Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
Short title: EPBC Act
In plain English
This Act protects matters of environmental significance, like native vegetation and threatened species, across Australia.
The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 protects Australia's environment. It applies to actions that impact matters of national environmental significance. These include actions within Commonwealth areas, or actions outside Commonwealth areas that have a significant impact on these matters. The Act came into force in 2000.
Why it matters
If your business activities could impact native plants or animals, or protected areas, you need to understand this Act. Non-compliance could affect project approvals and development.
AI-assisted summary, grounded in the source link below. Generated 2026-05-23 via gemma3:12b.
Summary
Federal environmental impact regulation. Actions likely to significantly impact Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES — World Heritage, threatened species, marine, water resources for coal/CSG, nuclear) require federal referral + approval.
Topics
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A00485/latest. Rules Mate summarises and links; we don't republish full statutory text. Always verify against the live source before acting.