Currency (Royal Australian Mint) Determination 2010 (No. 2)

The instrument deploys three interlocking technical concepts: standard composition, standard weight with allowable variation, and dimensions and design coding. These are defined and implemented in the Schedule and explained by Part 2.

Standard composition

• Each listed coin is assigned a material composition in plain terms in the Schedule (for example “copper and nickel”, “copper, aluminium and nickel”, “at least 99.9% silver”, “at least 99.99% gold”). The phraseology “standard composition” is used in the table heading and anchors the material characteristic for each denomination and design entry (Part 1 table).

Standard weight and allowable variation

• For each listed coin the Schedule sets a numerical standard weight and a stated allowable variation in grams. For example Item 1 (20c) is specified as 11.30 ± 0.33 g; Item 2 ($1 in base metal) is 9.00 ± 0.28 g; Items 3-6 (silver $1 varieties) are specified as 31.635 ± 0.50 g, 11.66 ± 0.24 g, 31.635 ± 0.50 g, and 32.39 ± 0.80 g respectively; and Item 7 ($10 gold) is 3.133 ± 0.22 g. Those figures are the authorised mass standards and tolerances which a minting authority must meet when producing coins that fall within this Determination (s 4(1)).

Dimensions and shape

• The Schedule prescribes maximum diameter (in mm) and maximum thickness (in mm) for each item, and a shape code (S1) is used consistently across the Schedule to indicate circular coins. Maximum diameter and thickness are explicit numeric limits (for example 28.65 mm and 2.52 mm for the 20c coin).

Design coding

• The Schedule does not restate the full design in-line; instead it uses short codes for edge (E1, E2), obverse (O1-O3) and reverse (R1-R8). Part 2 maps those codes to detailed descriptions. For instance O1 is “an effigy of Queen Elizabeth II and the following: (a) ‘IRB’; (b) ‘ELIZABETH II’; (c) ‘AUSTRALIA 2010’”, while O3 is similar but with ‘AUSTRALIA 2011’. Reverse code R7 reads “a representation of 2 Allied rock wallabies positioned in front of rocks” together with inscriptions “ONE DOLLAR”, “1 OUNCE FINE SILVER” and the initials ‘WP’.

Preservation clause

• Section 4(2) is a non-derogation clause: the new Schedule’s specifications are not intended to override other determinations previously made under s 13A(1) of the Currency Act. The instrument therefore forms part of a suite of administrative determinations rather than replacing the entire existing regulatory framework.

Relationship to the Act

• The Determination is expressly an instrument made pursuant to subsection 13A(1) of the Currency Act 1965 (s 4(1)). The Determination itself defines the word Act within its text as the Currency Act 1965 (s 3), thus anchoring its operative authority in that primary statute.

Design content particulars

• The Part 2 explanations include textual elements that will appear on coin faces (for example numerals, words such as “1 DOLLAR”, centenary inscriptions like “100 YEARS OF AUSTRALIAN COINAGE”, and designer or signature initials such as ‘IRB’, ‘DES’ and ‘VG’). Some reverse designs include measured precious-metal declarations (for example R7 includes “1 OUNCE FINE SILVER” and R8 includes “1/10 oz. 9999 Au”), tying design content to bullion statements.

Taken together, these concepts make the Determination both a technical specification instrument and an authorised design register for the listed coin issues.

The Determination affects any actor who mints, distributes, handles, accepts, tests, processes or regulates the specified coins. The instrument itself names the Royal Australian Mint in its title, indicating the Mint’s involvement in producing coins that comply with these specifications. The text makes the coins the items “in Schedule 1” and associates them with denominations “specified, or taken to be specified, in the Schedule to the Act” (s 4(1)): that language links the Determination’s Schedule to the Schedule to the Currency Act 1965.

Specifically affected parties and the concrete ways they are affected, as indicated by the content of the Determination, include:

• Royal Australian Mint and any contracting minting agents. The Determination prescribes the exact mass, diameter, thickness, composition and authorised design features that minted pieces must display (s 4(1) and Part 1 table). The Mint is the practical implementer of those specifications.

