Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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STATUTORY DECLARATIONS REGULATIONS 1991 NO. 398

STATUTORY RULES 1991 No. 398

STATUTORY DECLARATIONS ACT 1959

STATUTORY DECLARATIONS REGULATIONS

Section 14 of the Statutory Declarations Act 1959 (the Act), as amended by the Law and Justice Legislation Amendment Act 1991 ("LAJLAB") provides that the Governor-General may make regulations not inconsistent with the Act prescribing matters necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

Section 8 of the Act was also amended by LAJLAB to provide that a statutory declaration made under the Act must

(a)       be in the form in the Schedule; and

(b)       be made before a prescribed person

Regulation 4 for the purposes of paragraph 8(b) of the Act, lists in the Schedule the prescribed persons before whom a statutory declaration may be made.

Details of the Regulations are as follows:

Regulation 1 is formal

Regulation 2 gives a commencement date of 12 December 1991.

Regulation 3 is interpretative. It defines the Act as meaning the Statutory Declarations Act 1959.

Regulation 4 provides that the persons specified in the Schedule are persons before whom a statutory declaration may be made. The list is extensive and will include a broad cross-section of the community. The broader range of persons who may now witness a statutory declaration is in accord with the policy to maximise access to persons before whom a statutory declaration may be made. At the same time, control is retained, in order that proof of the making of declarations will not be jeopardised where and when such proof is required, and so as to ensure that the solemnity of a declaration is not diminished.

Attorney-General