, again at own cost and subject to the new s 5(5) fee.
• Comply with any conditions specified in a s 8B(4)(a)(ii) notice, or face reactivation of the statement requirement under s 8E.
• Pay prescribed fees before the Minister determines condition compliance (s 8B(8)), before assessment under s 8C(3), and before receiving technical assistance from the Secretary (s 8G(2)).

Relevant decision-maker duties

• Seek ministerial advice when requested by the Minister administering the primary legislation (s 8(2)).
• Comply with any direction issued under s 8A not to make a decision until advice is given.
• Refrain from making any decision, and ensure works do not proceed, until a statement has been prepared and the Minister's assessment considered (s 8C(1)).

Ministerial rights and powers

• Declare works to be public works if satisfied of significant environmental effect (s 3(1)–(2)) and specify applicable guideline procedures (s 3(3)).
• Call for supplementary information (s 5) or a full statement (s 6).
• Decide that a statement is required, is not required, or is not required if conditions are met (s 8B(3)).
• Issue binding notices under s 8B(4) and accompanying directions under s 8A.
• Extend statutory decision deadlines under s 8D.
• Reactivate the statement requirement where conditions are breached (s 8E).
• Appoint inquiry panels, solicit public comment, and require proponents to contribute to inquiry costs (s 9).
• Issue guidelines that may differentiate between classes of works and incorporate external material (s 10).
• Determine, waive or refund fees through regulations (s 10A).

Rights of proponents

• Request technical advice and assistance from the Secretary (s 8G(1)).
• Seek ministerial advice on whether a statement is required (s 8(3)).
• Receive written notice of the Minister's decision and any conditions (s 8B(4)).

The Act contains no explicit offence provisions or civil penalty regime; enforcement is achieved through the statutory prohibitions on proceeding with works or making decisions (ss 6(2), 8C(1)) and through the ability of the Minister to issue fresh notices under s 8E.

The Act is unusual among Victorian environmental legislation in that it contains no offence-creating provisions, no infringement notice regime and no civil penalty regime within its own text. Enforcement is structural rather than punitive. The key sanctions are the statutory prohibitions: works "shall not be commenced or proceeded with" until the Minister's assessment has been considered (s 6(2)), and, once a s 8B(4)(a)(i) notice has issued, "the works must not proceed" and "no decision can be made" until the statement is prepared and assessed (s 8C(1)).

Breach of these prohibitions would expose a proponent to injunctive relief or declaratory orders in the Supreme Court, and would almost certainly constitute a breach of any downstream statutory approvals (for example, a planning permit granted in contravention of s 8C). The Minister's power under s 8E to reactivate the full assessment process where conditions are not met functions as an ongoing compliance lever.

The 2025 fee provisions introduce a financial accountability mechanism. Failure to pay a prescribed fee at the stipulated point (before assessment, before technical advice, etc.) would presumably prevent the Minister or Secretary from being required to perform the relevant function, although the Act does not spell out a specific remedy. Section 10A(3) appropriates the Consolidated Fund for refunds, implying that fee disputes could be litigated as monetary claims.

Inquiry costs under s 9(3) may be recovered from the proponent as a specified contribution; non-payment would be recoverable as a debt. Because the Act operates as a gateway to other statutory powers, the practical enforcement tool is often the refusal or delay of downstream approvals by the relevant decision-maker until the Environment Effects Statement process is completed.

The Act is expressly designed to sit alongside, and in some cases override the timing of, other Victorian statutes. Its most significant intersection is with the Planning and Environment Act 1987. Section 8F limits the application of the referral and advice provisions (ss 8–8E) to four categories of planning decisions: adoption or approval of a planning scheme or amendment, and decisions to amend, grant or refuse permits. For all other planning decisions the Environment Effects Act process does not automatically apply.

The Act also interacts with any statute that confers a decision-making power on a "relevant decision-maker" where the decision concerns works that could have a significant environmental effect. The Minister responsible for that other Act may compel the decision-maker to seek advice (s 8(2)), and the Minister administering the Environment Effects Act may issue freezing directions under s 8A. Once a statement is required, s 8C(1)(b)(ii) requires the relevant decision-maker to consider the Minister's assessment before deciding. Section 8D statutorily extends any statutory deadline imposed by the other Act.