• Coin designers and die-makers. Part 2 contains precise textual descriptions and inscriptions (for example O1 includes ‘IRB’, O2 includes representations of historic coins, R1 includes words such as ‘WORKING FOR ALL AUSTRALIANS’, and R7/R8 include bullion statements). Designers and die-makers must incorporate those elements where the specified design code applies.

• Distributors, retailers and cash-accepting businesses. The Schedule creates multiple coin types within the same face value ($1 appears across several items). Businesses that accept coins, and machines that sort or validate them, need to be able to identify and handle coins that vary in mass, diameter and design.

• Operators of coin-accepting equipment (vending machines, parking meters, coin-counting or sorting machines). The Schedule contains coins with identical diameters but differing masses (for example the $1 base-metal piece, Item 2, and one silver $1 variant, Item 4, both have diameter 25.12 mm and thickness 2.80 mm, but their standard weights and allowable variations differ). Such differences have direct operational consequences for weight-based and diameter-based validation systems.

• Banks, cash-handlers and remittance businesses. They receive and process the physical coinage covered by the Determination and therefore must be prepared for multiple authorised designs and differing metal contents.

• Bullion dealers, assay laboratories, precious-metal traders and their compliance advisers. Items in the Schedule explicitly state high-purity silver and gold compositions and include bullion inscriptions (e.g. “1 OUNCE FINE SILVER”, “1/10 oz. 9999 Au” in R7 and R8). That creates implications for trading and custody of coins that have intrinsic precious-metal value distinct from face value.

• Collectors and numismatic markets. The Schedule authorises commemorative designs (for example centenary inscriptions and historical coin representations in O2 and various R-codes). Collectors will be interested in the authorised designs and the documented specifications for provenance and valuation.

• Assay and testing labs and customs/ports-of-entry where metal content and legal authorisation of designs may be relevant. The Schedule’s explicit material statements and the obverse/reverse inscriptions tied to bullion weight create a nexus with testing and customs classification.

• Law enforcement and regulatory agencies that police counterfeiting and counterfeits. The Determination establishes the canonical physical and inscriptional characteristics used to identify lawful coins; enforcement agencies will use those standards as reference points.

The Determination is a technical instrument that does not, on its face, confer or alter private contractual duties between coin users and businesses, nor does it specify how any particular private actor must act when presented with a coin. Its practical effect is to define the authorised physical corpus of specified coins that the minting authority may produce and that handlers will encounter in circulation or in the bullion/collecting markets.

The Determination’s operative duty is to set and declare the authorised specifications for particular coins. The textual duties and rights arising directly from the Determination, as expressed in the instrument, are the following.

Obligations created by the Determination itself

• Specification duty: Under s 4(1) the Determination specifies, for each item in Schedule 1, the coin’s standard weight, the allowable variation, the dimensions, and the design. The duty is descriptive and prescriptive with respect to the technical characteristics of coins which fall within the items of the Schedule. Any minting done under this Determination will be expected to meet those specifications because they are the authorised specifications.

• Non-derogation of other determinations: s 4(2) states the Determination does not affect any other determination under subsection 13A(1) of the Act. This means the duty to comply with other existing determinations is preserved; the instrument is not expressed as exclusive or exhaustive over the whole field of coin specifications that might be made under the Act.

Rights and limits observable in the text

• Authorisation to adopt designs and inscriptions: By naming obverse and reverse designs in the Schedule (cross-referenced to Part 2), the Determination grants the authority to utilise the stated designs for the specified coins. The designs are described in Part 2 with precise textual elements that authorised coins should carry (for instance the inclusion of ‘IRB’, the words ‘100 YEARS OF AUSTRALIAN COINAGE’, or the bullion inscriptions such as ‘1 OUNCE FINE SILVER’). Those design descriptions operate as the authorised marks for the relevant coins.

