{"id":"insurance-commission-of-western-australia-regulations-1986","name":"Insurance Commission of Western Australia Regulations 1986","slug":"insurance-commission-of-western-australia-regulations-1986","collection":"regulation","jurisdiction":"wa","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":178363,"registerId":"wa-insurance-commission-of-western-australia-regulations-1986-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-05","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Insurance Commission of Western Australia Regulations 1986","content":"![Crest]()Western Australia\n\nInsurance Commission of Western Australia Act 1986\n\nInsurance Commission of Western Australia Regulations 1986\n\nWestern Australia\n\nInsurance Commission of Western Australia Regulations 1986\n\nContents\n\n1. Citation 1\n\n2. Common seal of the Commission 1\n\n3. Common seal of the Corporation 2\n\n4. Exemptions from requirements of Commonwealth laws 3\n\n5. No exemption from stamp duty on certain policies 5\n\n6. Capital of the Corporation 6\n\nNotes\n\nCompilation table 7\n\nDefined terms\n\n  \n\nWestern Australia\n\nInsurance Commission of Western Australia Act 1986\n\nInsurance Commission of Western Australia Regulations 1986\n\n##### 1. Citation\n\nThese regulations may be cited as the *Insurance Commission of Western Australia Regulations 1986* 1.\n\n[Regulation 1 amended: Gazette 26 Sep 1997 p. 5404.]\n\n##### 2. Common seal of the Commission\n\n(1) The common seal of the Commission shall be in the following form —\n\n“\n\n![]()\n\n”.\n\n(2) The common seal of the Commission shall be kept in the custody of the managing director or a person appointed by the managing director to have custody of the seal.\n\n(3) Where the common seal of the Commission is to be affixed to a document it shall be affixed in the presence of a commissioner and another authorised person and each shall sign the document to attest that the seal was so affixed.\n\n(4) In subregulation (3) authorised person in relation to a document means a commissioner or a person appointed by the board of commissioners to be present at the sealing of documents generally, or of that document, or of a class of documents in which that document is included.\n\n[Regulation 2 amended: Gazette 26 Sep 1997 p. 5405.]\n\n##### 3. Common seal of the Corporation\n\n(1) The common seal of the Corporation shall be in the following form —\n\n“\n\n![Ins Co,]()\n\n”.\n\n(2) The common seal of the Corporation shall be kept in the custody of the managing director or a person appointed by the managing director to have custody of the seal.\n\n(3) Where the common seal of the Corporation is to be affixed to a document it shall be affixed in the presence of a director and another authorised person and each shall sign the document to attest that the seal was so affixed.\n\n(4) In subregulation (3) authorised person in relation to a document means a director or a person appointed by the board of directors to be present at the sealing of documents generally, or of that document, or of a class of documents in which that document is included.\n\n##### 4. Exemptions from requirements of Commonwealth laws\n\n(1) In this regulation —\n\n  Insurance Act means the *Insurance Act 1973* of the Commonwealth;\n\n  Insurance Commissioner means the Insurance Commissioner under the Insurance Act;\n\n  Life Insurance Act means the *Life Insurance Act 1945* of the Commonwealth;\n\n  Life Insurance Commissioner means the Life Insurance Commissioner under the Life Insurance Act.\n\n(2) Subject to subregulations (3) and (4), the Corporation is exempt from complying with such requirements imposed on insurers by the laws of the Commonwealth relating to insurance as are set out in the Table.\n\n(3) Sections 30(1)(d), (e) and (g), (2) to (4A) and (5A), 34 and 48 of the Insurance Act apply to the Corporation as if references in those provisions to the Insurance Commissioner were references to the Minister and with such other changes as are necessary.\n\n(4) Sections 4(4), 4A, 37(2) and (4), 39(2) to (11), 40(4) and (7), 40A, 79, 99, 102 and 147 of the Life Insurance Act apply to the Corporation as if references in those provisions to the Life Insurance Commissioner were references to the Minister and with such other changes as are necessary.\n\n(5) An audit that is required by —\n\n(a) section 47 of the Insurance Act; or\n\n(b) section 45 of the Life Insurance Act,\n\nas applied to the Corporation by section 33 of the Act shall be carried out by the Auditor General.\n\n| **Act** | **Provision** | **Requirement** |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Insurance Act | section 21(2) | Requirement to have authorisation of the Insurance Commissioner to carry on insurance business. |\n|  | section 30(1)(d), (e) and (g) | Requirements for amounts, loans, debentures, shares, unpaid premiums and guarantees to be approved by the Insurance Commissioner as assets for the purposes of Part III. |\n|  | section 34(1) | Requirement for reinsurance arrangements to be approved by the Insurance Commissioner. |\n|  | section 44(4) | Requirements to lodge quarterly statements with the Insurance Commissioner. |\n|  | sections 46 and 48 | Requirements as to appointment of auditor and lodgement of certificate of auditor. |\n|  | section 119(1) and (2) | Requirements as to principal banker and notice of appointment of principal banker. |\n| Life Insurance Act | section 4A(3) | Requirement for the Life Insurance Commissioner