{"id":"F2018L01290","name":"Consular Fees Regulations 2018","slug":"consular-fees-regulations-2018","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":439773,"registerId":"F2018L01290-fast-fetch-1775955665124","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-12","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Consular Fees Regulations 2018","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\n---\n\n?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" standalone=\"no\"?>\n\n![Commonwealth Coat of Arms of Australia](image.001.jpeg)\n\n \n\nConsular Fees Regulations 2018\n\nI, General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Ret’d), Governor‑General of the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, make the following regulations.\n\nDated 13 September 2018\n\nPeter Cosgrove\n\nGovernor‑General\n\nBy His Excellency’s Command\n\nMarise Payne\n\nMinister for Foreign Affairs\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nContents\n\n1 Name\n\n2 Commencement\n\n3 Authority\n\n4 Schedules\n\n5 Definitions\n\n6 Consular acts and fees\n\n7 Fees not payable for consular acts performed for foreign governments\n\n8 Fees may be paid in local currencies\n\n9 Indexation of fees\n\nSchedule 1—Repeals\n\nConsular Fees Regulations 1990\n\n \n\n1  Name\n\n  This instrument is the Consular Fees Regulations 2018.\n\n2  Commencement\n\n (1) Each provision of this instrument specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.\n\n \n\n- Commencement information\n- Column 1 Column 2 Column 3\n- Provisions Commencement Date/Details\n- 1. The whole of this instrument The day after this instrument is registered. 15 September 2018\n\n\nNote: This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this instrument.\n\n (2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this instrument. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this instrument.\n\n3  Authority\n\n  This instrument is made under the Consular Fees Act 1955.\n\n4  Schedules\n\n  Each instrument that is specified in a Schedule to this instrument is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to this instrument has effect according to its terms.\n\n5  Definitions\n\n  In this instrument:\n\nAct means the Consular Fees Act 1955.\n\nfee means a fee imposed by paragraph 6(b).\n\nindexation day has the meaning given by subsection 9(1).\n\nindexation factor has the meaning given by subsection 9(3).\n\nindexed amount has the meaning given by subsections 9(2) to (7).\n\n6  Consular acts and fees\n\n  Each item of the following table has the following effects:\n\n (a) for the purposes of the definition of consular act in section 2 of the Act, each act specified in column 1 of the item is a consular act;\n\n (b) for the purposes of section 3 of the Act, a fee of the amount specified in column 2 of the item is imposed for the performance of the consular act.\n\n \n\n- Consular acts and fees\n- Item Column 1Consular act Column 2Fee ($)\n- 1 Administering an oath or receiving a declaration or affirmation 71\n- 2 Effecting, or attempting to effect, service of a document and issuing a certificate or affidavit of service or attempted service of a document 71\n- 3 Witnessing a signature or seal on a form or declaration 71\n- 4 Preparing a declaration or other document 71\n- 5 Verifying and certifying a copy of a document or part of a document 71\n- 6 Signing a document, or affixing a seal to a document or other article 71\n- 7 Witnessing the execution of a will 71\n- 8 Transmitting a document or other article through official channels 71\n- 9 Transferring funds through official accounts, other than for the purposes of the realisation of a deceased estate 71\n- 10 Preparation and issue of an Apostille Certificate 81\n- 11 Preparation and issue of an Authentication Certificate 81\n- 12 Preparation and issue of a Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage 143\n\n\nNote: The amounts of the fees are indexed annually under section 9.\n\n7  Fees not payable for consular acts performed for foreign governments\n\n  A fee is not payable for a consular act performed at the request, and for the purposes, of the government of a foreign country.\n\n8  Fees may be paid in local currencies\n\n  If a consular act is performed at a place outside Australia, payment of the fee for the consular act may be made by the payment, in the currency of that place, of the equivalent of the amount of the fee.\n\n9  Indexation of fees\n\nIndexation\n\n (1) The amount of a fee mentioned in the table in section 6 is indexed on each indexation day in accordance with this section. The indexation days are:\n\n (a) 1 January 2019; and\n\n (b) each later 1 January.\n\nIndexation method\n\n (2) Subsections (3) to (7) explain how to work out the amount (the indexed amount) of the fee for the calendar year (the current calendar year) starting on an indexation day.\n\n (3) The indexed amount of the fee is worked out in accordance with the following formula, subject to subsection (7):\n\n![](image.002.png)\n\nwhere:\n\nindexation factor, for the indexation day, means the number worked out by dividing:\n\n (a) the sum of the index numbers for the quarters of the 12 month period (the reference year) ending on 30 September immediately before the indexation day; by\n\n (b) the sum of the index numbers for the quarters of the 12 month period ending on 30 September in the year immediately before the reference year.\n\nindex number, for a quarter, means the All Groups Consumer Price Index number (being the weighted average of the 8 capital cities) published by the Australian Statistician for that quarter.