Licences or authorisations
This index holds information on the EPA environmental authorisations. The information you will see includes licence name, address and location, as well as the activit(ies) that the licence covers, the duration (term) of the licence and the specific conditions of the licence.
Authorisation types
Under the Environment Protection Act 1993 (EP Act), the EPA administers 3 types of authorisations: licences, exemptions and works approvals.
Licensing is a fundamental tool under the EP Act to control risks and reduce environmental impacts. It provides the EPA with the power to regulate activities undertaken by South Australian businesses or industry that pose significant risk to the environment.
Licences make up the significant majority (approximately 95%) of authorisations administered by the EPA. It is common for the term licence to be used interchangeably with the term authorisation.
Exemptions are granted under certain circumstances to allow a business to operate outside of the requirements under the EP Act and/or environment protection policies (referred to as EPPs).
Works approvals are granted under some circumstances to allow a business to carry out construction, alteration or installation of a building, structure, plant or equipment to be used for a licensed activity.
A works approval is generally not required if the works have already been subject to the development assessment process under the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016. In this circumstance the EPA may already have had the opportunity to provide comment or set conditions through powers conferred under the Development Act.
For more information about environmental authorisations held on the public register contact (08) 8204 9128 during business hours or email.
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How to do the online search
- ‘Search Latest’ only searches for the current version of the record in the public register whatever is the status (eg issued, cancelled, etc) vs including historic versions.
- The search can be tailored to the 'record type' you are seeking:
- environmental authorisations (eg licence, exemption or works approval)
- applications
- environment protection order
- A 'record number' can be added to search for an exact match of the record, eg a licence number.
- Text entered into the ‘Name’ field will display the list of possible options to choose from. Some environmental authorisation may be held in a different name to their trading or business name. If you have difficulty finding an authorisation holder by their name, you may try using the ‘Suburb’ (which includes 'Town') field instead .
- A record can be searched by either the suburb, land title reference or street address.
- Records can also be searched by the prescribed activity of environmental significance as defined in Schedule 1 to the Environment Protection Act 1993 (EP Act), eg abrasive blasting.
- The search function does not accept logic searches. Do not use eg, and, or, not in the fields.
- If your search generates a long list of records you can sort the list further into fields such as licence number, licensee name or suburb by clicking on the heading at the top of the column.