to approve of the functions of an actuary being performed by a person. |\n|  | section 15 | Requirement to be registered by the Life Insurance Commissioner to carry on life insurance business. |\n|  | section 37(2) and (4) | Requirements to have consent of the Life Insurance Commissioner to the establishment of a separate fund in respect of part of a class or classes of life insurance business and to notify the Life Insurance Commissioner of the establishment of such a fund. |\n|  | section 39(2) | Requirement to obtain approval of the Life Insurance Commissioner to investments. |\n|  | section 40(4) and (7) and 40A(2) | Requirements as to transfers of assets and furnishing of statements of particulars. |\n|  | section 47(1) | Requirement for the Life Insurance Commissioner to approve of the functions of an auditor being performed by a person. |\n|  | section 79 | Requirement to obtain approval of the Life Insurance Commissioner in relation to commissions or rebates. |\n|  | section 102(b) | Requirement to reduce amount upon a basis approved by the Life Insurance Commissioner when ascertaining the amount of a paid‑up policy. |\n|  | section 106(1) and (3) | Requirements as to statements and payments of unclaimed moneys. |\n|  | section 117(4) and (5) | Requirements to give notices to the Life Insurance Commissioner concerning registries and representatives. |\n|  | section 147 | Requirement to notify the Life Insurance Commissioner of authorisation of signatories. |\n\n\n##### 5. No exemption from stamp duty on certain policies\n\nFor the purposes of section 4(3) of the Act any exemption from duty enjoyed by the Commission as an agent of the Crown designated by a notice published under section 119(1) of the *Stamp Act 1921* does not apply to a policy of insurance issued under section 6(a) or (b) of the Act.\n\n##### 6. Capital of the Corporation\n\nPursuant to a recommendation of the Commission, on the coming into operation of this regulation the authorised capital of the Corporation shall, by an increase of $40 000 000, become $100 000 000 to be divided into 1 000 000 shares of $100 each.\n\n[Regulation 6 inserted: Gazette 27 Apr 1990 p. 2093.]\n\nNotes\n\n1 This reprint is a compilation as at 13 June 2003 of the *Insurance Commission of Western Australia Regulations 1986* and includes the amendments made by the other written laws referred to in the following table. The table also contains information about any reprint.\n\nCompilation table\n\n| **Citation** | **Gazettal** | **Commencement** |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| *State Government Insurance Commission Regulations 1986* 2 | 19 Dec 1986 p. 4863‑4 | 19 Dec 1986 |\n| *State Government Insurance Commission Amendment Regulations 1990* | 12 Jan 1990 p. 82 | 12 Jan 1990 |\n| *State Government Insurance Commission Amendment Regulations (No. 2) 1990* | 27 Apr 1990 p. 2093 | 27 Apr 1990 |\n| *State Government Insurance Commission Amendment Regulations 1997* | 26 Sep 1997 p. 5404‑5 | 1 Oct 1997 (see r. 2) |\n| **Reprint 1: The *Insurance Commission of Western Australia Regulations 1986* as at 13 Jun 2003** (includes amendments listed above) | | |\n\n\n2 Now known as the *Insurance Commission of Western Australia Regulations 1986*; citation changed (see note under r. 1).\n\nDefined terms\n\n*[This is a list of terms defined and the provisions where they are defined. The list is not part of the law.]*\n\n**Defined term Provision(s)**\n\nauthorised person 2(4), 3(4)\n\nInsurance Act 4(1)\n\nInsurance Commissioner 4(1)\n\nLife Insurance Act 4(1)\n\nLife Insurance Commissioner 4(1)\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The regulations remain focused on their original purpose: establishing the administrative framework for ICWA's operation, including its relationship with Commonwealth insurance law. The 1990 insertion of regulation 6 regarding capital structure was a specific financial adjustment rather than scope creep, and the 1997 amendments were minor updates to seal custody provisions. The legislation has not expanded beyond its core function of operational governance for the state insurer."},"complexity_factors":["Extensive cross-referencing to Commonwealth legislation (Insurance Act 1973 and Life Insurance Act 1945) with specific section numbers","Substitution mechanism in regulations 4(3) and 4(4) requiring readers to mentally replace 'Commissioner' with 'Minister' across multiple Commonwealth provisions","Nested conditional logic in regulation 4: general exemption (subreg 2), subject to exceptions (subregs 3-4), with a table of 17 specific exempted provisions","Dual entity structure (Commission vs Corporation) with parallel but slightly different seal provisions requiring careful comparison","Defined terms list references multiple provisions (authorised person appears in both regulations 2 and 3 with subtly different meanings based on context)"],"plain_english_summary":"These regulations set out the administrative rules for the Insurance Commission of Western Australia (ICWA), a government-owned insurance body.\n\n**What it does:**\n- **Seals and signatures**: Specifies what the official seals look like for both the Commission and its commercial arm (the Corporation), who keeps them, and who must witness when they're used on documents.\n- **Commonwealth law exemptions**: Lists which federal insurance rules the Corporation doesn't have to follow, and which ones still apply but with the Western Australian Minister substituted for federal regulators. This essentially gives the state-owned insurer special treatment compared to private insurers.