Bilateral agreements can reduce duplication. This agreement allows the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) to use its own processes to assess actions under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). Since 2015, we've had assessment bilateral agreements with all states and territories.
Bilateral agreements allow each state or territory to assess proposed actions (projects or developments) on behalf of the Australian Government.
They remove the need for a separate assessment, reducing duplication. The Commonwealth Environment minister uses a state or territory's environmental assessment report to inform the final decision about whether to approve an action.
Assessment bilateral agreements have existed with all states and territories since 2015.
Assessment agreement with the Australian Capital Territory
Under the assessment bilateral agreement, the Commonwealth minister can use the Australian Capital Territory process to inform an assessment of the impacts of any eligible action.
We published a draft assessment bilateral agreement on 28 March 2014 for public comment by 28 April 2014.
Report on comments (PDF 95 KB)
Report on comments (DOCX 44 KB)
On 25 May 2014, the Commonwealth minister signed a statement of reasons outlining the reasons for a bilateral agreement with the Australian Capital Territory.
Statement of reasons (PDF 3.18 MB)
Statement of reasons (DOC 126 KB)
The Australian Capital Territory Assessment Bilateral Agreement came into effect on 16 June 2014.
Australian Capital Territory Assessment Bilateral Agreement (PDF 3.75MB)
Australian Capital Territory Assessment Bilateral Agreement (DOCX 252 KB)
Agreement notice (PDF 17 KB)
Agreement notice (DOC 44 KB)
Get in touch
If you have any questions about bilateral agreements with the Australian Capital Territory:
- Email: epbc.act@dcceew.gov.au
- Phone: 1800 423 135 between 9 am and 5 pm Canberra time.