Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Rules 2020

The Rules rely on and specify several recurring legal concepts from the Act. The following are the principal ones and how the Rules treat them.

Exempt arrangement (s 5). The Rules list specific kinds of arrangements that meet the Act’s definition of an “exempt arrangement”. They are limited in scope and phrased narrowly. Three principal categories are listed: (a) core foreign arrangements that solely concern sharing information or resources for managing a declared emergency in Australia, provided the arrangement is negotiated or entered while the emergency is declared; (b) foreign arrangements solely about minor administrative or logistical matters, with examples such as flights, accommodation, paperwork, visas, or timing of conferences; and (c) foreign arrangements solely dealing with child protection. The Rules also treat minor variations to arrangements already notified to the Minister as exempt where the variation is minor and does not alter the substance of the arrangement, and the State/Territory entity has previously given the Minister notice that it entered the arrangement (s 5(2)).

Core vs non‑core foreign arrangements. The Act distinguishes core from non‑core arrangements; the Rules then prescribe different notice contents for negotiating and entering core foreign arrangements (ss 5C, 5D, 5E) and analogous requirements for non‑core arrangements (ss 5F, 5G). The Rules therefore operationalise that statutory distinction by creating separate checklists for each procedural step.

Information content (ss 5C, 5D, 5E, 5F, 5G). The Rules prescribe a consistent set of items that must be included in notices: the title of the arrangement; parties; a brief statement summarising subject matter and effect; whether the arrangement will be legally binding under Australian law, under foreign law, or will not be legally binding; details of any requests that particular information be excluded from the Public Register together with reasons for that request; and, for each known subsidiary or proposed subsidiary arrangement, the same set of items (see ss 5C( a)-(e); 5D(1)(a)-(f); 5E(1)(a)-(f); 5F(1)(a)-(f); 5G(1)(a)-(f)). When copies of subsidiary or proposed subsidiary arrangements are held by the State/Territory entity, the Rules require that those copies accompany the notice (ss 5D(2), 5E(2), 5F(2), 5G(2)).

Public Register content (s 6). The Rules mandate what, at minimum, must appear on the Public Register for each foreign arrangement: dates of decisions made by the Minister in relation to the arrangement and, if entered, the date the arrangement was entered. Other information may be published by the Minister under the Act, but the Rules set this floor (s 6).

Prescribed foreign entities (s 5A). The Rules, by s 5A, specify that universities situated in Russia or Belarus are to be prescribed as foreign entities for the purposes of paragraph 8(1)(j) of the Act. That is a targeted designation affecting arrangements with those institutions.

Transitional requirements and timing (ss 7-8). The Rules set out the information required when notice is given about pre‑existing foreign arrangements (s 7). They also prescribe a 6 month period for giving notices for certain pre‑existing core foreign arrangements involving schools (s 8).

Expiry (s 9). The Rules will be repealed on 10 December 2026, so they are not indefinite. The compilation notes historic amendments up to 2 December 2025.

Conceptually, the Rules are a filing and transparency apparatus. They specify what must be told to the Minister and what must be recorded publicly, and they create categorical exemptions and a short, defined list of prescribed foreign entities. The Rules therefore translate the Act’s higher‑level governance architecture into concrete bureaucratic steps and documentary obligations.

Primary obligations fall on State and Territory entities that enter, negotiate, propose to enter, or previously entered foreign arrangements within the scope of the Act. The Rules repeatedly refer to a “State/Territory entity” as the actor who must give notices to the Minister and who must assemble the specified information and supporting documents (see, for example, ss 5C, 5D, 5E, 5F, 5G, 7).

Schools are a clearly identified subcategory. The Rules define “school” to include preschool, primary and secondary education (s 4). That definition is used in at least two ways. First, s 8 prescribes a 6 month period for giving notices about pre‑existing core foreign arrangements where a core State/Territory entity that is a school, or a core foreign entity that is a school located in a foreign country, is a party. Second, the 2021 Amendment (noted in endnotes) suggests targeted policy attention to education arrangements. Therefore the Rules impose particular transitional timing obligations on schools that have pre‑existing arrangements.

