{"id":"a-1993-63","name":"Registrar-General Act 1993","slug":"registrar-general-act-1993","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"act","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"63 of 1993","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":24265,"registerId":"act-a-1993-63-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-01","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Registrar-General Act 1993","content":"Australian Capital Territory\nRegistrar-General Act 1993\nA1993-63\nRepublication No 7\nEffective: 1 July 2011\nRepublication date: 1 July 2011\nLast amendment made by A2011-22\nAuthorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel\n\nAuthorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel—also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au\nAbout this republication\nThe republished law\nThis is a republication of the Registrar-General Act 1993 (including any amendment made\nunder the Legislation Act 2001, part 11.3 (Editorial changes)) as in force on 1 July 2011. It also\nincludes any commencement, amendment, repeal or expiry affecting this republished law to 1\nJuly 2011.\nThe legislation history and amendment history of the republished law are set out in endnotes 3\nand 4.\nKinds of republications\nThe Parliamentary Counsel’s Office prepares 2 kinds of republications of ACT laws (see the\nACT legislation register at www.legislation.act.gov.au):\n authorised republications to which the Legislation Act 2001 applies\n unauthorised republications.\nThe status of this republication appears on the bottom of each page.\nEditorial changes\nThe Legislation Act 2001, part 11.3 authorises the Parliamentary Counsel to make editorial\namendments and other changes of a formal nature when preparing a law for republication.\nEditorial changes do not change the effect of the law, but have effect as if they had been made\nby an Act commencing on the republication date (see Legislation Act 2001, s 115 and s 117).\nThe changes are made if the Parliamentary Counsel considers they are desirable to bring the law\ninto line, or more closely into line, with current legislative drafting practice.\nThis republication does not include amendments made under part 11.3 (see endnote 1).\nUncommenced provisions and amendments\nIf a provision of the republished law has not commenced, the symbol U appears immediately\nbefore the provision heading. Any uncommenced amendments that affect this republished law\nare accessible on the ACT legislation register (www.legislation.act.gov.au). For more\ninformation, see the home page for this law on the register.\nModifications\nIf a provision of the republished law is affected by a current modification, the symbol M\nappears immediately before the provision heading. The text of the modifying provision appears\nin the endnotes. For the legal status of modifications, see the Legislation Act 2001, section 95.\nPenalties\nAt the republication date, the value of a penalty unit for an offence against this law is $110 for\nan individual and $550 for a corporation (see Legislation Act 2001, s 133).\n\nR7\n01/07/11\nRegistrar-General Act 1993\nEffective: 01/07/11\ncontents 1\nAuthorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel—also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au\nAustralian Capital Territory\nRegistrar-General Act 1993\nContents\nPage\n1 Name of Act 2\n2 Dictionary 2\n3 Notes 2\n4 Registrar-General 2\n4A Deputy Registrars-General 2\n5 Registrar-general a corporation sole 3\n6 No enquiry required about deputy registrar-general’s compliance with\ndirections 3\n8 Protection of registrar-general etc from liability 4\n9 Invalidity of documents 4\nDictionary 5\nEndnotes\n\nContents\nPage\ncontents 2 Registrar-General Act 1993\nEffective: 01/07/11\nR7\n01/07/11\nAuthorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel—also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au\n1 About the endnotes 6\n2 Abbreviation key 6\n3 Legislation history 7\n4 Amendment history 8\n5 Earlier republications 9\n\nR7\n01/07/11\nRegistrar-General Act 1993\nEffective: 01/07/11\npage 1\nAuthorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel—also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au\nAustralian Capital Territory\nRegistrar-General Act 1993\nAn Act to establish an office of registrar-general\n\nSection 1\npage 2 Registrar-General Act 1993\nEffective: 01/07/11\nR7\n01/07/11\nAuthorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel—also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au\n1 Name of Act\nThis Act is the Registrar-General Act 1993.\n2 Dictionary\nThe dictionary at the end of this Act is part of this Act.\nNote 1 The dictionary at the end of this Act defines certain terms used in this\nAct.