• No express private entitlements: The Determination does not create express private rights of third parties (for example it does not say that a bank must accept a coin or that a retailer must treat it as legal tender). The instrument is a specification instrument made under a statutory head of power; private acceptance or payment obligations that flow from legal-tender rules are matters enacted in the Currency Act itself and not spelled out here.

Administrative scope and implementation

• The instrument operates through the power under subsection 13A(1) of the Currency Act (s 4(1)). The Determination does not, in its own text, allocate decision-making discretions to named officials, nor does it lay down administrative procedures. Its effect is technical specification rather than procedural grant.

What the Determination does not do

• The Determination does not contain penalty provisions, a compliance enforcement regime, or an administrative review mechanism within its text. It is limited to specification and to a saving of other determinations (s 4(2)). Any question about offences, penalties, or enforcement mechanisms must be resolved by reference to the Currency Act and to other general laws (the Determination itself offers no enforcement regime).

Practical compliance duty (implied)

• Producers and die-makers tasked with producing the coins will have the practical duty to ensure minted coins meet the stated standard weight ± allowable variation, dimensions and design elements set out in the Schedule. This is the functional effect of prescribing those features in a statutory instrument: coins produced under this authority should conform to the stated parameters.

In sum, the Determination creates a prescriptive standard-setting duty for the appearance and physical characteristics of the enumerated coins. It does not, on its face, create or alter private contractual duties or criminal penalties; those consequences remain governed by the primary Act and other statutes.

The Determination itself does not set out penalty provisions or a detailed enforcement mechanism. Its textual operation is to prescribe technical specifications and designs; it contains no clauses that impose fines, criminal sanctions, or administrative penalties within its four operative sections. Two points follow directly from the text.

No penalties in the Determination

• Sections 1-4, and the Schedule and Part 2 explanation, are silent on enforcement powers, inspections, seizure, or penalties. The instrument sets standards and preserves other determinations (s 4(2)) but does not itself state any enforcement procedure.

Enforcement framework lies outside the instrument

• Because the Determination is made under subsection 13A(1) of the Currency Act (s 4(1)), any legal consequences for producing coins that do not comply with the Determination , or for any prohibited conduct relating to currency , will be determined by the Currency Act and by other applicable Commonwealth criminal and regulatory laws. The Determination therefore functions as the technical benchmark that enforcement agencies and courts will use when determining whether particular coins meet authorised standards, but the power to punish, seize, or prosecute is not contained in the Determination text provided here.

Practical enforcement implications for stakeholders

• Enforcement and detection will be operationalised by agencies and bodies tasked with policing currency and counterfeiting. Those bodies will use the technical specifications in the Schedule to determine whether a coin is authorised. But the Determination does not itself specify the procedures (for example sampling protocols, measurement tolerances beyond the stated allowable variations, or chain-of-custody rules) that enforcement agencies must follow.

Due diligence implication

• For anyone creating, importing, or distributing coins that purport to be Australian currency, the absence of penalty clauses in this instrument does not imply an absence of legal risk. The appropriate response is to consult the Currency Act 1965 and any relevant criminal statutes or administrative instruments that set out the enforcement and penalty framework for currency offences. The Determination provides the technical norm against which compliance is assessed; the legal consequences of non-compliance will be those set by primary law.

In short, this Determination supplies the technical specifications used by regulators and enforcement agencies but does not itself create enforcement powers or penalties; those lie in the Currency Act and other statutes external to the Determination.

The Determination is an instrument that operates within the statutory architecture created by the Currency Act 1965. The instrument itself states that “Act means the Currency Act 1965” (s 3) and that the specifications in the Schedule are given “for subsection 13A(1) of the Act” (s 4(1)), making clear that this Determination is a delegated statutory instrument implementing the Act’s power to determine coin standards.

Interaction with the Currency Act

• Principal legal relationship: The Determination is authorised by, and must be read in light of, subsection 13A(1) of the Currency Act. The Determination does not replace or rewrite the Act; it operates as a subordinate instrument that implements the Act’s grant of specification-making power. Section 4(2) of the Determination also preserves the effect of any other determinations under subsection 13A(1), signalling that multiple determinations can co-exist and that this Determination is part of a broader web of subsidiary instruments.