Foreign entities (affected by being prescribed). Entities located in Russia or Belarus that are universities are explicitly prescribed to be foreign entities for the purposes of paragraph 8(1)(j) of the Act (s 5A). That prescription has the legal effect of treating such universities as foreign entities under the Act, thereby drawing arrangements with them into the Act’s notice and approval regime, unless an exemption applies.

Minister and Commonwealth administrative apparatus. The Minister receives the notices and decides on whether to include requested exclusions on the Public Register (the Rules require State/Territory entities to give details of any information they request not be included on the Public Register and the reasons for that request,see ss 5D(1)(e), 5E(1)(f), 5F(1)(e), 5G(1)(f), 7(f)). The Rules therefore impose an administrative burden on the Minister’s office to receive, process and decide on those confidentiality requests and to maintain the Public Register with the minimum mandated content (s 6). The Rules do not specify timeframes for Ministerial decisions; those are located in the Act.

Parties to subsidiary arrangements. The Rules require disclosure of subsidiary arrangements or proposed subsidiary arrangements known to the State/Territory entity at the time of notice (multiple sections). This affects any third party counterparty to such subsidiary arrangements because the State/Territory entity must identify those parties and summarize the subsidiary arrangements for Ministerial notice and potentially public record.

Who does not have direct duties under the Rules. Individual private parties to an arrangement are not the parties required to file notices under the Rules; the obligations are imposed on State/Territory entities. The Rules also list exempt arrangements which, if truly “solely” about the exempt subject matter, remove the reporting obligation for the State/Territory entity (s 5). That exemption therefore reduces the set of affected State/Territory entities and their counterparties in those limited circumstances.

Finally, because the Rules prescribe procedural content rather than create new substantive powers or penalties, the primary compliance and administrative costs fall on State/Territory entities and the Minister’s office rather than private businesses, except indirectly through disclosure and potentially altered contract timelines.

The Rules create detailed duties to provide particular information to the Minister at different stages of dealing with foreign arrangements, and they establish limited procedural rights around confidentiality requests and register publication.

Duties to notify and contents of notices. The Rules specify the information to be included in notices to the Minister in these stages:

• Proposal to negotiate a core foreign arrangement (s 5C): required items are title, parties, brief statement of subject matter and effect, whether the arrangement will be legally binding under Australian law, foreign law or not legally binding, and for each known proposed subsidiary arrangement the same items (s 5C(a)-(e)).

• Notice before entering a core foreign arrangement (s 5D(1)): title, parties, brief statement of subject matter and effect, legal status (Australian law / foreign law / not legally binding), details of any information the State/Territory entity requests the Minister not to include on the Public Register and the reasons for that request (s 5D(1)(e)), and the same items for each known proposed subsidiary arrangement (s 5D(1)(f)). If copies of proposed subsidiary arrangements are held, those must accompany the notice (s 5D(2)).

• Notice after entering a core foreign arrangement (s 5E(1)): similar content plus the day entered and duration of the arrangement (s 5E(1)(d)), and copies of subsidiary arrangements if held (s 5E(2)).

• Equivalent duties for non‑core arrangements (ss 5F, 5G): ss 5F(1) and 5G(1) mirror the information items required for proposals to enter and notices after entering non‑core arrangements. Accompanying copies where held are required by ss 5F(2) and 5G(2).

The consistent duty to indicate whether an arrangement is legally binding and under which legal system means State/Territory entities must undertake legal classification of arrangements prior to notice.

Duty to set out confidentiality requests and reasons. The Rules require that notices include details of any information for which the State/Territory entity requests the Minister not to include on the Public Register, together with reasons (ss 5D(1)(e), 5E(1)(f), 5F(1)(e), 5G(1)(f), 7(f)). That creates a procedural right to request non‑publication, but the Rules do not grant a right of approval,Ministerial decision‑making power remains with the Minister under the Act. The Rules therefore create an evidentiary duty to justify confidentiality claims.

