EPA Compliance Review a warning to Victorian business

The EPA has issued a clear warning to business - understand the law, your obligations and ensure you are complying. The EPA intends to reinstate its role as the regulator and authority on the environment in Victoria. It intends to be more consistent, more transparent and take more responsibility. It expects business to do the same.

The 400-page report contains over 100 recommendations for reform of the regulator. While the EPA will still support sustainability, innovation and companies that go 'beyond compliance', the focus is on compliance and enforcement.

The Review recommends that the EPA significantly increase its level of compliance monitoring and increase the level of enforcement and prosecutions. The EPA will also take more responsibility for decision-making and provision of expertise, which to date has often been delegated to auditors at great expense to industry.