Design-code and inscriptions as legal identifiers

• The Part 2 descriptions function as legally authorised identifiers for coin faces and inscriptions. Those inscriptions (for example ‘1 OUNCE FINE SILVER’, ‘1/10 oz. 9999 Au’, and designer initials such as ‘IRB’, ‘DES’, ‘VG’) interact with other regulatory areas where labelling, trade declarations and precious-metal representations matter (for example consumer protection rules about misleading statements, customs classifications for bullion, or taxation rules). The Determination, however, does not itself state how such inscriptions affect classification or tax status; it merely authorises the inscriptions on the coin faces.

Potential cross-over with bullion and trade law

• The Schedule’s explicit composition statements for high-purity silver and gold coins, and the bullion inscriptions in R7 and R8, create an intersection between currency specification law and the secondary market and regulatory frameworks for precious metals. While the Determination authorises the inscriptions and compositions, laws governing trade in precious metals, export/import controls, anti-money‑laundering regulations, or taxation will apply separately and are not addressed in this instrument.

Administrative and procedural separation

• The Determination does not itself create administrative procedures for the Royal Australian Mint, government purchasers, banks, or other agencies. Interaction with procurement law, tendering, intellectual property (for designer signatures), or contestable supply arrangements will occur through separate administrative processes not described here.

Practical interactions for supply-chain actors

• Coin-operated equipment regulations and standards bodies may need to adapt to the differing mass and dimensional parameters authorised by this Determination. Those adjustments are not mandated here but are a downstream legal-technical interaction: the Determination changes the set of authorised physical coin types that commercial equipment must accommodate.

Non-exhaustive effect on private law relationships

• The Determination defines authorised coin specifications but leaves private law (for example contract law) unaffected in its text. Whether a merchant must accept a particular coin in payment, or whether a private contract accepts coins of a given composition, remains a matter of the contracting parties or of the law outside the Determination. The instrument does not modify contractual terms directly.

In short, the Determination interacts primarily with the Currency Act (it is issued under its authority and preserved alongside other determinations) and secondarily with statutory regimes that govern precious-metal trade, anti-counterfeiting enforcement, customs and trade classification, and the marketplace for coin-handling equipment. The Determination itself sets technical norms; the legal effects and regulatory consequences often fall to other instruments and statutes.

The instrument identifies itself as the Currency (Royal Australian Mint) Determination 2010 (No. 2) in section 1, and states that it commences on the day after registration (s 2). The Determination contains no sections that record prior amendments, revocations or a sequence of versions within the text provided. The two relevant textual facts in the Determination are therefore:

• Title and numbering: The instrument’s title includes the calendar year (2010) and the numbering “(No. 2)”, which is an internal identification convention indicating it is at least the second such Determination issued in that year under the relevant statutory power (s 1). The numbering itself is part of how the instrument is catalogued but the Determination’s text contains no further internal amendment trail.

• Commencement: The instrument becomes effective the day after registration (s 2). The Determination therefore has immediate legal effect from that commencement point, with no staged or phased implementation timetable set out in its text.

What the Determination does not include about amendment history

• The Determination does not contain a schedule of prior instruments that it replaces or a “history” note recording earlier versions. It also does not list subsequent amendments in the supplied text. Where a practitioner requires a complete amendment history, the Determination itself directs attention to the legislative archive and the official Federal Register of Legislation for a chronological instrument history and for post-registration amendments or revocations. The instrument’s s 4(2) saving clause indicates that other determinations remain in force unless separately varied; it does not, however, state whether any earlier determinations were explicitly superseded.

Recommended verification step

• For clients and practitioners, the right practice is to consult the consolidated version on the official legislation register to see whether later instruments have amended or superseded any of these specifications, and to check for any explanatory materials (such as government notices) accompanying the Determination at the time of registration. The Determination itself provides a snapshot of specifications current as at its commencement date and does not provide an internal narrative of legislative history beyond its own title and commencement provision.

