The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection has developed a draft Enforceable Undertakings Statutory Guideline (the draft guideline) to provide information about enforceable undertakings and guidance as to when the department will accept, reject, vary or withdraw an enforceable undertaking. 

The Environmental Protection Act 1994 (the Act) provides for enforceable undertakings as a way to support environmental outcomes in response to major or serious contraventions that would generally be considered appropriate for prosecution. Submitting an application for an enforceable undertaking is a voluntary process, but once accepted, enforceable undertakings become binding agreements between the administering authority and an alleged offender, which require the alleged offender to take specified actions to “make good” an identified non-compliance.

The anticipated proclamation date for the commencement of enforceable undertaking provisions within the Act is now 30 September 2015. The SEQ Policy Committee has been busy putting together a submission to the response to the new draft.