Climate Change Response (Late Payment Penalties and Industrial Allocation) Amendment Bill

7 New sections 134AA and 134AB inserted

After section 134, insert:

134AA Penalty for failing to surrender or repay units by due date (where liability is for lower amount)

(1)

This section applies if—

(a)

a person fails, by the due date,—

(i)

to surrender units that the person is required to surrender; or

(ii)

to repay units that the person is required to repay; and

(b)

that liability to surrender or repay the units resulted from—

(i)

a forestry activity carried out on or after 1 January 2025; and

(ii)

1 or more of the following things in relation to the forestry activity:

(A)

an emissions return with an emissions return period and under which the average liability per year of that period is less than 25,000 units:

(B)

an emissions return without an emissions return period and under which the liability is less than 25,000 units:

(C)

any other requirement in this Act or secondary legislation made under this Act (for example, the requirement to repay units under section 125 or any requirement to surrender units equal to a unit balance) and under which the liability is less than 25,000 units.

(2)

However, a person is not liable to pay a penalty under this section if the EPA is satisfied that the failure to surrender or repay units occurred through no fault of the person.

(3)

The person must (in addition to surrendering or repaying the units) pay to the EPA a penalty calculated as follows:

a × b × c

where—

a

is the multiplier determined under subsection (4)

b

is the number of units that the person failed to surrender or repay by the due date

c

is the price, in dollars, of carbon per tonne on the due date, as set by or in accordance with regulations made under section 30W.

(4)

The multiplier for a person liable to pay a penalty under this section is—

(a)

0.5, if—

(i)

the activity in respect of which the person is liable for a penalty is an activity listed in Part 1 or 1A of Schedule 4; or

(ii)

the person’s liability to surrender or repay units resulted only from a requirement of the type referred to in subsection (1)(b)(ii)(C) and the requirement does not relate to a specific forestry activity carried out by the person; or

(b)

0.25, if the activity in respect of which the person is liable for a penalty is an activity listed in Part 1 or 1A of Schedule 3.

(5)

If the person must pay a penalty, the EPA must give a notice to the person that—

(a)

refers to the person’s failure to surrender or repay units by the due date and the provision under which the person is liable to surrender or repay the units; and

(b)

refers to any relevant notice that the EPA has given the person in respect of the requirement to surrender or repay the units (for example, a notice given under section 123(1)); and

(c)

specifies the number of units that the person must surrender or repay; and

(d)

specifies the amount of the penalty that the person must pay under this section; and

(e)

advises that the person may request to enter into a deferred payment arrangement under section 135A; and

(f)

advises that, unless the units are surrendered or repaid and the penalty is paid in full within 20 working days after the notice is given, interest on the amount of the penalty will accrue in accordance with section 137.

(6)

For the purposes of subsection (1)(b)(ii)(A), any part of a calender year in an emissions return period must be treated as a full calender year.

(7)

In subsection (4), references to Schedules 3 and 4 are references to those schedules as amended by the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Reform) Amendment Act 2020.

(8)

In this section, due date means the final date by which the person was required to surrender or repay the units.

134AB Determining the penalty for failing to surrender or repay additional units by due date

(1)

This section applies if—

(a)

the EPA amends an emissions return in relation to which it has already given a penalty notice; and

(b)

the amendment results in a liability for the person to whom the notice was given to surrender or repay additional units; and

(c)

the person fails to surrender or repay the additional units by the due date.

(2)

If, at the time of the failure to surrender or repay the additional units, the most recently issued penalty notice specified a penalty calculated under section 134, a penalty for failing to surrender or repay the additional units must also be calculated under section 134.

(3)

If, at the time of the failure to surrender or repay the additional units, the most recently issued penalty notice specified a penalty calculated under section 134AA, the EPA, in determining a penalty in relation to the person’s failure to surrender or repay the additional units, must disregard the base units for the purposes of the liability thresholds in section 134AA(1)(b)(ii).

(4)

In this section,—

additional units has the same meaning as in section 120A(3)(b)

base units has the same meaning as in section 120A(3)(b)

due date means the final date by which the person was required to surrender or repay the units

penalty notice has the same meaning as in section 120A(8).