In short, the instrument is presented as enacted in 2010 (No. 2) and commencing the day after registration; the text contains no embedded amendment or revision history and users should check the legislative database for any subsequent changes.

The Determination as presented contains no references to litigation, judicial decisions, or disputes. It is a specification instrument and is silent on any litigation that might have arisen in respect of these particular coin issues. The document itself does not record court challenges, declaratory proceedings, or judicial review actions.

What this means in practice

• Because the Determination is a technical, subordinate legislative instrument, any litigation that could arise in relation to it would typically concern one of two broad matters: (1) claims that a coin produced did not comply with its authorised specifications (leading to a dispute about conformity, contract or statutory interpretation), or (2) judicial review or administrative law challenges to the procedural validity of the Determination under the enabling provision of the Currency Act. The Determination itself does not include notes about whether such proceedings have occurred.

How to find litigation (practical step)

• The absence of litigation references in the Determination means that a practitioner wanting to know whether these specifications have been litigated must search court databases, law reports, the Federal Court and state courts, and administrative law trackers for disputes referencing the Currency (Royal Australian Mint) Determination 2010 (No. 2) or the specific design codes and items described in the Schedule. The instrument does not supply a litigation history.

Summation

• The document contains no litigation history. For any decision-making that depends on whether the Determination has been judicially challenged or interpreted, an independent search of legal databases and court records will be necessary.

The Determination is a compact technical instrument, but the Schedule’s detailed specifications and the Part 2 design mappings create concrete practical pitfalls and points of potential confusion for practitioners, businesses and technical operators. The following are practical “gotchas” drawn directly from the instrument’s content.

Multiple coins with the same denomination but different physical properties

• The Schedule lists multiple $1 coins (Items 2-6) that differ in composition, mass and sometimes diameter/thickness. For example:
  • Item 2 ($1, copper, aluminium and nickel): 9.00 ± 0.28 g, 25.12 mm diameter, 2.80 mm thickness.
  • Item 4 ($1, at least 99.9% silver): 11.66 ± 0.24 g, 25.12 mm diameter, 2.80 mm thickness.
  • Items 3 and 5 are large silver $1 variants with diameters of 40.15 mm, weight 31.635 ± 0.50 g.
  • Item 6 is another large silver $1 with weight 32.39 ± 0.80 g and diameter 40.25 mm. These differences mean the same face value may have materially different masses and thicknesses. Coin-accepting and weighing technologies that rely on mass will need to be calibrated to accept multiple authorised weights for the same face value, and operators who assume a single physical profile per denomination will misclassify lawful coinage.

Same diameter, different mass (machine validation risk)

• Item 2 and Item 4 share identical maximum diameter (25.12 mm) and identical thickness (2.80 mm) but have substantially different standard weights (9.00 g versus 11.66 g). Vending machines that use diameter and thickness only will accept both; machines that use mass as a key discriminant may reject otherwise authorised coins or be unable to distinguish counterfeits.

20-cent and $1 size/weight relationships

• The 20-cent coin (Item 1) has a diameter of 28.65 mm and a weight 11.30 ± 0.33 g. A naive assumption that larger diameter equals higher value is not safe: the Schedule shows larger and heavier coins bearing lower or different denominations. Handlers must use the Schedule’s specifications as the authoritative reference rather than visual or size heuristics.

Bullion statements and face value mismatch

• Reverse designs R7 and R8 carry explicit bullion inscriptions: R7 includes “1 OUNCE FINE SILVER” and R8 includes “1/10 oz. 9999 Au”. These inscriptions mean the coin declares an intrinsic precious-metal quantity that may be materially different from the face value listed in the Schedule (for example the $1 silver coins and the $10 gold coin). Traders, insurers, custodians and customs authorities must allow for divergence between legal face value and market metal value. The Determination authorises these inscriptions but does not address valuation, export/import controls, GST or capital gains tax consequences.