Public Register duty (minimum content). The Rules prescribe minimum content for the Public Register: for each covered foreign arrangement and subsidiary arrangement, the date of each decision made by the Minister and, if the arrangement has been entered, the date the arrangement was entered (s 6). The Minister retains discretion under the Act for any further publication. The Rules thus enshrine a right of public visibility to these dates, while allowing the Minister to consider requests to exclude other information.

Exemptions and variation. The Rules provide that certain arrangements are exempt arrangements, meaning the notice duties under the Act will not apply to them if they fall within the prescribed categories (s 5). For variations of already notified arrangements, a variation is an exempt arrangement for the purposes of subsection 13(4) of the Act if (a) the arrangement is a foreign arrangement, (b) the State/Territory entity has previously given the Minister notice it entered the arrangement, and (c) the variation is minor and does not alter the substance of the arrangement (s 5(2)). The Rules give an example (altering number of students in an exchange from 6 to 5). This creates a limited procedural right to exclude minor post‑entry adjustments from further notification.

Transitional notification duties for pre‑existing arrangements. The Rules specify what must be included when notice is given about pre‑existing foreign arrangements (s 7). For pre‑existing core arrangements involving schools, s 8 prescribes that a period of 6 months applies for certain transitional notification timing (the Rules operate “for the purposes of paragraph 2(3)(d) of Schedule 1 to the Act”).

Expiry. The Rules will be repealed on 10 December 2026 (s 9). That creates a timebound duty structure: obligations under these Rules persist only until repeal, but underlying Act obligations and other instruments (including replacement instruments) may continue. Practitioners should therefore treat the Rules as temporary procedural guidance linked to the Act’s notice and register system.

What the Rules do not do. The Rules do not themselves create criminal or civil penalties nor set timeframes for Ministerial decisions. They do not articulate the Minister’s criteria for accepting or rejecting confidentiality requests. Those substantive enforcement and decisionmaking mechanisms are located in the Act, which the Rules repeatedly reference.

The Rules are procedural and evidentiary in character. They prescribe what information must be included in notices and what must be placed on the Public Register, but they do not themselves create offences, sanctions, or enforcement mechanisms. The instrument repeatedly frames provisions “for the purposes of” specific paragraphs of the Act (for example ss 5C, 5D, 5E, 5F, 5G operate for purposes of particular paragraphs of the Act). That indicates that the Act supplies the enforceable legal framework and any penalties, while the Rules supply the content State/Territory entities must provide when complying with the Act.

Because the Rules do not set penalties, enforcement and sanctions for non‑compliance must be sought in the Act, which the Rules implement. The Rules therefore affect enforcement in two ways:

1. Evidentiary effect. By prescribing the specific items that a notice must contain and requiring copies of subsidiary arrangements where held (ss 5D(2), 5E(2), 5F(2), 5G(2)), the Rules create a clear checklist against which compliance can be assessed. Failure to include the required matters in a notice supplied under the Act will be readily identified. The Rules thus narrow factual disputes about what information was or was not provided.

2. Administrative burden and Ministerial recordkeeping. The requirement that the Minister include certain dates on the Public Register (s 6), and the concurrent requirement that notice must include any request for non‑publication and the reasons for it (ss 5D(1)(e), 5E(1)(f), 5F(1)(e), 5G(1)(f), 7(f)), create administrative obligations on the Minister’s office to process requests and manage the Public Register. Delays or failures in recordkeeping are administrative risks; however, the Rules do not spell out remedies or sanctions for those administrative failures.

Because the Rules are temporary (s 9), enforcement questions may become more acute near repeal if State/Territory entities delay compliance pending legislative or policy changes.

Practically, those advising State/Territory entities should look to the Act for the universe of enforcement powers, penalties and time limits. The Rules can be relied on to clarify what a compliant notice looks like, which can reduce exposure to enforcement action under the Act based on procedural non‑compliance. Where the Rules require a legal characterisation of the arrangement (whether it is legally binding under Australian or foreign law, or not legally binding), failures of legal classification could produce downstream enforcement exposure under the Act if the Act conditions differ by legal status.

In summary, the Rules themselves do not impose penalties. They create documentary duties that feed into the Act’s enforcement architecture, thereby shaping how compliance will be measured and how administrative enforcement (including Public Register publication) will play out.

