Licence fees

All environment protection licences attract application fees, annual administrative fees and some licences will also require payment of annual load-based fees.

Types of licence fees

The application fee is paid when submitting an application for a new licence.

The annual administrative fee is calculated according to the nature, size and/or capacity of the activity undertaken and, for premises-based and mobile waste processing licences the environmental management performance of the licence holder.

For each activity classification, the levels of administrative fees are set out in Chapter 3 Part 1 of the Protection of the Environment Operations (General) Regulation 2022 (General Regulation).

Licence administrative fees

Premises based and mobile waste processing activities

Licence administrative fees, for premised-based and mobile waste processing activities, are calculated based on the type of activities being undertaken (fee-based activities), the scale of these activities, and a licensee's environmental management category. The environmental management category is determined in accordance with the Environmental Management Calculation Protocol.

Multiple activities

Licensees with multiple activities only pay the single highest calculated activity fee, not a sum of all activity fees.

For detailed worked examples of calculations of fees that must accompany a licence application and annual administrative fee calculations, including those for licences with multiple activities, please refer to the Guide To Licensing.

Waste transporting activities

There is a flat fee for waste transport activities.

Load-based fees

Load-based fees apply only to those activities that have assessable pollutants. Fees depend on the amount of assessable pollutants and the types of pollutants that an activity releases into the environment, as well as the conditions in the receiving environment.

Schedule 1 of the Protection of the Environment (General) Regulation 2022 lists all licensed activities and states whether those activities have assessable pollutants.

Timing of fee payments

The licence administrative fee is payable within 120 days of the start of the licence period. The load-based fee (made up of the pollutant load fees, less the prepaid administrative fee) is payable within 120 days of the end of the licence period.

Late payments

Late fee payments attract a penalty of 5% per fortnight on the amount outstanding.