Crimes Regulations 2019

Law enforcement agencies. The Australian Federal Police, Australian Border Force, state police forces, and other law enforcement bodies carrying out controlled operations, assumed identity operations, and witness identity protection under the Crimes Act must comply with the corresponding law requirements specified in the Regulations.

Courts and prosecutors. Courts hearing matters involving forensic evidence must be satisfied that forensic procedures were carried out by appropriately qualified persons as prescribed by section 17. Prosecutors need to understand the spent conviction exclusions in Part 9 when deciding whether prior convictions are admissible.

Employers requiring criminal history disclosures. Part VIIC of the Crimes Act limits when spent convictions must be disclosed. The exclusions in section 20 of the Regulations (for work with children, specified bodies, and specified laws) determine which child-protection-related contexts remain outside the spent conviction shield.

Witnesses in protection programs. Section 13 (Part 6) specifies that members of foreign police forces may conduct video-recorded interviews with witnesses under section 15YM(1) of the Crimes Act. This is relevant to international mutual legal assistance contexts.

Federal offenders transitioning from custody. Federal offenders who may be eligible for pre-release permits under the State and Territory schemes listed in section 14 are affected by which schemes are prescribed.

The Regulations impose no standalone obligations on private parties. They prescribe the administrative detail within which the Crimes Act's obligations operate. Key prescriptions include:

• Forms prescribed under Part 2 for various Crimes Act provisions (section 5).
• Corresponding law tables under Parts 3-5 for cooperative law enforcement.
• Qualification requirements for forensic procedure operators (section 17).
• Exclusions from spent convictions for child-related work (section 20).

The Regulations primarily prescribe rather than confer powers. The key ministerial and Commissioner-level discretions under the Crimes Act are authorised by the Act itself; the Regulations supply the administrative content.

Under section 22 (Part 10, Miscellaneous), the Regulations prescribe which Australian Crime Commission (ACC) positions are delegates for the purposes of the ACC Act and the Crimes Act. This determines who within the ACC has authority to exercise specific Crimes Act functions.

The Crimes Regulations 2019 do not create offences. Penalties for conduct regulated by the Crimes Act (such as unlawful assumed identity use, forensic procedure non-compliance, or spent conviction disclosure breaches) are in the Crimes Act itself.

Forms. Section 5 prescribes forms for specific Crimes Act provisions. The forms in Schedule 1 must be used for the corresponding purposes. Forms prescribed under the former Crimes Regulations 1990 continue to apply under the transitional provisions in section 25 (Part 11).

Corresponding law recognition. For an operation to be recognised across jurisdictions, the Regulations must prescribe the relevant State or Territory law as a corresponding law. This is a threshold administrative requirement; if the State law is not in the table, it does not automatically qualify.

Spent conviction exclusions. The section 20 tables specify the persons, bodies, and laws excluded from the Division 2 and 3 spent conviction protections (under sections 85ZZGB, 85ZZGC, and 85ZZGD of the Crimes Act) to the extent those laws relate to persons working with children.

Crimes Act 1914 (Cth). The primary Act under which the Regulations are made. All Parts of the Regulations prescribe content required by specific provisions of the Crimes Act. Without the Regulations, many operational provisions of the Act could not function.

Proceeds of Crime Regulations 2019 (Cth). Sections 4A and 4B prescribe the Official Trustee's remuneration by reference to the remuneration under regulation 22 of the Proceeds of Crime Regulations 2019. This creates a cross-instrument link for the remuneration calculation.

Australian Crime Commission Act 2002 (Cth). Section 22 prescribes ACC delegate positions by reference to subsection 47(1) of the ACC Act.

Crimes Legislation Amendment (Serious and Organised Crime) Act 2010 (Cth). Division 2 of Part 11 of the Regulations is made under this amendment Act (section 3(2)), dealing with transitional matters.

State and Territory law enforcement Acts. Parts 3, 4, and 5 of the Regulations contain tables listing corresponding laws in each State and Territory for controlled operations, assumed identities, and witness identity protection. Changes to those State laws may require updates to the Regulations tables to maintain cooperative scheme effectiveness.

Crimes (Aviation) Act 1991, Criminal Code (Cth). Definitions in section 4 of the Regulations (aviation security offence, health security offence, maritime security offence) cross-reference specific provisions of these Commonwealth Acts.

Forms under the 1990 Regulations preserved transitionally. Section 25 of Part 11 provides that forms prescribed under the Crimes Regulations 1990 continue to be prescribed under the 2019 Regulations for provisions referenced in section 25. Practitioners and agencies using old forms should verify whether the 2019 instrument has issued updated forms or whether the transitional provision still applies.

Corresponding law tables can become stale. The tables in Parts 3-5 list specific State and Territory law provisions. If a State amends or replaces its controlled operations or assumed identity law, the corresponding provision in the table may no longer be accurate. The Regulations must be amended to update the tables; the courts cannot treat an unamended table as automatically updating.

Spent conviction exclusions are jurisdiction-specific. The section 20 table is specific to each State and Territory. A child-related employer in Queensland must check the Queensland laws and bodies listed in the table; employers in other States must check their own jurisdiction's entries.

Official Trustee remuneration cross-references Proceeds of Crime Regulations 2019. Section 4B links the remuneration calculation to regulation 22 of the Proceeds of Crime Regulations 2019. A change to that regulation will automatically affect the Crimes Regulations remuneration without any amendment to the Crimes Regulations themselves.

Federal law enforcement operation crossing State borders. The AFP initiates a controlled operation authorised under the Crimes Act 1914. The operation involves cooperation with NSW Police executing controlled activities under the Law Enforcement (Controlled Operations) Act 1997 (NSW). Before conducting joint activities, officers must confirm that the NSW Act's relevant provisions are listed as corresponding provisions in Part 3 of the Crimes Regulations 2019, since that determines whether the cooperative scheme's mutual recognition obligations apply.

Criminal history disclosure for child-related employment. A person with a spent conviction under Part VIIC of the Crimes Act applies for a position at a Queensland child care centre. The employer (a licensed provider under Queensland's child protection laws) is listed in the section 20 table of the Crimes Regulations 2019. The employer can lawfully require disclosure of the spent conviction notwithstanding the general prohibition in Part VIIC, because the position relates to working with children and the Queensland law under which disclosure is required is within the section 20 exclusion.

DNA sample from a suspect. Police investigating a serious offence take a DNA sample from a suspect under Part ID of the Crimes Act. The DNA buccal swab must be taken by a person prescribed in the column 2 of the section 17 table as qualified for that forensic procedure. If the officer taking the sample is not within the prescribed class, the sample's admissibility may be challenged.