The objects and reasons of this Bill is to ensure that an appeal from a permit granted under planning law is not rendered ineffective by the execution or implementation of the permit before the appeal has been determined in a final manner. For this purpose, the Bill establishes an automatic suspension of the execution of the permit upon the filing of an appeal and provides that such suspension shall remain in force until the relative proceedings have been determined in a final manner and the decision has become res judicata.

The Bill also seeks to maintain a balance between the need for an effective remedy and the need for certainty for a person who has obtained a permit, by providing for specific time-limits before the Tribunal and before the Court of Appeal, for electronic service and filing, for case-management decrees, and for procedural powers intended to allow a more expeditious determination of appeals.

Also the Bill provides for consequential amendments to the Development Planning Act (Cap. 552) so as to make it consistent with the system of automatic suspension of the execution of permits when an appeal is filed under the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal Act (Cap 551).

Furthermore, the Bill also provides for the registration and annotation of permits the execution of which is suspended, for controls on commencement notices and compliance certificates during periods of suspension, for enforcement consequences and offences in cases of works or use in breach of the suspension, and for a limited and reasoned mechanism whereby the Cabinet of Ministers may give a decision or direction concerning the suspension in cases of overriding public interest.