---
title: "EPBC significant-impact self-assessment before a referral"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/precedents/energy-resources-and-mining/epbc-significant-impact-screen"
type: "precedent"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "a13-epbc-significant-impact-screen"
area_id: "A13"
kind: "checklist"
ai_level: "yellow"
version: 1
task_ids: ["A13-T1-R4"]
law_stated_as_at: "2026-10-22"
---

# EPBC significant-impact self-assessment before a referral

> The four questions in the 2013 Significant Impact Guidelines 1.1 for deciding whether an action should be referred under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/precedents/energy-resources-and-mining/epbc-significant-impact-screen  
Law stated as at: 2026-10-22

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

## Key facts

- Kind: Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Practice area: [Energy, Resources & Mining](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/energy-resources-and-mining.md)
- Jurisdictions: Australia
- AI level: Yellow. You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at: 2026-10-22
- Status: Maintained. Checked on 2026-10-22 against the 2 authorities it cites, for Australia.

## When to use it

Use when a project may affect a matter of national environmental significance and someone must decide whether to refer it. The species-by-species criteria in the guideline are applied from the guideline, not copied here.

## Used for these tasks

- [Prepare the environmental-approvals pathway for the project](https://ailawframework.com/practice/energy-resources-and-mining/prepare-the-environmental-approvals-pathway-for-the-project.md)

## How AI may be used

AI may list the matters named in a search report against the nine matters in the guideline and park the four questions; the lawyer decides whether a significant impact is likely and whether to refer.

**AI may:**

- Enter survey results already on the file against each matter of national environmental significance
- Break the project into construction, operation and closure so the broadest scope is visible
- List proposed avoidance measures and mark whether their effectiveness is demonstrated

**AI must not:**

- Must not decide that an impact is not significant
- Must not treat a mitigation measure as removing the need to refer unless its effectiveness is established
- Must not lodge a referral

**The lawyer checks:**

- The action is described at its broadest scope, including related activities and indirect impacts
- Each matter that may be present is tested against the significant-impact criteria in the guideline for that matter
- Uncertainty about a serious or irreversible impact is not treated as a reason not to refer
- Any prior-authorisation or continuing-use exemption is taken from the current Act, not assumed

## Authorities

- [Significant Impact Guidelines 1.1 publication page (last updated 6 October 2026), linking the 2013 guideline](https://www.nationalepa.gov.au/epbc/publications/significant-impact-guidelines-11-matters-national-environmental-significance)
- [Significant Impact Guidelines 1.1, Matters of National Environmental Significance (2013): what an action is, the matters, and the four self-assessment questions](https://www.nationalepa.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/nes-guidelines-1-1.pdf)

## Full text and drafting notes

The full text and the drafting notes are not part of this public page. Signed-in firm accounts can read them at https://ailawframework.com/precedents/energy-resources-and-mining/epbc-significant-impact-screen and through the signed-in MCP connector https://ailawframework.com/mcp/firm.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*