Design-year and obverse variations

• Obverse O1 identifies the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II with ‘AUSTRALIA 2010’ and ‘IRB’, whereas O3 uses ‘AUSTRALIA 2011’. O2 is a composite design representing historical coins, including an effigy of King Edward VII and the words “100 YEARS OF AUSTRALIAN COINAGE”. The change in obverse years and designs can create provenance questions; collectors and cataloguers must pay attention to the obverse code and year to confirm issue dates.

Edge and security features

• Edge code E2 describes an edge of “14 segments, of which 7 are milled and 7 are plain”. This is an unusual segmented-edge specification that could be used as a security feature; machine sensors and human examiners should be aware that the Determination authorises segmented edge designs for particular items (E2 appears in Item 2’s Schedule entry), which may differ from continuously milled edges (E1).

Multiple reverse variants and letter differences (R4-R6)

• Item 4’s reverse field allows alternatives R4, R5 or R6. Part 2 explains R5 and R6 are variants of R4 that replace a letter in a square (S/B/M). Practitioners involved in cataloguing or authentication should note that some items permit multiple reverse variants and that small letter differences are authorised design variants rather than defects.

No enforcement text in the Determination

• The Determination does not specify enforcement mechanisms or penalties. Parties assuming the Determination itself creates an enforcement code will be mistaken; enforcement comes from the Currency Act and other laws outside the instrument. This separation can create an administrative “gotcha” for those looking for immediate sanctioning clauses within the instrument.

Immediate commencement

• The instrument commences the day after registration (s 2). That gives minimal statutory lead time between registration and legal effect. Operational actors (mints, equipment suppliers, banks) should anticipate a short window to update processes and equipment.

Measurement practice and allowable variation

• The Schedule provides an allowable variation for mass only (for example ±0.33 g). It prescribes “maximum diameter” and “maximum thickness” rather than a tolerance range for those dimensions. Practitioners who rely on bilateral tolerances must note that the Schedule sets maxima for dimensions and a ± range for weight. Measurement protocols must reflect those exact parameters.

Designer initials and inscriptions

• The presence of initials like ‘IRB’, ‘DES’, and ‘VG’ in obverse and reverse descriptions indicates that designer signatures are authorised elements. Authentication procedures should include verification of those initials as part of design conformity checks.

In short, the authoritative technical picture created by the Schedule contains many small differences across coin types that materially affect minting, machine validation, bullion handling and numismatic identification. Operational actors should not assume uniformity by denomination; instead their systems must reference the actual itemised specifications in Part 1 and the corresponding design descriptions in Part 2.

Compliance with this Determination is a matter of aligning minting, handling, acceptance and processing practices with the precise specifications and authorised designs in the Schedule and Part 2. The instrument commences the day after registration (s 2), so the starting compliance steps are immediate. The following practical checklist and procedures are grounded in the Determination’s text.

1. Confirm applicability and scope

• Identify whether a given coin falls within the items listed in Part 1. The Determination applies to “a coin having the denomination and standard composition mentioned in the item” (s 4(1)). Verify denomination and stated composition before applying the item’s specifications.

2. Minting and production compliance (for the Mint or contracted producers)

• Mass tolerance: ensure production target mass equals the standard weight given in the Schedule and that each coin’s mass falls within the stated allowable variation (for example 11.30 ± 0.33 g for the 20c, 9.00 ± 0.28 g for the base-metal $1).
• Dimensions: ensure coins do not exceed the stated maximum diameter and maximum thickness (for example verify 25.12 mm diameter and 2.80 mm thickness for the base-metal $1 where applicable).
• Composition: adhere to the stated standard composition (for example “at least 99.9% silver” or “at least 99.99% gold” where specified).
• Design fidelity: the obverse and reverse must match the codes cited in the Schedule. Use Part 2 to confirm the text and imagery to be struck (for example O1 requires an effigy of Queen Elizabeth II and the inscriptions ‘IRB’, ‘ELIZABETH II’, ‘AUSTRALIA 2010’).
• Edge and shape: produce the coin with the authorised edge code (E1 continuously milled; E2 segmented 14-segment edge) and shape (S1, circular).
• Quality assurance: implement measurement and inspection processes ensuring coins in a production batch meet mass and dimensional parameters; document measurement techniques and instruments used to demonstrate conformity.