The definition of "Secretary" incorporates the body corporate created by Part 2 of the Conservation, Forests and Lands Act 1987, thereby linking the technical assistance obligation in s 8G to that statute's administrative machinery.

Guidelines issued under s 10 may "apply, adopt or incorporate" documents published by other authorities (s 10(2)(b)), creating a further horizontal integration with, for example, DELWP or EPA guidelines on biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions or cultural heritage.

The transitional provision in s 11 ensures that works already caught by the pre-2005 regime continue under the old law, preventing retrospective disruption of existing pipelines.

Because the Act contains no substantive environmental standards, its practical effect is procedural; it feeds into substantive regimes under the Environment Protection Act 2017, the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988, the Heritage Act 2017 and Commonwealth legislation such as the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) where accredited assessment arrangements exist.

The most recent changes are contained in the Building Legislation Amendment (Fairer Payments on Jobsites and Other Matters) Act 2025, ss 69–74, which commenced on 14 November 2025. These amendments insert or amend fee-related provisions throughout the Act:

• New s 4(4) and s 8C(3) require payment of any prescribed fee before the Minister assesses environmental effects.
• New s 5(5) requires the same before completion of a supplementary statement assessment.
• New s 8B(8) requires payment before the Minister determines whether conditions imposed under s 8B(4)(a)(ii) have been met.
• New s 8G(2) requires payment before the Secretary provides technical advice or assistance.
• Entirely new s 10A confers a detailed regulation-making power on the Governor in Council to prescribe differential, staged or waivable fees, and appropriates the Consolidated Fund for refunds.

These changes reflect a policy shift toward cost recovery for what had previously been a publicly funded assessment service. The regulation-making power is drafted with considerable granularity (different fees according to proponent class, complexity of assessment, staged imposition, discretionary waivers), indicating an intention to tailor charges to the administrative burden imposed by each proposal.

The 2005 amendments (Environment Effects (Amendment) Act 2005) remain the most transformative in the statute's history. They replaced the former s 8 with a comprehensive referral and advice regime, inserted ss 8A–8G, expanded the guideline power, and altered the definition of "Secretary". The explanatory memorandum for the 2005 Act (not reproduced in the provided text but inferable from the structural changes) made clear the intention to create a "one-stop" environmental trigger that could be activated early in the approvals pipeline, reducing the risk of downstream duplication or conflict. The 2025 fee amendments build on that architecture by ensuring that the expanded administrative workload is not borne entirely by the public purse.

Section 3(3), inserted in 2005, requires the Minister to specify in any declaration order the particular procedures and requirements from the guidelines that will apply, increasing certainty and reducing scope for procedural challenge.

The provided text of the Act and its endnotes contain no reported court challenges or judicial consideration. No cases are cited, and the explanatory details section is empty. The absence of offence provisions means litigation has typically arisen in the context of judicial review of ministerial decisions or of downstream approvals granted (or refused) in reliance on the Environment Effects Statement process.

Because the Act contains broad discretionary language – "could reasonably be considered to have or to be capable of having a significant effect on the environment" (s 3(2)), "any additional information that he or she considers necessary" (s 5(1)), "any information that the Minister reasonably requires" (s 8B(2)) – the scope for Wednesbury unreasonableness or jurisdictional error arguments is obvious, although no specific decisions are recorded in the statute itself. The deeming provision in s 8B(7) that automatically classifies works as public works once a notice requiring a statement is issued has the potential to expand the Act's reach dramatically, which could be contested on ultra vires grounds if the underlying works fall outside traditional notions of "public works".

The interaction with the Planning and Environment Act 1987 via s 8F has generated controversy in practice (though again not documented in the text), particularly where a proponent argues that a particular permit decision falls outside the four preserved categories. The introduction of fees in 2025 is likely to provoke disputes over the quantum, the timing of payment, and the lawfulness of staged or differential charging under the regulation-making power in s 10A. Because s 10A(2)(d) permits discretionary reduction, waiver or refund "at the discretion of the Minister or Secretary", procedural fairness arguments around inconsistent application across proponents are foreseeable.

