About the infringement refund scheme

We're writing to around 2,000 people and businesses to offer refunds on paid fines. Another 2,100 people and businesses will also receive letters withdrawing fines and infringements. They will no longer have to pay outstanding obligations.

This is due to a systems error, which meant the fines were issued incorrectly.

If you receive a letter for a refund

Please fill in our secure form to request a refund.

You'll need to enter the infringement number and your personal and bank details.

While we'll try to process these refunds in around 4 weeks, you may experience delays because of the holiday season.

If you receive a letter for a withdrawal

You don't need to do anything. This record will be removed from our system.

Why we are doing this

From June 2022 through to January 2023, a failure in our computer system meant some officers were given incomplete appointments of authority. It impacted 25 officers’ authority to start court action and issue certain types of fines.

Court matters

This refund scheme has been designed to refund and withdraw EPA issued fines.

We've written to legal representatives of those parties who have had their court proceedings impacted. If you believe this impacts you, please contact your legal counsel.

What we are doing to make this right

We've fixed our systems and have stronger checks to stop this from happening again.
All authorised officers still employed by us have the correct authorisation. They can lawfully issue the infringements and court documents they are required to.
Notifying impacted individual and businesses. We are notifying those impacted and refunding and withdrawing fines and other costs impacted by this error.

Questions and answers

Those that:
- were issued by 25 EPA officers and
- were issued between June 2022 and the end of August this year and
- are a litter infringement, vehicle infringement or environmental infringement regarding reporting, permission, and waste offences.
If your fine was invalid and you're entitled to a refund, you'll receive a letter.
We'll send these letters in stages over the next 6 weeks so refunds can be processed quickly (though there may be delays due to the holiday period). You should get your letter by the end of January 2026. You'll be directed in the letter to go to our secure form to start the refund process.
Once the refund process has started it should take approximately 4 weeks for you to get your refund.
This scheme is only for a small percentage of our fines that have been found to be invalid. We've created an accurate list of fines that must be refunded or withdrawn.
If your fine was invalid and you're entitled to a refund, you'll receive a letter. You should get your letter by the end of January 2026. We encourage you to wait for this letter before going to the webpage to start the process.
However, if you don't receive a letter and think you may be eligible for a refund, you can start the process. You'll need to know your infringement number to do this. The outcome will be communicated back to you by email.
Only a small number of the fines issued by us each year are affected by the issue and only those eligible for a refund will be contacted.
All refund applications received by us will be checked against our records before any refund is made.
If you don't receive a letter and think you may be eligible for a refund, you can complete the form. You'll need to know your infringement number to do this. The outcome will be communicated back to you by email.