Public registers

The EPA is required by law to maintain several public registers. You can access the following registers online and search for information about specific companies and specific circumstances or events, such as environmental protection measures and regulatory actions.

Search the public registers

POEO public register

• The Protection of the Environment Operations Act (POEO) public register contains information about environment protection licences and other regulatory information required under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (POEO Act)
  • Search the POEO public register for information about environment protection licences, licence applications, notices issued under the POEO Act and pollution studies and reduction programs
  • Search the POEO public register for information about convictions and results of civil proceedings under the POEO Act
  • Search the POEO public register for all enforceable undertakings entered into by the EPA.

  Contaminated land

  • The Contaminated Land Public Record contains information about contaminated sites and other details required under the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997 and the Environmentally Hazardous Chemicals Act 1985

  Dangerous goods

  • The Dangerous Goods public register contains information about the transport of dangerous goods required under the Dangerous Goods (Road and Rail Transport) 2008 and regulations, including information about driver and vehicle licences.

  Native forestry

  • NSW Forest Agreements and Integrated Forestry Operations Approvals approved under the Forestry Act 2012 are published online.

  Hunter River Salinity Trading Scheme

  • Details about the Hunter River Salinity Trading Scheme are published online, including a list of scheme participants and an online credit exchange facility. River Registers (accessible via the waterinfo.nsw website) indicate when salt discharges can occur. 

   Radiation

  • The Radiation Control Act public register contains information about radiation licences required under the Radiation Control Act 1990 including the name of the licensee as well as the type, number, expiry date and status of the licence.

  Privacy Act exemptions for public registers maintained by the EPA

  Public registers are defined in the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 as registers containing personal information that are required by law to be made publicly available or open to public inspection. Examples include the register of births, deaths and marriages, land titles register, register of drivers' licences and electoral roll.

  Public registers maintained by the EPA include the following public registers which are listed in Schedule 2: Privacy Code of Practice (General) Order 2003. For these registers, the public register provisions set out in Part 6 of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 are modified as follows:

  1. The record maintained under section 58 of the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997, however, this exception does not extend to the name of an individual who is the occupier, owner or polluter of a contaminated site or the address of such an individual if the individual does not reside at a contaminated site.
  2. The registers listed in regulation 15.1 of the Road Transport Reform (Dangerous Goods) Regulations 1997 of the Commonwealth that apply in New South Wales as the Road Transport Reform (Dangerous Goods) (New South Wales) Regulations under the Road and Rail Transport (Dangerous Goods) Act 1997, however, this exception does not extend to information relating to the medical condition or the driving history of an individual.
  3. The Credit Register for the tradeable emission scheme known as the Hunter River Salinity Trading Scheme, made publicly available through the internet, comprising the name and contact details of a member of the Scheme or an employee or agent of that member and the member's business facilities, credit holdings and trading history.
  4. The information made publicly available through the internet concerning the Waste Reduction Grants Program paid from the Waste Fund set up under section 19 (repealed) of the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Act 2001 comprising the name and contact details of the person awarded the grant, or an employee or agent of that person, the amount of the grant, the grant number and the details of the project for which the grant was given.
  5. The public register kept under Part 9.5 of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997.

  Any person whose personal and privacy information is recorded in an EPA public register has the right to request their personal details be suppressed. The Act provides for this to protect people whose position or occupation requires a high level of personal security or people who have a well-founded fear of violence or harm, for example, victims of domestic violence, police informants, judges, or senior police officers.