3. Acceptance and processing compliance (for banks, retailers, cash-handlers, vending-machine operators)

• Update coin validation logic and hardware so that multiple authorised coins of the same face value (especially $1 variants) are accepted. Incorporate authorised mass ranges and maxima for diameter/thickness into coin validators.
• Calibrate scales and sensors to the specific mass tolerances stated, not to assumptions based on denomination alone.
• Train staff to recognise authorised designs and inscriptions using Part 2 as the reference. Include guidance on identifying bullion inscriptions such as “1 OUNCE FINE SILVER” or “1/10 oz. 9999 Au”.
• For coin-sorting and counting services, maintain separate categories for bullion coins and circulation coins where required by business rules (for example custody, insurance, or pricing).

4. Handling bullion and precious-metal coins (bullion dealers, custodians)

• Treat items displaying R7 or R8 bullion inscriptions as bullion-bearing coins. Maintain inventory, appraisal, insurance and storage policies appropriate to precious-metal content rather than face value alone.
• Where regulatory declarations are required (customs, trade, AML/CTF reporting), record the coin specifications (composition, weight, inscriptions) as authorised by the Determination.

5. Authentication and testing (assay labs, forensic examiners)

• Use the Schedule as the authoritative reference when comparing measured specimens to authorised weights and inscriptions.
• For borderline cases where mass is within the allowable variation but composition is disputed, use assay procedures to confirm composition against the Schedule’s “at least” purity statements.

6. Recordkeeping and provenance (collectors, auction houses)

• Maintain records that tie a particular coin to the Determination’s item code, including obverse and reverse codes and the coin’s measured dimensions and mass. This provides a defensible provenance trail against claims of forgery or misdescription.

7. Administrative compliance

• Recognise that the Determination does not itself specify penalties; nevertheless, ensure compliance with the Currency Act and consult that Act for the broader legal and enforcement consequences of non-compliant coins.
• Because s 4(2) preserves other determinations, ensure that compliance checks consider both this Determination and any other relevant determinations under subsection 13A(1) of the Act.

8. Operational timing

• The instrument’s commencement clause (s 2) means the Determination takes effect the day after registration. Operational entities should ensure any changes to production, machine calibration, acceptance policies or inventory practices are implemented to coincide with that commencement.

9. Document and communicate changes

• For internal and client-facing stakeholders, produce a compliance notice summarising the changes: item codes, weights and dimensions, design codes, and bullion inscriptions. Distribute to machine vendors, head office operations, branches and business partners.

10. Escalation and legal verification

• If there is doubt whether a particular coin conforms, escalate to a technical authority (for example the Mint or an accredited assay service) and document steps taken to verify conformity with Part 1 and Part 2.

Checklist summary for field use

• Step 1: Match coin to an item in Part 1 by denomination and composition.
• Step 2: Measure mass; confirm within stated ± tolerance.
• Step 3: Measure diameter and thickness; confirm at or below stated maxima.
• Step 4: Inspect obverse and reverse against Part 2 design descriptions; confirm presence of authorised inscriptions and initials.
• Step 5: Note edge type (continuously milled or segmented) and shape (circular).
• Step 6: For bullion inscriptions, apply bullion-handling protocols (valuation, storage, declarations).
• Step 7: Record measurements and actions taken; if non-conforming, segregate and seek technical/adjudicative guidance.

These steps align directly with the requirements and specifications set out in s 4(1) and in the Schedule (Part 1) and the explanation of symbols (Part 2). Compliance is achieved by producing, handling and verifying coins according to the authorised weights, tolerances, dimensions and designs identified in the Determination.