From 1 October 2014 the Australian Government will commence cost recovery arrangements for environmental assessments and some strategic assessments under the EPBC Act. These arrangements are consistent with the Australian Government Cost Recovery Guidelines which establishes that those who create the need for regulation should incur the costs, rather than the costs being borne by the wider community.
Cost recovery for environmental impact assessments and some strategic assessments commences on 1 October 2014.
Cost recovery only applies to proposed actions referred on or after 14 May 2014. For any actions referred from 14 May 2014 and before 1 October 2014, fees only apply for assessment activities undertaken by the Department from 1 October 2014. Fees will not be charged retrospectively for any stages of the assessment process that have already been completed prior to the introduction of cost recovery.
If an action is referred on or after 1 October 2014, then cost recovery will apply to both the referral and any assessment activities undertaken. For example, if Project X was referred on 4 June 2014, it will not be subject to a cost recovery fee at the referral stage. Assessment fees will be payable for each relevant stage of the assessment process which began on or after the commencement of cost recovery.
Each project will be subject to the following fees:
- A referral fee of $7,352 at the time of submitting an EPBC referral form.
- Base fees due at each statutory stage in the assessment process, if the project proceeds to assessment.
- Complexity fees due at each statutory stage in the assessment process, if applicable.
More details are available at http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/cost-recovery or contact us on (08) 9226 3166 if you would like to find out more about the new cost recovery arrangements.