Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

This section applies if the Minister considers that an action taken by a person after the commencement of this section contravened, or may have contravened, a provision of Part 3.

The Minister may enter into a conservation agreement with the person that provides for the protection and conservation of a matter referred to in section 305 by providing for the taking of measures to repair or mitigate damage to the matter protected by the provision of Part 3 (whether or not the damage may or will be, or has been, caused by the action).

The conservation agreement may state that specified provisions of the agreement, being provisions for the taking of measures as mentioned in subsection (2), are provisions that may be enforced in the Federal Court under this section. A provision of the agreement to which such a statement applies is a remediation provision.

If the conservation agreement contains a statement as mentioned in subsection (3), that statement must specify the provision of Part 3 referred to in subsection (1).

If the Minister considers that the person has contravened a remediation provision, the Minister may apply to the Federal Court for an order under subsection (6).

If the Federal Court is satisfied that the person has contravened a remediation provision, the Court may make one or more of the following orders:

an order directing the person to comply with the remediation provision;

any other order that the Court considers appropriate.

The person must not contravene a remediation provision.

Subsection (7) is a civil penalty provision. Under section 481, the Federal Court may order the person to pay a pecuniary penalty not more than the pecuniary penalty the Court could order the person to pay under that section for a contravention of the provision of Part 3 referred to in subsection (1).

This section does not limit anything in sections 305, 306 and 307.