17Application must be accompanied by safeguard audit report

17 Application must be accompanied by safeguard audit report

(1) This section is made for the purposes of subsection 22XQ(3) of the Act. (2) An application for an emissions intensity determination by the responsible emitter for an existing facility must be accompanied by an audit report that meets the requirements of this section.

Note: Under subsection 75(1) of the Act, the Minister may determine requirements to be met by registered greenhouse and energy auditors in preparing for and carrying out safeguard audits.

Reasonable assurance matters (3) The audit report must include a conclusion in relation to each of the following matters: (a) whether, in all material respects, the application correctly specifies the historical production variables (if any) for the facility; (b) if the application includes the designated historical information about a historical production variable for the facility for a historical financial year—whether, in all material respects, the application correctly specifies the quantity of the historical production variable in the historical financial year; (c) whether, in all material respects, the application correctly specifies the amount of covered emissions for the facility in each historical financial year; (d) whether, in all material respects, the application correctly specifies the transitional production variables (if any) for the facility. Limited assurance matters (4) The audit report must include a conclusion in relation to each of the following matters: (a) if the application specifies one or more historical production variables for the facility—whether, in all material respects, the application correctly specifies the amount of covered emissions of greenhouse gases from the operation of the facility that are relevantly associated with each of those production variables; (b) whether, in all material respects, calculations of amounts of covered emissions of greenhouse gases from the operation of the facility that are included in the application meet the requirements specified in section 15; (c) if the application includes estimates and assumptions made in accordance with subsection 15(3)—whether, in all material respects, those estimates and assumptions are reasonable. Previously audited matters (5) Despite subsections (3) and (4), the audit report does not need to include a conclusion: (a) about a matter in subsection (3) if the responsible emitter has previously given the Regulator an audit report that includes a reasonable assurance conclusion in relation to the matter; or (b) about a matter in subsection (4) if the responsible emitter has previously given the Regulator an audit report that includes a limited assurance conclusion in relation to the matter. (6) An audit report under this section must be the result of an audit which: (a) was conducted in accordance with the relevant requirements for reasonable assurance engagements under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (Audit) Determination 2009; and (b) had an audit team leader who is registered as a Category 2 auditor under subregulation 6.25(3) of the NGER Regulations.