Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2018L00324:front:0:p58
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2018L00324
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 167795–170808

sustainable use of Australia's biodiversity; and
 4. to promote the use of Indigenous people's knowledge of biodiversity with the involvement of, and in cooperation with, the owners of the knowledge.
Director of National Parks
The Director of National Parks is a corporation under the EPBC Act (s.514A) and a Commonwealth corporate entity for the purposes of the Public Governance Performance and Accountability Act 2013. The corporation is controlled by the person appointed by the Governor-General to the office that is called the Director of National Parks (s.514F of the EPBC Act).
The functions of the Director (s.514B) include the administration, management and control of Commonwealth reserves, including Australian Marine Parks, established under the EPBC Act. The Director generally has power to do all things necessary or convenient for performing the Director's functions (s.514C). The Director has a number of specified powers under the EPBC Act and EPBC Regulations, including to prohibit or control some activities, and to issue permits for activities that are otherwise prohibited. The Director performs functions and exercises powers in accordance with this plan.
Establishment of Commonwealth reserves
Commonwealth reserves, including Australian Marine Parks, are declared by proclamation by the Governor-General under the EPBC Act. The EPBC Act and the EPBC Regulations provide the legal basis and framework for management of Commonwealth reserves.
Commonwealth reserves can be declared over areas specified in s.344 of the EPBC Act, including the Commonwealth marine area as defined in s.24 of the Act (which extends generally from the three nautical mile limit of the coastal waters of the states and territories to the outer limit of Australia's exclusive economic zone). The Commonwealth marine area is also a matter of national environmental significance protected from significant impacts to the environment by Part 3 of the EPBC Act.
IUCN categories and management principles
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) sets out guidelines for categorising protected areas, which Australia and many other countries have adopted as a national standard. The EPBC Act requires Commonwealth reserves, and any zones into which a reserve is divided, to be assigned to one of the seven categories prescribed by the EPBC Regulations (r. 10.03H), which correspond to the categories identified by the IUCN:
 1. strict nature reserve (category Ia);
 2. wilderness area (category Ib);
 3. national park (category II);
 4. natural monument (category III);
 5. habitat/species management area (category IV);
 6. protected landscape/seascape (category V); or
 7. managed resource protected area (category VI).
Reserve management must be consistent with the relevant Australian IUCN reserve management principles prescribed for each category by Schedule 8 to the EPBC Regulations and set out below:
General administrative principles
Part 1 of Schedule 8 of the EPBC Regulations sets out