\nNote 2 A definition in the dictionary applies to the entire Act unless the\ndefinition, or another provision of the Act, provides otherwise or the\ncontrary intention otherwise appears (see Legislation Act, s 155 and\ns 156 (1)).\n3 Notes\nA note included in this Act is explanatory and is not part of this Act.\nNote See the Legislation Act, s 127 (1), (4) and (5) for the legal status of\nnotes.\n4 Registrar-General\n(1) The director-general must appoint a public servant as the\nRegistrar-General.\nNote 1 For the making of appointments (including acting appointments), see\nthe Legislation Act, pt 19.3.\nNote 2 In particular, an appointment may be made by naming a person or\nnominating the occupant of a position (see Legislation Act, s 207).\n(2) The registrar-general has the functions given to the registrar-general\nby any law in force in the ACT.\n4A Deputy Registrars-General\n(1) The director-general may appoint a public servant as a Deputy\nRegistrar-General.\n(2) A deputy registrar-general may exercise any function of the\nregistrar, subject to any direction of the registrar-general.\n\nSection 5\nR7\n01/07/11\nRegistrar-General Act 1993\nEffective: 01/07/11\npage 3\nAuthorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel—also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au\n(3) A function of the registrar-general, when exercised by a deputy\nregistrar-general, is taken to have been exercised by the\nregistrar-general.\n5 Registrar-general a corporation sole\n(1) The registrar-general—\n(a) is a corporation sole by the name of the Registrar-General of\nthe Australian Capital Territory; and\n(b) has perpetual succession; and\n(c) must have an official seal; and\n(d) is capable, in the corporate name of the registrar-general, of\nacquiring, holding and disposing of real and personal property\nand suing and being sued.\n(2) The Minister must, in writing, approve the design of the official\nseal.\n(3) An approval under subsection (2) is a notifiable instrument.\nNote A notifiable instrument must be notified under the Legislation Act 2001.\n6 No enquiry required about deputy registrar-general’s\ncompliance with directions\nA person dealing with a deputy registrar-general is not bound to\nenquire whether the deputy registrar-general, in exercising a\nfunction in relation to the dealing—\n(a) was subject to a direction of the registrar-general; or\n(b) complied with a direction of the registrar-general to which the\ndeputy registrar-general was subject.\n\nSection 8\npage 4 Registrar-General Act 1993\nEffective: 01/07/11\nR7\n01/07/11\nAuthorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel—also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au\n8 Protection of registrar-general etc from liability\n(1) A protected person is not personally liable for conduct engaged in\nhonestly and without recklessness—\n(a) in the exercise of a function under this Act; or\n(b) in the reasonable belief that the conduct was in the exercise of\na function under this Act.\nNote A reference to an Act includes a reference to the statutory instruments\nmade or in force under the Act (see Legislation Act, s 104).\n(2) Any liability that would, apart from this section, attach to the\nprotected person attaches instead to the Territory.\n(3) In this section:\nconduct means an act or an omission to do an act.\nprotected person means a person who is, or has been—\n(a) the registrar-general; or\n(b) the deputy registrar-general.\n9 Invalidity of documents\nA document is not invalid on the ground that there was—\n(a) an informality in connection with the affixing of the seal; or\n(b) a failure to affix the seal.\n\nDictionary\nR7\n01/07/11\nRegistrar-General Act 1993\nEffective: 01/07/11\npage 5\nAuthorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel—also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au\nDictionary\n(see s 2)\nNote 1 The Legislation Act contains definitions and other provisions relevant to\nthis Act.\nNote 2 For example, the Legislation Act, dict, pt 1, defines the following terms:\n ACT\n director-general (see s 163)\n exercise\n function\n Minister (see s 162).\nregistrar-general means—\n(a) the Registrar-General under section 4; or\n(b) the Registrar-General of the Australian Capital Territory in its\ncorporate capacity under section 5.\nseal means the official seal of the registrar-general mentioned in\nsection 5 (1) (c).\n\nEndnotes\n1 About the endnotes\npage 6 Registrar-General Act 1993\nEffective: 01/07/11\nR7\n01/07/11\nAuthorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel—also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au\nEndnotes\n1 About the endnotes\nAmending and modifying laws are annotated in the legislation history and the\namendment history. Current modifications are not included in the republished\nlaw but are set out in the endnotes.