2020
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About the document
The Accreditation criteria for ‘single touch’ approvals under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Accreditation Criteria) have been developed to ‘benchmark’ or analyse the extent to which state or territory authorisation processes or management arrangements satisfy the requirements of the EPBC Act. Each jurisdiction may propose a set of processes or arrangements for accreditation that combine legislative provisions with plans and policies, that reflect their respective circumstances, needs and interests. Benchmarking of state and territory processes or arrangements will be used to inform negotiation of approval bilateral agreements with each state or territory.
The accreditation criteria set out:
- environmental outcomes based on the Standard for MNES and environmental approval systems outcomes.
- requirements under Part 5 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) for entering into bilateral agreements and accrediting authorisation processes or management arrangement, including not being inconsistent with one or more national environmental standards; and
- considerations, informed by Commonwealth policy and practice, which the Minister may consider when determining whether the requirements under Part 5 of the EPBC Act have been met. The considerations are derived from: requirements of parts 7-9 of the EPBC Act, EPBC Act policy statements, and contemporary practice in the Commonwealth legislative context.
Before accrediting state or territory processes or arrangements, the Minister must table the specific processes or arrangements for accreditation in both Houses of Parliament for 15 sitting days, the disallowance period under the EPBC Act. It is likely that the processes or arrangements for accreditation will be tabled with the signed bilateral agreement.