Adjustment of Mandatory Closure Spend for Licence Transfers – Bulletin 2025-35

As outlined in Bulletin 2025-27 regarding the industry-wide closure spend requirements for 2026, a licensee’s mandatory closure spend will be adjusted upon approval of the licence transfer for the transferor and the transferee. We are revising the requirements in Directive 088: Licensee Lifecycle Management, which will affect licence transfer applications submitted on or after January 1, 2026.

This adjustment will consider the inactive liability associated with the licences at the time the licensee-specific mandatory closure spend was determined.

We will provide further information about the adjustment process in the revised Directive 088 and Manual 023: Licensee Lifecycle Management, planned for publication before the end of 2025.

The OneStop licensee closure spend report will be revised to reflect these changes and made available in spring 2026.

Email questions about the mandatory closure spend or the Inventory Reduction Program to [email protected].

We encourage licensees to seek clarity on transfer application processes and requirements in a preapplication meeting with the AER before submitting a licence transfer application. Send meeting requests or general questions on transfer application to [email protected].

Please see the official announcement on the AER website here.