What's new in law archives: 2011

Recent significant changes to legislation administered by the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) and related topics are listed below. Links to the text of the new Act, Regulation or Bill are provided where available (obtained from the NSW legislation or NSW Parliament websites in PDF format).

• For a list of legislation administered by OEH, see legislation.
• See the Glossary for explanations of these terms: assent, Bill, gazette.

October 2011

• The Protection of the Environment Operations Amendment (Miscellaneous) Regulation 2011 makes a number of amendments to Schedule 1 of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997, the Protection of the Environment Operations (General) Regulation 2009, the Protection of the Environment Operations (Clean Air) Regulation 2010 and the Protection of the Environment Operations (Waste) Regulation 2005.
  
  The more significant amendments relate to the regulation of noise from events at Sydney Olympic Park, the regulation of new biofuel technologies, underground petroleum storage systems and waste and sustainability improvement payments to councils. The Amendment Regulation also makes some minor amendments to various licensing categories and definitions to clarify the intent of the legislation and correct minor typographical errors.
  
  The Regulation commenced on 26 October 2011.

March 2011

• The Marine Parks (Zoning Plans) Amendment (SIMP and JBMP) Regulation 2011 provides for the repeal and remake of the zoning plans for the Solitary Islands and Jervis Bay Marine Parks.
  
  The zoning plans are contained in Parts 2 and 3 of the Marine Parks (Zoning Plans Regulation) 1999 (the Principal Regulation). The main purpose of the Regulation is to identify various zones within the marine parks and regulate the type of commercial and recreational activities which may take place within each of those zones. The Regulation also consolidates the regulatory provisions relating to the Solitary Islands and Jervis Bay Marine Parks into Parts 2 and 3 of the Principal Regulation.
  
  The Regulation commenced on 1 March 2011.
• The Coastal Protection Regulation 2011 supports amendments to the Coastal Protection Act 1979 made by the Coastal Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2010 to deal with coastal erosion and projected sea level rise.
  
  The Regulation specifies the requirements, set out in a Code of Practice, for the placement, maintenance and removal of emergency coastal protection works and the restoration of land in certain circumstances. The Regulation also provides for a scheme of categorisation of land within the coastal zone into risk categories according to the level of risk that the particular land will be adversely affected by coastal hazards.
  
  The Regulation commenced on 3 March 2011.
• The Protection of the Environment Operations (Waste) Amendment (Australian Packaging Covenant) Regulation 2011 amends Part 5B of the Protection of the Environment Operations (Waste) Regulation 2005, which relates to recycling of consumer packaging. The purpose of the amendments is to make the Waste Regulation consistent with the Australian Packaging Covenant, a voluntary scheme for managing the environmental impacts of consumer packaging in Australia.
  
  The Regulation commenced on 3 March 2011, except for the provisions relating to record keeping, which will commence on 1 July 2011.