\nNot all editorial amendments made under the Legislation Act 2001, part 11.3 are\nannotated in the amendment history. Full details of any amendments can be\nobtained from the Parliamentary Counsel’s Office.\nUncommenced amending laws and expiries are listed in the legislation history and\nthe amendment history. These details are underlined. Uncommenced provisions\nand amendments are not included in the republished law but are set out in the last\nendnote.\nIf all the provisions of the law have been renumbered, a table of renumbered\nprovisions gives details of previous and current numbering.\nThe endnotes also include a table of earlier republications.\n2 Abbreviation key\nA = Act NI = Notifiable instrument\nAF = Approved form o = order\nam = amended om = omitted/repealed\namdt = amendment ord = ordinance\nAR = Assembly resolution orig = original\nch = chapter par = paragraph/subparagraph\nCN = Commencement notice pres = present\ndef = definition prev = previous\nDI = Disallowable instrument (prev...) = previously\ndict = dictionary pt = part\ndisallowed = disallowed by the Legislative r = rule/subrule\nAssembly reloc = relocated\ndiv = division renum = renumbered\nexp = expires/expired R[X] = Republication No\nGaz = gazette RI = reissue\nhdg = heading s = section/subsection\nIA = Interpretation Act 1967 sch = schedule\nins = inserted/added sdiv = subdivision\nLA = Legislation Act 2001 SL = Subordinate law\nLR = legislation register sub = substituted\nLRA = Legislation (Republication) Act 1996 underlining = whole or part not commenced\nmod = modified/modification or to be expired\n\nEndnotes\nLegislation history 3\nR7\n01/07/11\nRegistrar-General Act 1993\nEffective: 01/07/11\npage 7\nAuthorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel—also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au\n3 Legislation history\nRegistrar-General Act 1993 A1993-63\nnotified 6 September 1993 (Gaz 1993 No S172)\ns 1, s 2 commenced 6 September 1993 (s 2 (1))\nremainder commenced 1 October 1993 (s 2 (2) and Gaz 1993\nNo S207)\nas amended by\nStatutory Offices (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1994 A1994-97 sch\n1 pt 1\nnotified 15 December 1994 (Gaz 1994 No S280)\ns 1, s 2 commenced 15 December 1994 (s 2 (1))\nsch 1 pt 1 commenced 15 December 1994 (s 2 (2) and Gaz 1994\nNo S293)\nLegislation (Consequential Amendments) Act 2001 A2001-44 pt 326\nnotified 26 July 2001 (Gaz 2001 No 30)\ns 1, s 2 commenced 26 July 2001 (IA s 10B)\npt 326 commenced 12 September 2001 (s 2 and see Gaz 2001\nNo S65)\nStatute Law Amendment Act 2007 A2007-3 sch 3 pt 3.85\nnotified LR 22 March 2007\ns 1, s 2 taken to have commenced 1 July 2006 (LA s 75 (2))\nsch 3 pt 3.85 commenced 12 April 2007 (s 2 (1))\nStatute Law Amendment Act 2007 (No 2) A2007-16 sch 3 pt 3.33\nnotified LR 20 June 2007\ns 1, s 2 taken to have commenced 12 April 2007 (LA s 75 (2))\nsch 3 pt 3.33 taken to have commenced 12 April 2007 (s 2 (2))\nStatute Law Amendment Act 2008 A2008-28 sch 3 pt 3.48\nnotified LR 12 August 2008\ns 1, s 2 commenced 12 August 2008 (LA s 75 (1))\nsch 3 pt 3.48 commenced 26 August 2008 (s 2)\n\nEndnotes\n4 Amendment history\npage 8 Registrar-General Act 1993\nEffective: 01/07/11\nR7\n01/07/11\nAuthorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel—also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au\nAdministrative (One ACT Public Service Miscellaneous Amendments)\nAct 2011 A2011-22 sch 1 pt 1.131\nnotified LR 30 June 2011\ns 1, s 2 commenced 30 June 2011 (LA s 75 (1))\nsch 1 pt 1.131 commenced 1 July 2011 (s 2 (1))\n4 Amendment history\nName of Act\ns 1 sub A2007-3 amdt 3.443\nDictionary\ns 2 om A2001-44 amdt 1.3602\nins A2007-3 amdt 3.444\nNotes\ns 3 sub A2007-3 amdt 3.444\ndef registrar-general sub A1994-97 sch 1 pt 1\nom A2007-3 amdt 3.444\ndef seal om A2007-3 amdt 3.444\nRegistrar-General\ns 4 sub A1994-97 sch 1 pt 1; A2007-3 amdt 3.445\n(3)-(5) exp 12 April 2008 (s 4 (5) (LA s 88 declaration applies))\nam A2011-22 amdt 1.376\nDeputy Registrars-General\ns 4A ins A1994-97 sch 1 pt 1\nsub A2007-3 amdt 3.445\nam A2007-16 amdt 3.139\n(4)-(6) exp 12 April 2008 (s 4A (6) (LA s 88 declaration\napplies))\nam A2011-22 amdt 1.376\nRegistrar-general a corporation sole\ns 5 am A2001-44 amdt 1.3603\n(4)-(6) exp 12 September 2002 (s 5 (6))\nam A2007-3 amdt 3.446\nNo enquiry required about deputy registrar-general’s compliance with\ndirections\ns 6 sub A2007-3 amdt 3.447\nActing appointments\ns 7 om A1994-97 sch 1 pt 1\nProtection of registrar-general etc from liability\ns 8 am A1994-97 sch 1 pt 1; A2007-3 amdt 3.448, amdt 3.449\nsub A2008-28 amdt 3.145\n\nEndnotes\nEarlier republications 5\nR7\n01/07/11\nRegistrar-General Act 1993\nEffective: 01/07/11\npage 9\nAuthorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel—also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au\nDictionary\ndict ins A2007-3 amdt 3.450\nam A2011-22 amdt 1.377\ndef registrar-general ins A2007-3 amdt 3.450\ndef seal ins A2007-3 amdt 3.450\n5 Earlier republications\nSome earlier republications were not numbered. The number in column 1 refers to\nthe publication order.