The Rules function as subordinate instruments to the Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Act 2020, and their operation is expressly tied to particular paragraphs and schedules of that Act. Each substantive provision of the Rules begins by referring to a corresponding paragraph of the Act, for example s 5C is made for the purposes of paragraph 16(2)(c) of the Act, ss 5D and 5E for paragraphs 23(2)(e) and 29(2)(c) respectively, ss 5F and 5G for paragraphs 34(2)(d) and 38(2)(c), and s 6 for paragraph 53(2)(d). The Rules therefore operate as a procedural specification of the Act’s notice, reporting and Public Register requirements.

Interaction with the Act’s Public Register regime. The Rules prescribe minimum content for the Public Register (s 6). The Act itself determines who is captured by the Public Register requirement and the Minister’s discretion to publish. The Rules insert a baseline transparency obligation into that statutory framework by requiring publication of decision dates and entry dates.

Interaction with the Act’s schedule on transitional provisions. The Rules specify required information for notices about pre‑existing foreign arrangements for the purposes of Schedule 1 to the Act (s 7), and they prescribe a 6 month period in a particular class of cases for the purposes of paragraph 2(3)(d) of Schedule 1 (s 8). Thus the Rules tailor the Act’s transitional provisions for specific categories (notably schools).

Interaction with the Legislation Act 2003 and compilation practice. The compilation notes explain that First Parliamentary Counsel may make presentational changes under the Legislation Act 2003, and the endnotes include the instrument’s amendment and compilation history. That indicates the usual subordinate instrument and compilation mechanics: the Rules are a legislative instrument regulated by the Legislative Instruments Act and subject to the Register and compilation processes.

Interaction with privacy, administrative law and contract law. The Rules require State/Territory entities to indicate whether an arrangement is legally binding under Australian or foreign law, which implicates private law classification and possibly contract law,these are matters State/Territory entities must determine and disclose (ss 5C(d), 5D(1)(d), 5E(1)(e), 5F(1)(d), 5G(1)(e), 7(e)). The Rules also provide a mechanism to request non‑publication on the Public Register with reasons (multiple sections). Such requests will intersect with Commonwealth privacy and administrative law principles when the Minister decides whether to accept them. The Rules do not set the decision criteria, so the Minister’s decision will be governed by the Act and general administrative law.

Interaction with foreign law considerations. The Rules require the State/Territory entity to state whether an arrangement will be legally binding under a foreign law (multiple sections). That creates an interface between domestic procedural obligations and foreign law analysis; State/Territory entities may need legal input about foreign-law enforceability to make accurate disclosures.

Interaction with sectoral regulation (education). The Rules define “school” (s 4) and apply special transitional timing for school arrangements (s 8). That signals an intentional intersection with education sector regulation and administrative arrangements, and it may interact with existing State or Territory education statutes and bilateral education arrangements.

Interaction with international obligations. The Rules’ operation is to catalogue and record certain arrangements. They do not themselves alter treaties or instruments under international law. However, by bringing arrangements into visibility and requiring classification of legal effect, the Rules may affect how States and Territories position arrangements that intersect with Australia’s international obligations. The Rules do not provide immunity or create substantive international legal effects; they only prescribe domestic notice and publication procedures.

In sum, the Rules are subordinate to the Act and operate through it. They interact with administrative law, contract and foreign‑law analysis, sectoral regulation in education, and the Commonwealth’s obligations under compilation and legislative instrument regimes.

The compilation includes an endnotes section that records the instrument’s legislative and amendment history up to the compilation date of 2 December 2025. The Rules have been amended several times since registration. The relevant entries in Endnote 3 and Endnote 4 are reproduced and summarised in the instrument.

Key amendments and registration dates listed in the legislation history (Endnote 3) include:

• Original Rules: Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Rules 2020 registered F2020L01569, commenced 10 December 2020 (registration and commencement details in endnote table).
• Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Amendment (Education) Rules 2021, F2021L00212, commenced 8 March 2021.
• Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Amendment (Prospective Arrangements and Other Measures) Rules 2021, F2021L00229, commenced 11 March 2021.
• Amendment (Repeal) Rules 2021, F2021L01125, registered 17 August 2021 (commencement details in endnotes).
• Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Amendment (Foreign Entities) Rules 2024, F2024L01566, commenced 4 December 2024.
• Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Amendment Rules 2025, F2025L01463, registered and commenced 2 December 2025.

