A person or company can start civil proceedings in a court to protect human health or the environment.
You can apply to the court for a 'civil remedy' if you're directly affected by the breaking of environmental laws.
A civil remedy is an order that makes a person or company comply with the law. The court can also order that you're compensated for harm done to you.
If you're not directly affected, but think it's in the public interest, you may be able to take action.
Going to court has risks. You may not be successful and have to pay costs. The person or company you're taking to court has the right to respond to your allegation. They can provide the court with their own evidence.
You can try to resolve your dispute without going to court. We can help you and the other party come to an agreement.
Who can apply to court
If directly affected, you can apply to the court for a civil remedy. Even if we take action to enforce the law, you can still apply.
When not directly affected
If you're not directly affected, you cannot go to court if:
- we're taking action to enforce the law
- it's not in the public interest.
You must ask us to take action before applying to the court. The court can only hear your application after you've asked us to take action, and we did not act. You must give us a reasonable amount of time to act or respond. A reasonable amount depends on the complexity of the issue and the level of investigation required.
For information about what actions we can take, visit Fines and enforcement.
To decide if your case is in the public interest, the court considers:
- the scope and purpose of the Environment Protection Act 2017
- if there's harm or risk of harm to human health or the environment
- if there's sufficient evidence to proceed with the case
- if the proceeding is an abuse of process, is frivolous or is vexatious.
Ask us to take action
To ask us to take action, complete our online form:
If you need help, contact us.
Resolve the matter without going to court
There are risks with going to court. If you're not successful, you may have to pay costs and cover the damages of the other party.
Before you apply to court for a civil remedy, we may be able to help you, and the other party come to an agreement. For example, we can organise a meeting of interested persons to resolve the matter together.
For more information, visit our Charter of Consultation.
Request our assistance to resolve your matter
To ask for our help to resolve the matter, complete our form:
Send your completed form to:
- internalreviews@epa.vic.gov.au, or
- EPA Victoria, GPO Box 4395, Melbourne, VIC 3001
If you need help, contact us.
How to start the civil remedy process
Step 1: Get advice
Before starting, make sure you're confident that it's the best option. Seek independent legal advice from:
- lawyers and law firms that specialise in civil proceedings
- community legal centres – especially those that aim to support environmental protection and public interest litigation organisations.
Step 2: Choose the appropriate court
The appropriate court for you depends on:
- the limits on what each court can hear and what the value of your claim is – for example, the Magistrates’ Court can hear civil disputes up to the value of $100,000
- how complex the non-compliance is
- how urgent the civil remedy is
- the location of the non-compliance or the person defending the matter, and how accessible the different courts are.
You can apply to the:
Information on what the courts can hear is available on their websites.
Step 3: Understand the courts application rules
Each court has civil procedure rules for what you need to do for the court to accept your application. This includes:
- forms and other documents you need to start the process and provide your evidence
- the notification you need to give (serve) to the other party who you allege is not complying with the Act or permission condition
- how the notification must be served
- the fees payable as part of starting a civil remedy process.
For information on how to start a civil proceeding in each court with relevant forms attached, visit:
- Magistrates Court – Starting a Civil Matter
- County Court – I Want to Start a Case
- Supreme Court – Start a Civil Proceeding.
Step 4: Prepare your evidence
To be successful, you must show that it's more than likely the person or company has failed to comply with the Act.
This requires showing (having evidence) that the person or company is:
- not complying with their duties under the Act
- not complying with a condition of their permission
- doing something that requires a permission, and they do not have one.
To learn more about the duties under the Act, visit Know your duties.
To see the conditions that apply to a permission, visit our public register.
Civil remedy outcomes
The court can seek financial assurance or make orders including:
- orders to do something, or to stop doing something
- interim orders before the proceedings are concluded
- consent orders
- ancillary orders
- compensation orders.
Financial assurance
The court can order a person to provide a financial assurance as a condition to continue what they are doing.
For more information, visit Financial assurance.
Compensation orders
Compensation orders make right the harm a person has suffered or may suffer when another person breaks environmental laws.
The compensation order can include costs you had to pay to take action to prevent, minimise or remedy the harm.
What happens when a civil remedy order is ignored
If a civil order is not followed by:
- a person – they can be fined or be sent to prison
- a company – the property and assets of the company can be removed, or a fine issued, or both.
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