\n- **Stamp duty**: Clarifies that despite being a government body, ICWA must still pay stamp duty (a tax on documents) on certain types of insurance policies.\n- **Capital structure**: Sets the Corporation's share capital at $100 million divided into one million shares.\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- The Insurance Commission of Western Australia and its subsidiary Corporation\n- Western Australian government ministers who oversee the Commission\n- Anyone dealing with official ICWA documents that require sealing\n\n**Why it matters:**\nThese rules allow ICWA to operate as both a government agency and a commercial insurer while being exempt from many federal insurance regulations that apply to private companies. This gives it competitive advantages but also places specific accountability requirements (like ministerial oversight) in place of federal regulatory oversight."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":5,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"Yes. The regulations both narrow and reallocate supervisory scope from Commonwealth insurance regulators to state authorities: Regulation 4 exempts the Corporation from many Commonwealth requirements while applying selected Commonwealth provisions with the Minister substituted for Commonwealth commissioners and assigning audits to the Auditor‑General (4(3)–(5)). Regulation 5 removes a Crown agent stamp‑duty exemption for certain policies, and Regulation 6 (inserted later) increases the Corporation’s authorised capital to $100,000,000, expanding its financial capacity."},"complexity_factors":["Extensive cross‑references to Commonwealth statutes (Insurance Act 1973; Life Insurance Act 1945) creating dependency on external provisions (Regulation 4(1) and Table).","A detailed table of exemptions listing many statutory provisions that the Corporation is exempt from, requiring careful mapping between regimes.","Substitution mechanism that applies selected Commonwealth provisions to the Corporation but treats references to Commonwealth commissioners as references to the Minister (Regulations 4(3) and 4(4)), creating hybrid supervisory responsibilities.","Audit requirement that diverts statutorily required insurer audits to the Auditor‑General when applied to the Corporation (Regulation 4(5)), altering usual auditor appointment and oversight practice.","A narrow fiscal carve‑out denying Crown agent stamp‑duty exemption for policies under section 6(a) or (b) (Regulation 5), which affects taxation treatment of particular policies.","Corporate governance formalities for two separate entities (Commission and Corporation) including seal custody and attestation requirements (Regulations 2 and 3).","An authorised‑capital alteration inserted post‑enactment (Regulation 6) and multiple amendments captured in the compilation notes, increasing interpretive history to consider."],"plain_english_summary":"This regulation sets formal rules for the Insurance Commission and its Corporation: the form and custody of their common seals, specified exemptions from Commonwealth insurance laws, a stamp‑duty carve‑out for certain policies, and an increase of the Corporation’s authorised capital to $100,000,000. It affects the Commission, its Corporation, counterpart insurers and auditors by changing who approves assets and audits (Minister/Auditor‑General) and by altering compliance and approval obligations."},"summary":{"complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Scope cannot be assessed as no legislative text was retrievable. The page hosting the Insurance Commission of Western Australia Regulations 1986 appears to have been moved or removed during a system upgrade, and no substantive content was returned."},"complexity_factors":["No legislative content was provided — the source URL returned a 'page not found' error","It is impossible to assess complexity without the actual text of the regulations","Score of 1 reflects absence of content, not simplicity of the underlying law"],"plain_english_summary":"**No usable legislative content available.**\n\nThe page that was meant to contain the *Insurance Commission of Western Australia Regulations 1986* is no longer accessible — the link is broken and the content has not loaded. All that was retrieved is a system error message and a standard government acknowledgement of country.\n\nWithout the actual text of the regulations, **no meaningful legal analysis can be provided**. If you need to review this legislation, try:\n- Visiting the [Western Australian Legislation website](https://www.legislation.wa.gov.au) directly\n- Searching for the regulations by name using the site's menu\n- Contacting the Parliamentary Counsel's Office Helpdesk as suggested on the error page"},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/insurance-commission-of-western-australia-regulations-1986","history":"/api/acts/insurance-commission-of-western-australia-regulations-1986/history","analysis":"/api/acts/insurance-commission-of-western-australia-regulations-1986/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/insurance-commission-of-western-australia-regulations-1986/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/insurance-commission-of-western-australia-regulations-1986/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/insurance-commission-of-western-australia-regulations-1986/documents"}}