New South Wales Government

Department of

Environment and Climate Change

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What's new in law 2007

Recent significant changes to legislation administered by DECC and related topics are listed below. Links to the text of the new Act, Regulation or Bill are provided where available (obtained from the NSW legislation or NSW Parliament websites in PDF format).

• For a list of legislation administered by DECC, see legislation.
• See the Glossary for explanations of these terms: assent, Bill, gazette.

September 2007

• The Radiation Control Amendment (Miscellaneous) Regulation 2007 (gazetted 7.9.2007) makes a number of changes to the Radiation Control Regulation 2003, including: (1) exempting registered dentists and dental auxiliaries from certain licensing requirements under the Radiation Control Act 1990; (2) enabling the Minister to grant exemptions for licensed radiation professionals and their equipment from licensing and registration requirements in NSW in an emergency situation; (3) introducing the option of a three year licence in addition to the current one year licence; and (4) extending certain exemptions from licensing and registration requirements.

August 2007

• Protection of the Environment Operations Amendment (Waste) Act 2007 (assented to 4.7.2007, commenced 1.8.2007) amends section 88 of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 to require contributions to be paid under that section by an occupier of a waste facility in respect of liquid waste received at the facility. 
• The Protection of the Environment Operations (Waste) Amendment (Liquid Waste) Regulation 2007 (gazetted 27.7.2007 and commenced 1.8.2007) amends the Protection of the Environment Operations (Waste) Regulation 2005 to require scheduled waste facilities to pay a levy in respect of trackable liquid waste received at the waste facility from 1 October 2007. The Amending Regulation also (1) sets out the level of the levy; (2) establishes transported waste deductions for trackable liquid waste that is received at a facility and is subsequently sent off site in specified circumstances; (3) sets out the record keeping requirements in relation to trackable liquid waste; and (4) closes a loophole relating to the place of generation of solid waste.

July 2007

• Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2007 (assented and commenced 4.7.2007) makes a number of minor changes to legislation administered by the DECC, including: (1) inserting a standard provision penalty notice provision into the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997; (2) clarifying that the administrative fees for pesticide control notices under the Pesticides Act 1999 are not payable for the variation or revocation of a notice and may be waived by the EPA without an application being made for such a waiver; (4) clarifying that "approved form" for an application for a biobanking statement in the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 ("TSC Act") means approved by the Director-General; (5) inserting an asterisk in front of certain species and communities in Schedules 1 and 2 to the TSC Act; (6) other miscellaneous changes to the Sch 2 to the TSC Act.
• Energy and Utilities Administration Amendment (Climate Change Fund) Act 2007 (assented to 4.7.2007, commences 1.7.2007) amends Part 6A of the Energy and Utilities Administration Act 1987 ("Energy and Utilities Act") to establish the Climate Change Fund. The Climate Change Fund is a consolidation of the Energy Savings Fund and Water Savings Fund previously established under the Energy and Utilities Act.  The purposes of the Climate Change Fund are similar to the previous funds (e.g. to provide funding to encourage water and energy savings) but have been widened to providing funding to reduce the impacts of climate change and for water savings measures (e.g. rainwater tanks) in any area of the State.

June 2007

• Protection Of The Environment Operations (General) Amendment (Licensing Fees) Regulation 2007 (gazetted 29.6.2007) amends the Protection of the Environment Operations (General) Regulation 1998 to change licence fees payable. The administrative fee unit will increase from $95 to $100. The pollutant fee unit will increase from $35 to $36.75. New load based fees will apply to licensed premises in the Sydney Basin area that emit nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile compounds of hydrogen and carbon (VOCs) in the summer period (December, January and February).

March 2007

• Protection of the Environment Operations (General) Amendment (Vehicle Testing and Inspection) Regulation 2007 (gazetted  2.3.07) amends the Protection of the Environment Operations (General) Regulation 1998, the Protection of the Environment Operations (Noise Control) Regulation 2000 and the Protection of the Environment Operations (Penalty Notices) Regulation 2004. This Regulation establishes the Noise Testing and Anti-Tampering Inspection Scheme for issuing approvals to carry out the testing and inspection of vehicles as provided for by section 207 of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997.
• Marine Parks Amendment (Batemans) Regulation 2007 (gazetted 2.3.07, commences 30.6.07) amends the Marine Parks Regulation 1999 to provide a zoning plan for the Batemans Marine Park.
• The Marine Parks Amendment (Port Stephens-Great Lakes Marine Park) Regulation 2006 (gazetted 2.3.07, commences 21.4.07) amends the Marine Parks Regulation 1999 to provide a zoning plan for the Port Stephens-Great Lakes Marine Park.
  

February 2007

• Protection of the Environment Operations (Waste) Amendment (Land Waste) Regulation 2007 (gazetted 23.2.2007) amends the Protection of the Environment Operations (Waste) Regulation 2005 to prescribe as waste, for the purposes of paragraph (e) of the definition of waste in the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997, any substance, not otherwise included as waste within the meaning of the Act, that is reasonably capable of being applied to land at that facility and which is received at a scheduled waste facility to which s.88 of the Act applies. It also introduces an additional provision enabling an occupier of a scheduled waste facility to make deductions from the contribution payable under s.88 of the Act for certain land application purposes.
• Threatened Species Conservation Amendment (Wollemi Pine) Regulation 2007 (gazetted 23.2.2007) amends the Threatened Species Conservation Regulation 2002 in order to introduce a new set of controls designed to specifically protect the newly declared Wollemi Pine critical habitat. These controls include the power of the Director-General to close the critical habitat and offences for entering the critical habitat when it is closed.

January 2007

• Protection of the Environment Operations (Clean Air) Amendment (Bush Fire Hazard Reduction) Regulation 2007 (gazetted 19.1.2007) amends the Protection of the Environment Operations (Clean Air) Regulation 2002 in order to clarify that the bush fire hazard reduction exemption from the control of burning provisions applies to emergency bush fire hazard reduction and that a person is exempt from offence provisions relating to the burning of certain material in the open or in incinerators if the material is burnt in accordance with a bush fire hazard reduction certificate issued by the RFS.