For the purposes of this Guidance Statement, the following items have the meanings attributed below:

Agreed‑upon procedures engagement^[14] – an engagement which involves the performance of procedures of an assurance nature from which no conclusion or opinion is expressed by the assurance practitioner and no assurance is provided to intended users.  Instead only factual findings obtained as a result of the procedures performed are reported.  Agreed‑upon procedures engagements include verification engagements, being a type of greenhouse and energy audit under the NGER Audit Determination.

Assurance engagement^[15] – an engagement in which an assurance practitioner expresses a conclusion designed to enhance the degree of confidence of the intended users other than the responsible party about the outcome of the evaluation or measurement of a subject matter against criteria.  Assurance engagements may be either reasonable or limited assurance engagements.

Assurance practitioner – a person or organisation, whether in public practice, industry, commerce or the public sector, providing assurance services,^[16] which includes registered greenhouse and energy auditors, category 1 (Technical, Non‑technical or CFI specialist), category 2 and category 3, registered under the NGER Act and registered company auditors. ASAE 3000, ASAE 3100, ASAE 3410 and ASRS 4400 all apply to assurance practitioners.  Whilst this Guidance Statement uses the term “assurance practitioner”, this does not impact the category of greenhouse and energy auditor which the relevant legislation permits to conduct assurance engagements.^[17]

Basis of preparation – the basis on which the subject matter information (whether a report or application) has been prepared, including the reporting boundaries and criteria applied, and other matters relevant to understanding the preparation of the subject matter information.

Criteria – the benchmarks used to measure or evaluate the underlying subject matter including, where relevant, those for presentation and disclosure.  The term criterion is used in the NGER (Measurement) Determination in a narrower context with respect to specific measurement methodologies relating to fuel consumption and other emissions, however these represent just a part of the criteria against which the entity may be reporting.

Emissions – as defined in ASAE 3410,^[18] includes GHGs which are direct (scope 1) emissions or indirect emissions, including emissions associated with energy that is transferred to and consumed by the entity (scope 2) and all other indirect emissions (scope 3).

Emissions Report – a report under section 22A of the NGER Act on a liable entity’s covered scope 1 emissions and potential emissions embodied in an amount of natural gas.

Entity – as defined in ASAE 3410, means a legal entity, economic entity, or identifiable portion of a legal or economic entity, or combination of legal or other entities or portions of those entities to which the emissions in the GHG statement relate, which includes:

1. a registered corporation and facilities under the operational control of a registered corporation under NGERS;^[19]
2. eligible person under JCP;^[20]
3. liable entity under the CPM or for PEC applications; and
4. project proponent for an eligible offsets project under CFI.

GHG statement – as defined in ASAE 3410, includes reports on scope 1, 2 or 3 emissions and offsets, which includes Greenhouse and Energy Reports under section 19 and Emissions Reports section 22A of the NGER Act, to the extent that they include emissions but does not specifically cover energy production and energy consumption included in Greenhouse and Energy Reports.^[21] ASAE 3410 can nevertheless, be used as guidance for reports under NGERS which include energy consumption or production. Energy under NGERS is fuel or any other energy commodity.^[22]

Greenhouse gas – has the same meaning as in ASAE 3410, however for engagements under the NGER Act^[23] chlorofluorocarbons are not included.

Greenhouse and energy report – A report under section 19 of the NGER Act on controlling corporation or facility’s greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and energy production.

Regulator – the Clean Energy Regulator, as regulator of NGERS, CPM, RET and CFI.

Responsible party – the person who is responsible for the subject matter (for example record keeping) or subject matter information (for example the greenhouse and energy report).

Those charged with governance – persons entrusted with the supervision, control and direction of the responsible party, including ‘those with oversight responsibilities for the subject matter’ under ASAE 3410.^[24]