Remedial Notices, Orders & Directions

Remedial Notices, Orders and Directions are statutory directives that require (by law) the site owner/occupant/polluter (i.e. duty holder) to conduct works, stop activities, or carry out investigations to ensure compliance with the Victorian Environment Protection Act 2017. Relevant Remedial Notices include:

• Compliance Notice and Improvement Notice:

  • A Compliance Notice offers the duty holder an opportunity to proactively address potential risks following an observed non-compliance.​

  • An Improvement Notice allows EPA Victoria to compel a duty holder to take action to remedy an identified non-conformance. 

• Prohibition Notice:

  • A Prohibition Notice is issued to intervene and stop an activity considered likely to cause harm to human health or the environment.​

• Notice to Investigate:

  • A Notice to Investigate may be issued by EPA Victoria if potential contamination or harm is considered likely to be present (e.g the land may be contaminated, a pollution incident may have occurred, unlawful dumping of industrial waste, etc.).​

• Environmental Action Notice and Waste Abatement Notice:

  • An Environmental Action Notice may be issued to a duty holder if contamination is present or suspected to be present. This notice may require action to remediate identified contamination.​

  • A Waste Abatement Notice may be issued to a duty holder to conduct a clean up of waste unlawfully dumped or stored at a property.

• Site Management Order:

  • A Site Management Order is a tool to allow EPA Victoria to provide for the long-term management or rehabilitation of contaminated land.​

• Directions:

  • Directions allow EPA Victoria to address immediate risks to human health or the environment, including emergency situations.

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A Remedial Notice is issued in draft form, at which time it is important to engage an Environmental Consultant to review the notice requirements and timeframes. The Environmental Consultant may be able to contact EPA Victoria to discuss any reasonable amendments to the notice requirements or timeframes.