\nSince 12 September 2001 every authorised republication has been published in\nelectronic pdf format on the ACT legislation register. A selection of authorised\nrepublications have also been published in printed format. These republications\nare marked with an asterisk (*) in column 1. Electronic and printed versions of an\nauthorised republication are identical.\nRepublication No Amendments to Republication date\n1 A1994-97 31 January 1998\n2 A2001-44 13 February 2002\n3 A2001-44 13 September 2002\n4 A2007-3 12 April 2007\n4 (RI) A2007-3 ‡ 20 June 2007\n5 A2007-3 13 April 2008\n6 A2008-28 26 August 2008\n‡ includes retrospective amendments by A2007-16\n© Australian Capital Territory 2011","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"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":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains tightly focused on its original purpose: establishing the office of Registrar-General, providing for deputies, creating corporate status, and offering standard administrative protections. The amendments since 1993 have been minor housekeeping updates (updating references to the Legislation Act, adjusting appointment mechanisms) rather than expansions of scope."},"complexity_factors":["Very short statute—only 9 operative sections plus a dictionary","Minimal defined terms (only 2 in the dictionary: 'registrar-general' and 'seal')","No nested exceptions or complex conditional logic","Simple structure: appointment, corporation sole status, liability protection, and document validity","Cross-references limited to standard ACT Legislation Act provisions","No substantive amendments altering core structure since 1993"],"plain_english_summary":"The Act creates the office of Registrar‑General for the ACT as the government’s chief keeper of land titles and vital records, establishes deputies, and gives the office legal personality as a corporation sole so it can own property and continue across incumbents. It also shifts legal liability onto the Territory for honest official acts and protects people dealing with the office, underpinning reliable registration systems."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The Act's scope has been modified since enactment by multiple amending Acts (see endnotes: 1994–2011). Amendments altered appointment provisions, added/clarified deputy registrar roles, established corporate‑sole status and an official seal, adjusted liability protection for officers, and updated dictionary entries; some earlier temporary provisions subsequently expired. These changes refine the office's structure, legal capacities and risk allocation compared with the original text."},"complexity_factors":["Short, narrowly focused statute limited to office creation and related formalities","Dependence on the Legislation Act for appointment mechanics and key definitions","Incorporation of corporate‑sole status introduces property and litigation capacity beyond mere administrative role","Statutory immunity shifts financial risk from individual officers to the Territory","Non‑enquiry rule and seal‑informality rule change third‑party transaction checks","Amendment history and some expired provisions require version checks for exact current effect"],"plain_english_summary":"This Act creates the office of the Registrar‑General in the ACT: the director‑general must appoint a public servant as Registrar‑General, may appoint deputy registrars, and the office is a corporation sole with an official seal. It protects the Registrar and deputies from personal liability for honest, non‑reckless acts and says documents are not invalid for seal informalities. It affects the director‑general (who decides appointments), the officers (who gain corporate status and statutory protection) and anyone dealing with them (who need not check internal directions)."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/registrar-general-act-1993","history":"/api/acts/registrar-general-act-1993/history","analysis":"/api/acts/registrar-general-act-1993/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/registrar-general-act-1993/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/registrar-general-act-1993/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/registrar-general-act-1993/documents"}}