Northern Territory Numbered Acts Northern Territory Numbered Acts(1) A person commits an offence if:
(a) an incident occurs in the course of carrying out an action; and
(b) the incident results in significant environmental harm; and
(c) the person:
(i) is an approval holder for the action; or
(ii) is carrying out an environmental audit of a site at which the incident is occurring or has occurred; and
(d) the person intentionally fails to notify the CEO of the incident; and
(e) the failure to notify the CEO of the incident results in a contravention of section 225 and the person is reckless in relation to that result.
Penalty: environmental offence level 2.
(2) A person commits an offence if:
(a) an incident occurs in the course of carrying out an action; and
(b) the incident results in material environmental harm; and
(c) the person is an approval holder for the action; and
(d) the person intentionally fails to notify the CEO of the incident; and
(e) the failure to notify the CEO of the incident results in a contravention of section 225 and the person is reckless in relation to that result.
Penalty: environmental offence level 3.
(3) A person commits an offence if:
(a) an incident occurs in the course of carrying out an action; and
(b) the incident results in significant environmental harm; and
(c) the person:
(i) is an approval holder for the action; or
(ii) is carrying out an environmental audit of the site at which the incident is occurring or has occurred; or
(iii) is an owner or occupier of the land on or in relation to which the incident occurred; and
(d) the person fails to notify the CEO of the incident; and
(e) the failure to notify the CEO of the incident results in a contravention of section 225 .
Penalty: environmental offence level 3.
(4) A person commits an offence if:
(a) an incident occurs in the course of carrying out an action; and
(b) the incident results in material environmental harm; and
(c) the person:
(i) is an approval holder for the action; or
(ii) is carrying out an environmental audit of a site at which the incident is occurring or has occurred; or
(iii) is an owner or occupier of the site at which the incident occurred; and
(d) the person fails to notify the CEO of the incident; and
(e) the failure to notify the CEO of the incident results in a contravention of section 225 .
Penalty: environmental offence level 4.
(5) Strict liability applies to subsections (1)(a), (b) and (c) and (2)(a), (b) and (c).
(6) An offence against subsection (3) or (4) is an offence of strict liability.
(7) It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence against this section if the defendant took reasonable steps and exercised due diligence to prevent the commission of the offence.
(8) The defendant has a legal burden of proof in relation to a matter mentioned in subsection (7).