EPA Requires Certified Practitioners to Sign-off on Statutory Reports!

In July 2017, the EPA introduced a new policy that requires all reports submitted under the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997(CLM Act) to be prepared or approved by a certified practitioner.

The principle objective of the EPA’s consultant certification policy is to promote a minimum standard of contaminated land work in NSW and provide the regulator with confidence in the competence of practitioners.

The EPA recognisesthe following two certification schemes for certifying land consultants to an acceptable minimum standard:

• EIANZ (Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand) - Certified Environmental Practitioners Scheme– Site Contamination (CenvP (SC))

• Soil Science Australia - Certified Professional Soil Scientist Contaminated Site Assessment and Management (CPSS CSAM)

The EPA’s certification policy applies to any statutory reports such as management orders, voluntary management proposals, duty to report contamination notifications, preliminary investigation orders, and ongoing maintenance orders.

If the EPA is regulating a site under the CLM Act and a submitted report has not been prepared or approved by a certified consultant, the EPA will not accept the report and will return it to the regulated party to arrange a review by a certified practitioner.

Geo-Logixhas certified consultants and an accredited site auditor who is also certified to review reports for sites in NT, the ACT, NSW, and Queensland.

For more information, contact Geo-Logix and visit the NSW EPA website.