To run a business that carries out any of the following activities, you must first have an environmental authority.

• Asphalt Manufacturing
• Plastic Product Manufacturing (50 tonne or more of plastic products per year; or 5 tonne or more of foam, composite plastics or rigid fibre-reinforced plastics per year)
• Metal Forming (10000 tonne or more per year)
• Surface Coating (anodising, electroplating, enamelling or galvanising using 1 tonne to 100 tonne of surface coating materials in a year)
• Boat Maintenance or Repair

If after reading the list above you are still unsure if your business requires a development approval and environmental authority, contact us.

A full list of ERAs, including those that need approval by State Government, can be found in Schedule 2 of the Environmental Protection Regulation 2019. 

Who does not need an approval?

If your business activity is not included in the list above, you still have a responsibility to comply with the General Environmental Duty other relevant legislation, and other related applications to make sure that your business does not have an adverse impact on the environment.

General environmental duty

A person must not carry out any activity that causes, or is likely to cause, environmental harm unless the person takes all reasonable and practicable measures to prevent or minimise the harm.

When deciding what measures will prevent or minimise environmental harm, consider the following:

• the nature of the harm or potential harm
• the sensitivity of the receiving environment
• the current state of technical knowledge for the activity
• the likelihood of successful application of the different measures that might be taken
• the financial implications of the different measures as they would relate to the type of activity.