The broad public consultation powers in the guidelines (s 10(1)(ba)) and the Minister's ability to conduct inquiries in private (s 9(1)) have the capacity to generate procedural fairness controversies, especially where third-party submitters are excluded from later stages of decision-making.

Most practitioners assume the Environment Effects Statement process is triggered only by a formal declaration under s 3. That is no longer accurate. Once the Minister issues a notice under s 8B(4)(a)(i), s 8B(7) automatically deems the works to be public works to which the entire Act applies, even if the works would never have satisfied the s 3(2) test in their own right. This "back-door" declaration power significantly widens the net and can surprise proponents who have not sought pre-advice under s 8(3).

The condition-based exemption pathway (s 8B(3)(b)) looks attractive on paper but carries a hidden sting. If the proponent later fails to meet the conditions, s 8E reactivates the full statement requirement and, by cross-reference, the s 8C prohibition on works and decisions. There is no statutory time limit on when the Minister may form the view that conditions have not been met, creating ongoing uncertainty.

The 2025 fee provisions are drafted with extreme breadth. Section 10A allows regulations to impose "more than one fee … or one fee to be imposed in stages" for the same assessment, and to differentiate according to "the nature or complexity of the assessment … as determined by the Minister or Secretary". A proponent who believes an assessment is straightforward may still face a complex-fee quantum if the Minister forms a different view. Because the fee must be paid before the Minister or Secretary performs the function, a dispute over fee amount can stall the entire project.

Section 8G(1) creates what appears to be an unqualified right to "any advice and assistance (including technical advice and assistance) that the Secretary thinks fit". The 2025 insertion of s 8G(2) makes that assistance conditional on payment of the prescribed fee. The Secretary's subjective view of what is "fit" therefore becomes both the gatekeeper to the content of assistance and, indirectly, to the timing of payment. Proponents should obtain written confirmation of the scope of assistance before tendering the fee.

Finally, because guidelines under s 10 may incorporate external documents "as published from time to time" (s 10(2)(b)), a change in an incorporated standard after a statement has been scoped can arguably require the proponent to update the statement at further cost. The Act contains no transitional relief for such changes.

Compliance begins with early strategic assessment of whether the proposed works could have a significant environmental effect. A proponent should consider seeking ministerial advice under s 8(3) before lodging applications under other statutes. If advice is sought by a relevant decision-maker or compelled under s 8(4), the proponent must respond promptly to any request for information issued under s 8B(2).

Where a statement is required, the proponent must:

1. Identify the precise procedures and requirements specified in the Minister's notice or declaration order (ss 3(3), 8B(5)).
2. Prepare the statement strictly in accordance with the guidelines issued under s 10, paying particular attention to public consultation and advertising obligations inserted by the 2005 amendments (s 10(1)(ba)).
3. Budget for the prescribed fees at each statutory gateway (ss 4(4), 5(5), 8B(8), 8C(3), 8G(2)) and monitor any regulations made under the new s 10A.
4. Engage the Secretary early under s 8G for technical assistance, documenting the request and confirming the fee payable.
5. Ensure that any conditions imposed under s 8B(4)(a)(ii) are capable of objective verification and are met before proceeding, because breach re-triggers the full regime.
6. Where an inquiry is appointed under s 9, be prepared to contribute to costs and participate in either public or private hearings as directed.
7. Maintain a clear audit trail showing that the Minister's assessment has been placed before every relevant decision-maker whose approval is required, satisfying the consideration obligation in ss 6(2) and 8C(1)(b)(ii).
8. For planning matters falling within s 8F, ensure that the planning application or scheme amendment documentation expressly addresses the Environment Effects Statement findings.

Because the Act interfaces with numerous other statutes, compliance requires a coordinated project approval strategy rather than isolated attention to the Environment Effects Act. Legal sign-off should confirm that no works will commence and no decisions will be made until all s 8C obligations are discharged. Proponents should also monitor the Victorian Government Gazette for declarations under s 3 and for guidelines issued under s 10, given their capacity to alter procedural obligations mid-project.