Environment Protection Act 2017 (Victoria) — Zoe

Victoria act

Environment Protection Act 2017

In ForceVIC

Jurisdiction

Victoria

Collection

act

Plain English Summary

9/10 complexity

This Act is Victoria's main law for protecting human health and the environment from pollution and waste. It sets up the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to oversee compliance, requires anyone running a business or activity that could cause harm to take 'reasonably practicable' steps to minimise risks (the general environmental duty), and creates a system of licences, permits and registrations for higher-risk activities like operating landfills or handling hazardous waste. The Act also covers how to manage contaminated land, report pollution incidents, control noise, and deal with litter. It includes a waste levy (a tax on landfill disposal) and gives the EPA strong powers to investigate, issue clean-up notices, and seek penalties—including fines and jail time—for breaches. Businesses must keep records, report certain transactions, and may need to provide financial assurances (like bonds) to cover potential clean-up costs. The Act applies to all Victorians, from individuals to large companies, and even to government bodies.

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Deep Dive

2,629 words · generated 06/05/2026

What it does

The Environment Protection Act 2017 (Vic) is Victoria's principal environmental protection statute. It replaced the Environment Protection Act 1970 and came into full operation on 1 July 2021 after a substantial three-year transition period following Royal Assent in 2017. The Act is a comprehensive, modern framework that reorganises environmental regulation in Victoria around a duty-based model rather than a purely prescriptive licensing model.

The Act's central innovation is the general environmental duty (s 25): all persons engaging in activities that may give rise to risks of harm to human health or the environment from pollution or waste must minimise those risks, so far as reasonably practicable. This duty applies to everyone, not just licensed operators, and functions as both a criminal offence and a civil penalty provision.

The Act establishes EPA Victoria (the Environment Protection Authority) with a new governance structure including a Governing Board (Chapter 12), sets binding environment protection principles (Chapter 2), creates a permissions regime for high-risk activities (Chapter 4), manages waste at all levels from litter to priority waste (Chapter 6), provides for authorised officer powers and notices (Chapters 9-10), and creates dual enforcement pathways through criminal and civil proceedings (Chapter 11).

Main concepts

: the foundational obligation. Any person engaging in an activity that may give rise to risks of harm to human health or the environment from pollution or waste must minimise those risks, so far as reasonably practicable. "Reasonably practicable" is defined (s 6) and involves weighing the likelihood of harm, the severity and reversibility of harm, the current knowledge about risks and controls, and the availability and cost of appropriate controls.

Current sections

Direct links to the current provisions in Environment Protection Act 2017.

506

Official source available

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Sourced from Victorian Legislation (legislation.vic.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.

Key obligations

General environmental duty (s 25(1)): minimise risks of harm from pollution or waste so far as reasonably practicable. For businesses, ss 25(4)-(5) specify what this requires, including appropriate plant and equipment, risk management systems, safe storage, training, and safe product design.

Aggravated duty (s 27): where a person is reckless as to causing material harm or endangers human health, the offence is aggravated with higher penalties.

Response to pollution incident (s 31): a person who causes a pollution incident must take action to respond to harm and minimise further harm. Action must be taken immediately and is ongoing.

Notification of notifiable incidents (s 32): a person who causes or becomes aware of a notifiable incident must notify the Authority as soon as practicable. The manner and form of notification is prescribed by the regulations (s 33).

Duty to manage contaminated land (s 39(1)): a person in management or control of contaminated land must minimise risks of harm to human health and the environment from the land so far as reasonably practicable. This includes identification, investigation, assessment, clean-up where practicable, and providing adequate information to affected persons and successors in control.

Duty to notify of contaminated land (s 40): a person in management or control of contaminated land who becomes aware of notifiable contamination must notify the Authority. The duty applies regardless of who caused the contamination.

Comply with permissions (s 62): a person who holds a permission must comply with its conditions. Breach of conditions is an indictable offence (s 63) with penalties up to 2,000 penalty units for individuals.

Comply with notices (Chapter 10): improvement notices, prohibition notices, site management orders, environmental action notices, and non-disturbance notices create obligations that must be complied with within specified timeframes.

Waste duties (Chapter 6): duties in relation to industrial waste (Part 6.4), priority waste (Part 6.5), and litter (Part 6.3) add specific obligations for handlers of regulated waste categories.

Powers and discretions

EPA Victoria's permissions powers (Chapter 4): the Authority and councils may grant, refuse, condition, suspend, revoke, or amend permissions. The Authority must develop a Charter of Consultation for development licence applications (s 53). Conditions may include financial assurances (Chapter 8, Part 8.4).