\n\nquarter means a period of 3 months ending on 31 March, 30 June, 30 September or 31 December.\n\n (4) The indexation factor is to be worked out to 3 decimal places (rounding up if the fourth decimal place is 5 or more).\n\n (5) The indexed amount is to be rounded to the nearest whole dollar (rounding 50 cents upwards).\n\n (6) The indexed amount is to be worked out:\n\n (a) using only the index numbers published in terms of the most recently published index reference period for the Consumer Price Index; and\n\n (b) disregarding index numbers that are published more than 2 weeks after the original publication in substitution for previously published index numbers (except where the substituted numbers are published to take account of changes in the index reference period).\n\nIndexation method to be used only to increase fees\n\n (7) If the indexed amount as worked out under subsections (3) to (6) for the current calendar year would be less than the amount of the fee applying immediately before the indexation day, the indexed amount for the current calendar year is the same as the amount of the fee applying immediately before the indexation day.\n\nApplication of indexed amount\n\n (8) The indexed amount for a calendar year applies to consular acts performed on or after the indexation day in that calendar year, even if an application or request relating to the consular act was made before that day.\n\nSchedule 1—Repeals\n\n \n\nConsular Fees Regulations 1990\n\n1  The whole of the instrument\n\nRepeal the instrument.\n\n \n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"This instrument expressly repeals the Consular Fees Regulations 1990 (Schedule 1) and replaces them with a new schedule of specified consular acts and set fees (section 6). It also establishes an annual CPI-based indexation mechanism (section 9), permits payment in local currency for overseas services (section 8) and creates an exemption for acts performed for foreign governments (section 7). These actions substitute the prior regulatory instrument with the provisions above."},"complexity_factors":["A finite, enumerated list of 12 consular acts with fixed fee amounts (section 6) — straightforward to apply.","Annual CPI-based indexation formula requiring summing four quarterly CPI numbers and calculating an indexation factor to 3 decimal places (section 9(3)–(4)).","Rounding rules for indexed amounts to the nearest dollar and rounding conventions for decimals (section 9(4)–(5)).","Indexation limited to increases only (section 9(7)) and timing rule that indexed fees apply from each 1 January regardless of earlier applications (section 9(8)).","Exemption for services performed for foreign governments (section 7) and option to accept local currency for overseas services (section 8) — modest operational choices for consular posts.","Dependence on external statutory definitions and authority (Consular Fees Act 1955 referenced in section 3 and definitions in section 5) and repeal of the 1990 regulations (Schedule 1)."],"plain_english_summary":"This regulation lists specific consular services (for example, witnessing signatures, issuing apostilles and certificates) and sets a fixed fee for each listed service (section 6). It applies to people using Australian consular services overseas and to the Department that charges them. Fees are indexed annually using a CPI-based formula (section 9); fees are waived for services performed at the request of foreign governments (section 7) and may be paid in the local currency where the service is performed (section 8)."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"Unauthenticated. Configure AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY or use a provider module. Learn more: https://ai-sdk.dev/unauthenticated-ai-gateway","source":"analysis-cron"},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation maintains the traditional scope of consular fee regulations. It updates the 1990 version with modern drafting, automatic indexation, and current fee amounts, but does not expand beyond the core purpose of setting fees for consular services performed under the Consular Fees Act 1955."},"complexity_factors":["Short instrument: only 9 substantive sections plus a repeal schedule","Simple structure: definitions, fee table, 3 operational provisions, and indexation mechanics","Mathematical formula in section 9 for CPI indexation with 4 defined terms (indexation day, indexation factor, indexed amount, index number)","Single cross-reference to the parent Act (Consular Fees Act 1955)","No nested exceptions or conditional logic beyond the basic 'if lower than previous year, don't reduce' safeguard in subsection 9(7)"],"plain_english_summary":"These regulations set the fees charged by Australian embassies, high commissions and consulates for common consular acts (witnessing, certifying, authenticating documents and marriage certificates) and specify how payments are handled. They affect Australians and other users of consular services and the staff who provide them.\n\nFees are listed in a schedule, increase automatically each year with CPI from 1 Jan 2019, can be paid in local currency, and foreign governments are exempt."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/consular-fees-regulations-2018","history":"/api/acts/consular-fees-regulations-2018/history","analysis":"/api/acts/consular-fees-regulations-2018/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/consular-fees-regulations-2018/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/consular-fees-regulations-2018/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/consular-fees-regulations-2018/documents"}}