Site approval licence conditions for whole protected plants

A sample of the licence conditions for a site approval licence for whole protected plants. Conditions may be added or removed in specific circumstances.

Licence conditions

1. Unless stated otherwise, words and expressions used in this licence have the same meaning as those set out in the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016.
2. Under Section 2.14 of the Biodiversity Conservation Act, it is an offence to contravene or fail to comply with a condition of this licence.
3. Licences cannot be transferred to third parties.
4. In this licence:
   1. ‘licensee’ means the person named as the licensee and persons working on behalf of the licensee
   2. ‘the department’ means the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
   3. ‘NPWS’ means the National Parks and Wildlife Service
   4. ‘WPMP’ means Whole Plant Sustainable Management Plan 2023–2027: commercial harvest, salvage and propagation of protected whole plants
   5. ‘authorised officer’ means an officer of the Department.

General

5. The licensee may only harvest whole plants from the species specified on this licence.
6. The licensee may only harvest the quantities of whole plants specified on this licence.
7. The licensee may only harvest whole plants species from the land specified on this licence.
8. An approved harvester must hold both an approved harvester licence and a site approval licence before any harvest operation can be undertaken.
9. It is the responsibility of the applicant to confirm the identification of the species that they intend to harvest. PlantNet NSW Flora Online (the plant information network Royal Botanic Gardens) can assist; but where this is in doubt the species should be formally identified through a recognised authority such as the NSW Herbarium.
10. Licensees must comply with all licence requirements as documented in the Whole Plant Sustainable Management Plan 2023–2027, as amended or replaced from time to time.
11. The licensee must keep a copy of this licence and site approval licence within their immediate possession while harvesting.
12. The licensee must, on request, produce the licence to an authorised officer or any owner, occupier or lessees of the land specified on the licence.
13. The licensee shall produce the licences to all persons who buy or receive protected plant parts from this license.
14. Any place where plants are harvested, stored or processed are to be made available for inspection upon request by an authorised officer.
15. Receipts and records for plant part sales must be kept for the period of this licence. The licensee will make these receipts available for inspection upon request by an authorised officer.

Plant tags

16. NPWS tags are required for all wild harvest plants. Licences must apply to the NPWS local office for plant tags for the amount specified in this licence only.
17. In accordance with the conditions with the Whole Plant Sustainable Management Plan 2023–2027, plant tags must:
    1. be permanently attached to the plant product
    2. state they ‘wild harvested’
    3. have description of plant origin or species
    4. scientific name of species
    5. have a unique tag number.
18. NPWS plant tags are not transferable and must be used in association with the licence number only.

Sustainable management

19. Whole plant harvesting, collection, processing and use should be undertaken using best-practice standards and must not impact the viability of the individual plants or populations or adversely affect the long-term survival of the source individual plant or population, specifically:
    1. unless precise information about the safe collecting limits for a species are known, a collection limit of a maximum of 10% of the of the available population of approved size classes for group 1
    2. unless precise information about the sustainable harvesting limits for a species is known, a collection limit of a maximum 1% of the available population of approved size classes for group 2 species
    3. harvesting should occur over as wide an area as possible
    4. collection methods must be conducted in a manner that minimises damage to all target and non-target plant species.
20. Collecting any other regenerative plant material that can be used in cultivation is not permitted under a wild harvest licence.

Monitoring

21. The licensee must establish a program/s to monitor harvest sustainability which may include:
    1. establishing fixed photographic monitoring points over representative sections of the harvest site/s
    2. an accurate map (+/- 10 m) with geographical coordinates of harvest sites and monitoring plots
    3. photographs taken immediately before and after picking at each site
    4. detailed description of species and numbers of plants before and the harvest operation.
22. Licensees must follow the hygiene, harvest, transport and holding protocols provided with their application and approved by NPWS.

Record keeping

23. The monitoring program/plots/photographs must be provided to the NPWS local office no later than 28 days at the completion of the harvest operation and/or upon the expiration of the licence.
24. No licence renewal or new licence will be granted until monitoring conditions have been fulfilled and a report provided.
25. Harvest return records are to be submitted yearly. The licensee shall forward to the NPWS local office annual harvest records on the form provided no later than 28 days after the anniversary date of the licence.
26. No licence renewal or new licence will be granted until all the harvest returns have been submitted.

Indemnity

27. The licensee agrees to indemnify, and keep indemnified, the Crown in right of NSW (the department), the NSW Minister administering the Biodiversity Conservation Act, the Environment Agency Head of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, and their employees, agents and contractors, in the absence of any wilful misconduct or negligence on their part, from and against all actions, demands, claims, proceedings, losses, damages, costs (including legal costs), charges or expenses suffered or incurred by them resulting from:
    1. any damage or destruction to any real or personal property
    2. injury suffered or sustained (including death) by any persons arising out of or in connection with the activities undertaken pursuant to this licence.