EPA chooses the levy for the bury but the levy's awry: Maddingley Brown Coal v Environment Protection Authority

摘要

The outcome in this case depended on the particular and unusual factual scenario that arose and, of course, the regulatory regime. In particular, the self-regulation approach adopted by the EPA led to the dispute regarding the application and extent of the DBR exemption. However, there are important lessons to be learnt -for regulators and taxpayers. For regulators: 1. procedures for amending and varying exemptions and making other decisions must be followed; 2. retrospective policy documents (and even policy documents issued before the making of regulations) are likely to be of little assistance in interpreting the meaning of regulations and other legislative instruments - care should therefore be taken in drafting regulations and other legislative instruments; and 3. care should also be taken in drafting regulations and other legislative instruments (such as the Classification) to ensure that they are properly made, and within power.