Section 496B — Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999: Civil penalties for landholders

(1) If: (a) a person (the actor) takes an action on an area of land that is a contravention of: (i) a provision of Part 3 that is a civil penalty provision; or (ii) section 142; and (b) a landholder in relation to the area of land knew that, or was reckless or negligent as to whether, the contravention would occur; and (c) the landholder was in a position to influence the conduct of the actor in relation to the contravention; and (d) the landholder failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent the contravention; the landholder contravenes this subsection. (2) Subsection (1) is a civil penalty provision. Under section 481, the Federal Court may order a landholder contravening subsection (1) to pay a pecuniary penalty not more than the pecuniary penalty the Court could order the landholder to pay, if the landholder had contravened the civil penalty provision contravened by the actor.