New South Wales Consolidated Acts

PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT OPERATIONS ACT 1997 - SECT 66

66 Conditions requiring monitoring, certification or provision of information, and related offences

(1) Monitoring The conditions of a licence may require--

(a) monitoring by the holder of the licence of the activity or work authorised, required or controlled by the licence, including with respect to--

(i) the operation or maintenance of premises or plant, and

(ii) discharges from premises, and

(iii) relevant ambient conditions prevailing on or outside premises, and

(iv) anything required by the conditions of the licence, and

(b) the provision and maintenance of appropriate measuring and recording devices for the purposes of that monitoring, and

(c) the analysis, reporting and retention of monitoring data.

(2) False or misleading information A holder of a licence who supplies information, or on whose behalf information is supplied, to the appropriate regulatory authority under the conditions of the licence is guilty of an offence if the information is false or misleading in a material respect.

: Maximum penalty--

(a) in the case of a corporation--$2,000,000, or

(b) in the case of an individual--$500,000.

(2A) Conditions relating to certain information The conditions of a licence may require the holder of a licence to supply to the appropriate regulatory authority information relating to a pollution incident to which Part 5.7 applies in addition to the information required under that Part.

(3) Certification The conditions of a licence may require the holder of the licence to supply to the appropriate regulatory authority a statement that is certified by the holder, by another person approved by that authority or by a person prescribed by the regulations, as correct and that states all or any of the following--

(a) the extent to which the conditions of the licence, or any provisions of the regulations applicable to the activity or work authorised, required or controlled by the licence, have or have not been complied with,

(b) particulars of any failure to comply with the conditions or any such regulations,

(c) the reasons for any failure to comply with the conditions or any such regulations,

(d) any action taken, or to be taken, to prevent any recurrence of that failure or to mitigate the effects of that failure,

(e) the fee paid or payable in relation to the licence (including the manner of calculation of the fee or other specified aspect of the fee).

(4) False or misleading certificates A person who gives a certificate for the purposes of a condition referred to in this section is guilty of an offence if any of the statements certified is false or misleading in a material respect.

: Maximum penalty--

(a) for a corporation--$1,000,000, or

(b) for an individual--$500,000.

(5) Use of information or statements Any information or statements supplied to the appropriate regulatory authority for the purposes of a condition referred to in this section may be taken into consideration by that authority and used for the purposes of this Act. Without limiting the above, any such information and statements are admissible in evidence in any prosecution of the holder of the licence for any offence against this Act or the regulations, whether or not the information or statements might incriminate that holder.

(6) Publication of results of monitoring The holder of a licence subject to a condition referred to in subsection (1) (a) must, within 14 days of obtaining monitoring data as referred to in that subsection--

(a) if the holder maintains a website that relates to the business or activity the subject of the licence--make any of the monitoring data that relates to pollution, and the licensee's name, publicly and prominently available on that website in accordance with any requirements issued in writing by the EPA, or

(b) if the holder does not maintain such a website--provide a copy of any of the monitoring data that relates to pollution, to any person who requests a copy of the data, at no charge and in accordance with any requirements issued in writing by the EPA.

: Maximum penalty--

(a) for a corporation--$20,000, or

(b) for an individual--$10,000.

(7) False or misleading publication of results A person who makes available or provides monitoring data in accordance with subsection (6) is guilty of an offence if the monitoring data is false or misleading in a material respect.

: Maximum penalty--

(a) for a corporation--$20,000, or

(b) for an individual--$10,000.

Note : An offence against subsection (2) or (4) committed by a corporation is an offence attracting special executive liability for a director or other person involved in the management of the corporation--see section 169.