The amendment history table in Endnote 4 maps which provisions were added or amended by those instruments. For example:

• The definition section (def) was added by F2021L00212.
• s 5(1) was added by F2021L00229.
• Part 2AA and s 5A (prescribing universities in Russia and Belarus as foreign entities) were added by F2024L01566.
• Part 2A and Part 2B (procedural detail on negotiating and entering arrangements) were added by F2021L00229.
• s 7 was amended by F2021L00229.
• s 8 was added by F2021L00212.
• Part 5 and s 9 (repeal provision) were added by F2021L01125 and s 9 was further amended by F2025L01463.

The compilation preface and endnotes caution that uncommenced amendments may exist and that the compilation reflects the law as in force on the compilation date. The endnotes also record that First Parliamentary Counsel may have made editorial or presentational changes in preparing the compilation under the Legislation Act 2003.

Readers should therefore consult the Register for the current text and any subsequent amending instruments. The Rules’ explicit expiry date of 10 December 2026 (s 9) was added by amendment and is itself subject to amendment history (see the entries for Part 5 and s 9 in Endnote 4).

The compilation does not record any court decisions or litigation directly concerning these Rules. The instrument’s endnotes and amendment history list legislative changes but do not reference judicial consideration. The Rules are procedural subordinate legislation that prescribes content of notices and Public Register entries; litigation about these provisions would most likely concern administrative decisions under the Act (for example, disputes about Ministerial decisions on confidentiality or compliance with notice requirements), but no such litigation is recorded in the compilation.

Practitioners seeking case law should therefore:

• Review decisions interpreting the Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Act 2020, since any enforcement or adjudication of obligations will be under the Act and associated ministerial decisions. The Rules themselves are evidence of what a compliant notice must contain, and courts will likely treat them as authoritative instruments for interpreting the Act’s notice and publication obligations.
• Monitor administrative law decisions involving Ministerial exercise of power under the Act, particularly decisions on exclusion from the Public Register or on approval/refusal of arrangements, because those will shape how courts treat the Act‑Rules interaction.
• Check the Federal Court, Federal Circuit Court and administrative decisions lists for any challenges to Ministerial decisions, especially given that the Rules require State/Territory entities to request non‑publication and to provide reasons; an adverse decision could lead to judicial review proceedings.

Because the compilation shows no litigation history for the instrument itself, any litigation analysis must start from the Act and the Ministerial decisions that apply the Rules. The absence of recorded litigation in the endnotes is not evidence that litigation will not occur; it simply records that as at the compilation date no decisions directly concerning the instrument have been included in the compilation's endnotes.

The Rules are compact but contain several points that can catch practitioners who do not read them closely.

1. “Solely” in exemptions is narrow (s 5(1)). Each exemption uses the word “solely” to describe the subject matter of the arrangement. If an arrangement combines exempt elements (for example, emergency management cooperation) with non‑exempt elements (such as personnel exchange or technology transfer), the exemption may not apply. The excused categories are limited to: emergency management during a declared emergency, minor administrative/logistical matters, or child protection. Practitioners should not assume broad coverage; the exemption requires that the arrangement deal solely with the exempt matter.

2. Minor variations exemption requires prior notice of entry (s 5(2)). A variation is only an exempt arrangement if the original arrangement was a foreign arrangement, the State/Territory entity has already given the Minister notice that it entered the arrangement, and the variation is minor and does not alter the substance of the arrangement. The State/Territory entity must therefore have complied previously with the Act’s notice requirements to rely on this exemption for a variation.

3. Confidentiality request requires reasons but Minister’s decision criteria are not in the Rules (ss 5D(1)(e), 5E(1)(f), 5F(1)(e), 5G(1)(f), 7(f)). The Rules require the State/Territory entity to include reasons why specific information should not be placed on the Public Register. The Rules do not specify the legal test or criteria the Minister will apply when deciding such requests; those criteria come from the Act and administrative law. State/Territory entities should therefore provide robust reasons and evidence to support requests, because the Rules create an expectation that reasons will be presented but do not guarantee non‑publication.

