Environmental Management and Pollution Control Act 1994 (EMPCA)

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Overview

The Environmental Management and Pollution Control Act 1994 (EMPCA) is the primary environmental protection and pollution control legislation in Tasmania. It is a performance-based style of legislation, with the fundamental basis being the prevention, reduction and remediation of environmental harm. The focus of the Act is on preventing environmental harm from pollution and waste.

EMPCA is part of the Resource Management and Planning System of Tasmania (RMPS). All legislation in the RMPS has the same umbrella objectives in Part 1 of Schedule 1. Part 2 of Schedule 1 of EMPCA sets out a more focussed set of objectives for the Environmental Management and Pollution Control System (EMPCS).

Legisla​​tion Online

EMPCA is available online at Tasmania’s Legislation website.

Guidance Docu​ments

Compliance and enforcement policies guide the work to achieve the requirements of the Act.

Regulations

Regulations made under EMPCA include:

​Envir​onment Protection Policies

EPPs are designed specifically to give effect to the objectives of EMPCA. EPPs define clear environmental objectives with programs to achieve them. They are designed to be outcome-oriented as opposed to regulations which simply set prescriptive rules.

The following EPPs have been made:

Note that there are also State Policies made under the State Policies and Projects Act 1993 that also relate to environmental matters: