Licensing under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997
The Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (POEO Act) establishes the NSW environmental regulatory framework, and includes a licensing requirement for certain activities.
Environment protection licences are a central means to control the localised, cumulative and acute impacts of pollution in NSW. In particular they aim to:
- protect, restore and enhance the quality of the environment in NSW, having regard to the need to maintain ecologically sustainable development,
- provide increased opportunities for public involvement and participation in environment protection,
- ensure that the community has access to relevant and meaningful information about pollution,
- rationalise, simplify and strengthen the regulatory framework for environment protection,
- improve the efficiency of administration of the environment protection legislation,
- reduce risks to human health and prevent the degradation of the environment by the use of mechanisms that promote the following:
- pollution prevention and cleaner production,
- the reduction to harmless levels of the discharge of substances likely to cause harm to the environment,
- the reduction in the use of materials and the re-use or recycling of materials,
- the making of progressive environmental improvements, including the reduction of pollution at source,
- the monitoring and reporting of environmental quality on a regular basis.
The POEO Act contains a list of activities that require an environmental protection licence. There are listed in Schedule 1 of the POEO Act.
More information on licensing and help in determining whether you require a licence can be found in DECC's Guide to licensing.
For more information on other environmental legislation and licensing requirements see:
Other environmental legislation
Page last updated: 11 September 2008