6Submission of offshore project proposal

6  Submission of offshore project proposal  (1) Before commencing an offshore project, a person must submit an offshore project proposal for the project to NOPSEMA.  (2) However, subsection (1) does not apply if the Environment Minister:  (a) has made a decision under section 75 of the EPBC Act that an action that is equivalent to or includes the project is not a controlled action; or  (b) has made a component decision under section 77A of the EPBC Act that a particular provision of Part 3 of that Act is not a controlling provision for an action that is equivalent to or includes the project, because the Environment Minister believes the action will be taken in a particular manner; or  (c) has approved, under Part 9 of the EPBC Act, the taking of an action that is equivalent to or includes the project.  (3) Despite section 146D of the EPBC Act, an approval by the Environment Minister under section 146B of that Act is not taken to be an approval under Part 9 of that Act of the taking of an action for the purposes of paragraph (2)(c) of this section. Note 1: An environment plan for an activity that is, or is part of, an offshore project may be submitted only if there is an accepted offshore project proposal or a decision from the Environment Minister (see subsection 26(3)). Note 2: A fee is payable for considering the proposal (see section 57). Note 3: It is an offence to undertake an activity without an environment plan being in force for the activity (see section 17).  (4) The proposal must be in writing.