Environment reference standards (Chapter 5): the Authority may make environment reference standards specifying benchmarks for environmental quality. These can set legally relevant performance standards.

Compliance codes (Chapter 5): the Authority may make compliance codes. Compliance with a code is evidence of compliance with the general environmental duty for the matters covered by the code.

Authorised officer powers (Chapter 9): authorised officers may enter premises, inspect, require production of documents, take samples, and conduct tests. They may use force to enter. They have powers to respond to pollution emergencies.

Improvement and prohibition notices (Chapter 10): the Authority or an authorised officer may issue improvement notices requiring specific action, and prohibition notices prohibiting an activity that poses an unacceptable risk of harm.

Site management orders (Chapter 10, Part 10.4): orders requiring the holder to manage a site in a specified way. May be made by the Authority.

Environmental action notices (Chapter 10, Part 10.3): require a person to investigate a site or undertake environmental action.

Clean-up and cost recovery (Chapter 10, Part 10.9): the Authority may carry out clean-up actions and recover costs from the responsible person.

Courts' remedial powers (Chapter 11, Part 11.6): courts may make monetary benefit orders (requiring disgorgement of financial benefit from contravening the Act), adverse publicity orders, general restoration and prevention orders, restorative project orders, and environmental audit orders.

Civil penalty orders (Chapter 11, Part 11.5): for civil penalty provisions (including the general environmental duty and various specific duties), courts may impose pecuniary penalties up to the maximum set in s 314. The civil penalty is separate from any criminal proceeding.

Gotchas

The general environmental duty has no de minimis threshold: it applies to any person engaging in any activity that "may give rise to risks of harm". The duty is not limited to licensed or regulated activities. A small business, a community organisation, or an individual undertaking an activity with environmental risk is subject to it.

Notifiable contamination threshold for land ($50,000 clean-up cost estimate): s 37(1)(b) defines notifiable contamination as contamination where the reasonable cost of remediation is likely to exceed $50,000 (or a prescribed amount). This is a low threshold that will catch many property transactions, redevelopments, and historical spills. Property purchasers, developers, and their advisers must assess this risk.

Person in management or control of contaminated land - buyer beware: s 39's duty applies to the person in management or control at any time, not just the person who caused the contamination. A property purchaser who takes management and control of contaminated land inherits the duty to manage it. Due diligence on contamination before purchase is essential.

Civil and criminal pathways can run concurrently within limits: ss 318-320 create restrictions but not absolute bars on parallel proceedings. The Act allows both civil penalty and criminal proceedings in defined sequencing.

Compliance codes reduce (but do not eliminate) liability: following a compliance code is evidence of compliance with the general duty for matters covered by the code. It is not a complete defence if the code does not cover the specific activity or risk.

Financial assurances may be required (Chapter 8, Part 8.4): the Authority may require a financial assurance (bond or guarantee) as a condition of a permission. This can impose substantial upfront capital costs on regulated operators.

Better environment plans are discretionary for the Authority: the Authority is not obliged to approve a better environment plan. Operators who rely on BEPs as an alternative compliance pathway must obtain approval first.

Practical examples

Industrial site causing air emissions: a manufacturing facility discharges particulate matter from its production process. The facility holds an operating licence. A new production line is added that increases emissions. The operator must assess whether the emissions from the new line breach the general environmental duty (s 25) and whether the operating licence needs amendment. Failure to notify the Authority of a material change may constitute a breach of licence conditions.

Contaminated land on a commercial property transaction: a purchaser of a commercial property receives pre-contract information suggesting possible contamination from historical industrial use. Under s 37, if the contamination is likely to cost more than $50,000 to remediate, it is notifiable contamination. The vendor who becomes aware of this before settlement has notification obligations under s 40. The purchaser taking management and control inherits the s 39 duty to manage the contamination.

Pollution incident from a pipe failure: a water treatment facility experiences a pipe failure releasing chemicals into a nearby waterway. Under s 31, the operator must immediately take action to contain the incident and minimise harm. Under s 32, the operator must notify the Authority of the notifiable incident as soon as practicable. Failure to notify or take responsive action is an offence.

Small business activity with environmental risk: a dry-cleaning business uses solvents (perchloroethylene) in its process. Even if not required to hold an operating licence, the general environmental duty (s 25) requires the operator to minimise risks of solvent contamination to human health and the environment. Guidance on reasonably practicable measures may be found in EPA compliance codes.

Adverse publicity order against a corporate offender: after a corporate body is found to have breached operating licence conditions causing significant waterway pollution, a court makes an adverse publicity order (s 330) requiring the company to publish notices of the contravention in major newspapers at its own expense in addition to the pecuniary penalty. This is a specific statutory remedy available only under the EPA 2017.