4. Legal characterisation obligation (multiple sections). Notices must state whether an arrangement is legally binding under Australian law, legally binding under a foreign law, or not legally binding (ss 5C(d), 5D(1)(d), 5E(1)(e), 5F(1)(d), 5G(1)(e), 7(e)). Determining whether an arrangement is legally binding under foreign law requires legal analysis and inputs from counsel with foreign‑law expertise when necessary. Inaccurate classification could undermine the notice’s adequacy.

5. Subsidiary arrangements must be disclosed and copies provided if held (ss 5C(e), 5D(1)(f), 5D(2), 5E(1)(g), 5E(2), 5F(1)(f), 5F(2), 5G(1)(g), 5G(2), 7(g)). State/Territory entities must identify subsidiary and proposed subsidiary arrangements “known” to them and include required items for each. If a copy of a subsidiary or proposed subsidiary arrangement is held, it must accompany the notice. This requires thorough internal diligence across divisions and counterparty records.

6. Public Register minimum content is limited to decision and entry dates (s 6). Practitioners may assume the Public Register will contain more detail; the Rules prescribe only that the Minister must include, for each foreign arrangement and subsidiary arrangement, the date of the Minister’s decision and, if the arrangement has been entered, the date it was entered. Other substantive details may be published at the Minister’s discretion under the Act. State/Territory entities should not assume automatic full public disclosure, but they should prepare for the likelihood that decision and entry dates will be publicly visible.

7. Timebound nature of the Rules (s 9). These Rules are set to be repealed on 10 December 2026. Consequences include potential discontinuity in notice form and Public Register content if the instrument is not replaced. State/Territory entities must track whether the Rules will be extended, replaced, or whether the Act will be supplemented with different procedural instruments.

8. Targeted prescription of foreign entities (s 5A). Universities located in Russia or Belarus are specifically prescribed as foreign entities. This is a narrow catalogue change that will capture arrangements with those institutions. Practitioners should not assume the list is exhaustive and should monitor further prescriptions made under the Act.

9. Transitional timing for schools (s 8). A special 6 month period is prescribed for pre‑existing core foreign arrangements if a core State/Territory entity that is a school or a core foreign entity that is a school is a party. Missing this period could create late notice issues. Practitioners in education must calculate transitional deadlines carefully.

10. The Rules do not set time limits for Ministerial action. While the Rules focus on what must be supplied, they do not prescribe how quickly the Minister must decide on notices or confidentiality requests. Timing and potential suspensive effects therefore depend on the Act and administrative practice.

In practice, the primary operational risks are inadequate internal diligence on subsidiary arrangements, misclassification of legal effect, incomplete reasoning for confidentiality requests, and failing to monitor the Rules’ expiry date and amendment history.

The Rules create a clear, itemised checklist for the information State/Territory entities must provide to the Minister at each stage. To comply, advisers and compliance officers should follow a structured workflow and document retention practice. The following is a practical compliance checklist framed to reflect the Rules’ requirements.

1. Early triage: classify the arrangement.

• Determine whether the arrangement is a foreign arrangement that falls under the Act. If there is doubt, seek legal advice on the Act’s coverage. The Rules operate only “for the purposes of” particular provisions of the Act (for example ss 5C and 5D for core arrangements).
• Decide whether the arrangement is “core” or “non‑core” under the Act. The Rules provide separate notice contents for core (ss 5C, 5D, 5E) and for non‑core (ss 5F, 5G) arrangements. Apply the correct subchecklist.

2. Check for exemptions (s 5).

• Assess whether the arrangement “solely” deals with the sharing of information or resources for management of a declared emergency in Australia, solely deals with minor administrative or logistical matters (flights, accommodation, paperwork, visas, timing of conferences, etc.), or solely deals with child protection. If so, the arrangement meets the Rules’ exempt arrangement categories and notice obligations under the Act may not apply.
• If the arrangement is a variation to an arrangement previously notified as entered, check whether the variation is minor and does not alter the substance. If the original arrangement was notified to the Minister, the variation may be exempt (s 5(2)).

