Multiple instruments that appear to rely on section 10 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (as applied by paragraph 13(1)(a) of the Legislation Act 2003)-Advice only [2017] AUSStaCSDLM 316 (16 August 2017)

• Multiple instruments that appear to rely on section 10 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (as applied by paragraph 13(1)(a) of the Legislation Act 2003)

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Multiple instruments that appear to rely on section 10 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (as applied by paragraph 13(1)(a) of the Legislation Act 2003)

Instruments

ASIC Corporations (Credit Union Member Shares) Instrument 2017/616 [F2017L00898] AusCheck Regulations 2017 [F2017L00971] Authorised Deposit-taking Institutions Supervisory Levy Imposition Determination 2017 [F2017L00906] CASA 70/17 - Direction — stop bars [F2017L00954] General Insurance Supervisory Levy Imposition Determination 2017 [F2017L00911] Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Amendment (Whitsundays Plan of Management) Instrument 2017 Life Insurance Supervisory Levy Imposition Determination 2017 [F2017L00912] Superannuation Supervisory Levy Imposition Determination 2017 [F2017L00914] Telecommunications (Integrated Public Number Database Scheme – Conditions for Authorisations) Determination 2017 [F2017L00941] Telecommunications (Integrated Public Number Database Scheme – Criteria for Deciding Authorisation Applications) Instrument 2017 [F2017L00937] Telecommunications (Integrated Public Number Database – Public Number Directory Additional Information) Instrument 2017 [F2017L00933] Telecommunications (Integrated Public Number Database – Public Number Directory Requirements) Instrument 2017 [F2017L00934] Therapeutic Goods Information (Sharing information about in-house in vitro diagnostic medical devices) Specification 2017 [F2017L00965]

Scrutiny principle

Standing Order 23(3)(a)

Incorporation of Commonwealth disallowable legislative instruments

The instruments identified above incorporate by reference Commonwealth disallowable legislative instruments. This means that they incorporate the content of other disallowable legislative instruments without reproducing the relevant text.

Section 14 of the Legislation Act 2003 allows legislative instruments to make provision in relation to matters by incorporating disallowable legislative instruments, either as in force at a particular time or as in force from time to time.

Section 10 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (as applied by paragraph 13(1)(a) of the Legislation Act 2003) has the effect that references to Commonwealth disallowable legislative instruments can be taken to be references to versions of those instruments as in force from time to time. However, neither the text of the instruments identified above nor their accompanying ESs explain the relevance of these provisions to their operation.

The committee considers that, in the interests of promoting the clarity and intelligibility of delegated legislation, instruments (and ideally their accompanying ESs) should clearly state the manner in which Commonwealth disallowable legislative instruments are incorporated; and/or clearly identify the relevance of section 10 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (as applied by paragraph 13(1)(a) of the Legislation Act 2003) to their operation. This enables persons interested in or affected by an instrument to understand its operation, without the need to rely on specialist legal knowledge or advice, or consult extrinsic material.

The committee's expectations in this regard are set out in the guideline on incorporation published on the committee's website.^[1]

The committee draws the above to the attention of ministers.

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[1] See Regulations and Ordinances Committee, Guideline on incorporation of documents, http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Regulations_and_ Ordinances/Guidelines/Guideline_on_incorporation_of_documents.