Who must comply with VIC Environment Reference Standards (air, water, noise)?

Vic EPA assesses environmental performance against Environment Reference Standards.

The Environment Reference Standard (ERS), made under the Environment Protection Act 2017 (Vic) in 2021, identifies the environmental values Victorians want to achieve and maintain for four elements of the environment (ambient air, ambient sound, land, and surface water and groundwater) and sets measurable indicators and objectives for each; the carbon monoxide objective for ambient air, for example, is 9.0 parts per million. The ERS is a benchmark for decisions, not a compliance limit: it does not create obligations or set levels it is acceptable to pollute up to. EPA Victoria must apply it when deciding development, operating and pilot project licences and aquifer discharge permits, and environmental auditors must consider it. For a business, the ERS shapes how its permission applications and audits are assessed, while the enforceable duty remains the general environmental duty.

Applies only if you hold or need an EPA Victoria permission. Whether it applies turns on a fact that no industry, structure or size settles on its own.

How the regulator frames it: Businesses applying to EPA Victoria for a development licence, operating licence, pilot project licence, licence exemption or permit to discharge or deposit waste to an aquifer; proponents preparing impact assessments; environmental auditors; and councils assessing planning permits and onsite wastewater exemptions where environmental values may be affected.

What triggers it: Applying for an EPA permission, commissioning a preliminary risk screening assessment or environmental audit, or proposing a development whose impact on air, sound, land or water values a decision maker must assess.

Jurisdiction: Victoria law only. A business with no operations in VIC is outside it, whatever the rest of the test says.

Outcome across the 35 industries Rules Mate maps (4 of 35: only if a further fact applies; 31 of 35: no).

Structure does not change the answer in the 4 industries it can reach: for every structure the answer is "only if a further fact applies".

Size does not change the answer in the 4 industries it can reach: at every size band the answer is "only if a further fact applies".

Each line is one run of the Rules Mate applicability engine for a single business profile, with the reason the engine gives:

• Pty Ltd company in real estate agents with 6–19 employees, turnover $1M–$3M: does not apply. Requires a trigger outside this questionnaire.
• Pty Ltd company in construction (residential & commercial) with 6–19 employees, turnover $1M–$3M: check whether it applies. applies only if you hold or need an EPA Victoria permission.

The engine shows this obligation as "check whether this applies" when a business has industry: Manufacturing / Mining & resources / Construction (residential & commercial) / Agriculture, forestry & fishing. It then applies only if you hold or need an EPA Victoria permission. That fact is not something Rules Mate can infer from industry, structure or size.

When due

When preparing and lodging a permission application or undergoing an environmental audit; the general environmental duty applies continuously. The ERS itself must be reviewed every 10 years and can be amended earlier.

Frequency

Ongoing

Evidence to keep

Assessment of the proposal's impact on the relevant ERS environmental values and objectives; measures taken to meet the general environmental duty, including best available techniques and technologies; monitoring data for the relevant indicators; environmental audit or risk screening reports that consider the ERS.

Status

Current

Priority

High

Maximum penalty: The ERS sets no enforceable limits, so it carries no penalty of its own. The general environmental duty does: EPA Victoria states there are significant penalties if businesses do not meet it, and EPA weighs the potential impact on ERS values when deciding a permission application.

Rules Mate has not yet classified the audit or assurance level for this obligation. Any audit, review or certification requirement is set by the regulator source listed below.

• Comply with the General Environmental Duty (VIC): Victorian PCBUs must take 'reasonably practicable' steps to minimise harm to human health and the environment.

Rules Mate tracks 13 published obligations tagged "environment", 4 of them rated critical. For a professional services Pty Ltd company with 6–19 employees operating in every state, 1 of those apply outright. This obligation is rated high priority and carries criminal liability, and is an ongoing duty.

Regulated by Victorian Environment Protection Authority.

EPA Victoria: Victorian environment regulator under the new general environmental duty (Environment Protection Act 2017).

• Victorian Environment Protection Authority

Free tools that help with this obligation:

• Compliance calendar builder