3. Assemble required information for notices.

• Use the prescribed fields for the relevant stage:
  • Proposal to negotiate core arrangement (s 5C): title; parties; brief statement of subject matter and effect; whether legally binding under Australian law/foreign law/not legally binding; for each known proposed subsidiary arrangement, provide the same four items.
  • Proposal to enter core arrangement (s 5D(1)): same as above plus (e) details of any information the State/Territory entity requests not be included on the Public Register and reasons; include copies of proposed subsidiary arrangements if held (s 5D(2)).
  • Notice after entering (s 5E(1)): include the day entered and duration (s 5E(1)(d)) and accompanying copies of subsidiary arrangements if held (s 5E(2)).
  • Mirror these steps for non‑core arrangements under ss 5F and 5G.
• Ensure statements summarising subject matter and effect are succinct but legally accurate.

4. Legal classification.

• For each arrangement, obtain legal advice to classify whether it will be legally binding under Australian law, under foreign law, or not legally binding. Document the basis for that classification, including any foreign‑law advice if necessary (multiple sections require this information).

5. Subsidiary arrangements diligence.

• Conduct internal searches to identify any subsidiary or proposed subsidiary arrangements “known” to the State/Territory entity. For each such arrangement, extract title, parties, brief statement, legal status, and whether a copy is held. Include copies with the notice when held (ss 5D(2), 5E(2), 5F(2), 5G(2)).

6. Confidentiality requests.

• If you wish to request non‑publication of information on the Public Register, prepare a detailed justification that addresses sensitivity and public interest considerations. The Rules require particulars and reasons for such requests (see ss 5D(1)(e), 5E(1)(f), 5F(1)(e), 5G(1)(f), 7(f)). Maintain contemporaneous records supporting the reasons.

7. Pre‑existing arrangements.

• If giving notice about a pre‑existing foreign arrangement, include the items specified in s 7: title, parties, statement of subject matter and effect, day entered and duration, legal status, details of any request not to include information on the Public Register and reasons, and for each subsidiary arrangement the information in paragraphs (e) and (f) (s 7(a)-(g)).
• If the arrangement is a pre‑existing core arrangement involving a school, calculate the prescribed 6 month period for giving the notice under s 8.

8. Recordkeeping and internal signoffs.

• Create templates mirroring the Rules’ prescribed items and require legal signoff on legal status declarations and justification for confidentiality requests.
• Keep copies of all notices and any subsidiary documents that were not supplied to the Minister for internal audit and potential administrative review. The Rules make the presence of such copies relevant to whether they must be supplied (if held).

9. Public Register awareness.

• Prepare for the Public Register to include Ministerial decision dates and the date the arrangement was entered (s 6). Although the Rules specify only these minimum data points, be ready for Ministerial publication of additional information under the Act.
• Where confidentiality is requested, monitor any Ministerial decision and be prepared to seek administrative review if a request to exclude is refused, relying on the Act and administrative law as appropriate.

10. Monitor statutory changes and expiry.

• The Rules include an explicit repeal date of 10 December 2026 (s 9). Track amendments recorded in the endnotes and any new instruments on the Register that could replace or extend the Rules. Update internal procedures accordingly.

11. Practical project management.

• Assign an internal project manager for each arrangement to coordinate legal, policy, and records teams in gathering the required items. The Rules’ repeated need for “brief statements”, legal characterisation and copies of subsidiary arrangements means cross‑agency coordination is essential to avoid incomplete notices.

12. Seek pre‑notice legal review.

• Given that the Rules do not set Ministerial decision criteria for confidentiality but do require reasons, obtain legal advice on likely grounds for non‑publication under the Act and administrative law. Draft reasons that align with those grounds.

Following this operational checklist will align a State/Territory entity’s internal processes with the Rules’ procedural content. Because the Rules implement the Act’s obligations, compliance requires attention to both instruments and to the Minister’s practice in handling notices, confidentiality requests and Public Register entries.