Magistrates Court (Litter Infringement Notices) Regulation 2004

The regulation operates by applying the Magistrates Court Act 1930 infringement-notice machinery to a set list of Litter Act offences (s 7; schedule 1). Key legal and operational concepts in the regulation are:

• Infringement notice offence: an offence to which the civilised, non-prosecutorial option of an infringement notice is available under the Magistrates Court Act 1930, part 3.8 (s 7). The listed offences are set out by cross-reference to the Litter Act 2004 provisions in schedule 1 (see schedule 1, column 2).
• Vehicle-related offence and additional procedures: the regulation declares specified offences to be "vehicle-related offences" for the purpose of the Magistrates Court Act 1930, s 117 definition (s 7A(1) and schedule 2). Declaring an offence vehicle-related imports the additional provisions in division 3.8.3 of the Magistrates Court Act, which in the parent Act modify procedure for offences involving vehicles. Section 7A(2) creates a narrow exclusion where the vehicle is a public passenger vehicle and the offending person is a passenger; in that case the division 3.8.3 procedures do not apply.
• Prescribed penalties and corporate multiplier: schedule 1 records each infringement notice offence with an associated penalty in penalty units and an "infringement penalty ($)" amount. Section 8(1) sets the amount payable by an individual as the dollar figure in schedule 1, column 4. Section 8(2) prescribes that the penalty payable by a corporation is five times the schedule amount. The republished law also records the penalty unit values applicable at the republication date as an informational note: a penalty unit for an offence against this law is $160 for an individual and $810 for a corporation (Legislation Act 2001, s 133), whereas schedule 1 separately records penalty units and dollar amounts for each offence.
• Content and identification requirements for notices: the regulation prescribes additional content requirements for infringement notices and reminder notices. An infringement notice served on a company must include the company’s ACN (s 9(1)). Infringement notices and reminder notices must identify the authorised person who served them: for police officers, the service number; for other authorised persons appointed under the Litter Act s 14, either full name/surname and initials or a unique number assigned by the administering authority for this regulation (ss 10-11).
• Administering authority and authorisation: the administering authority for infringement notice offences arising under the Litter Act 2004 is the director-general for the Litter Act 2004 (s 6). The persons authorised to serve notices are either police officers or persons appointed as authorised people under the Litter Act 2004, s 14 (s 12). The administering authority may assign unique numbers used for identification on notices (ss 10(b)(ii) and 11(b)(ii) reference "any unique number given, for this regulation, to the authorised person by the administering authority").
• Reminder notices and associated cost: section 8(3) fixes the cost of serving a reminder notice at $34.

Operationally, the regulation is primarily procedural and enables a non-court, administrative enforcement path for particular littering offences. It sets who may issue notices, what those notices must say in specified respects, the monetary amount payable on an infringement notice, the corporate multiplier, and which offences attract the vehicle-related procedural appendices in the Magistrates Court Act.

The regulation affects identifiable groups in predictable ways through financial liability, administrative obligations, and enforcement procedure.

• Individuals who commit listed Litter Act offences: for natural persons the regulation makes a fixed monetary penalty payable by way of an infringement notice equal to the dollar amount in schedule 1, column 4 (s 8(1)). The schedule identifies particular Litter Act provisions; for example, Litter Act s 8(1) (dropping or leaving litter) carries either a $150 or $300 infringement penalty depending on the size/type of litter (schedule 1, item 1). Individuals also face the procedural reality that notices must be served by authorised personnel and must identify the authorised person (ss 10-12).
• Corporations and other companies: the regulation treats companies differently in two concrete ways. First, an infringement notice served on a company must include the company's Australian Company Number or ACN (s 9(1)). Second, a corporation’s infringement penalty is five times the schedule amount (s 8(2)). The dictionary confirms that "company" means company registered under the Corporations Act for the purposes of s 9(2). The effect is higher monetary exposure for corporate entities alleged to have committed litter offences.
• Police officers and authorised people under the Litter Act 2004, s 14: these are the people authorised to serve infringement and reminder notices (s 12). They must identify themselves on the notices by service number, name, initials or unique number as specified (ss 10-11). The regulation therefore imposes operational obligations on those classes of enforcers regarding record-keeping and identification.
• The administering authority (director-general for the Litter Act 2004): section 6 names that office as the administering authority for infringement notice offences under the Litter Act 2004. The administering authority has administrative functions that include assigning any unique numbers for authorised people, and generally conducting administrative processes under the Magistrates Court Act infringement notice scheme as applied to Litter Act offences (see s 6; ss 10-11 referencing unique numbers given by the administering authority).
• Drivers and vehicle users where vehicle-related offences are involved: schedule 2 lists Litter Act offences declared to be vehicle-related offences for the purpose of the Magistrates Court Act, division 3.8.3 (s 7A and schedule 2). That declaration subjects those offences to additional vehicle-related procedures in the parent Act. The regulation also excludes passenger offenders on public passenger vehicles from the vehicle-related procedural regime (s 7A(2)), which affects who is treated as the responsible person in vehicle-based littering incidents.
• Business operators and entities that may be targeted administratively: through the corporate multiplier and the ACN requirement, the regulation targets corporations and places administrative compliance burdens on businesses whose activities intersect with the listed littering offences.

Who ultimately pays: for individual natural persons, the fine amount listed in schedule 1; for corporations the fine is five times that amount. Reminder notice service attracts a $34 cost (s 8(3)), which will be payable by the recipient of the reminder notice under the statutory scheme in the Magistrates Court Act framework. Who decides: authorised people and the administering authority conduct service and administration; courts remain available where the Magistrates Court Act’s infringement scheme allows contesting of notices under part 3.8.

The regulation creates duties for administering authorities, authorised persons, and those receiving notices. It also embeds particular rights, procedural entitlements and cross-references to complementary statutory regimes.

Duties

• Administering authority: assigned by s 6 as the director-general for the Litter Act 2004. That office has duties implied by the Magistrates Court Act infringement-notice framework and specific administrative tasks in this regulation. For example, the administering authority may issue unique numbers for authorised people that may be used for identification on notices (ss 10(b)(ii) and 11(b)(ii)). The administering authority is the administrative point for the infringement scheme as applied to the Litter Act offences.
• Authorised persons and police: may serve infringement and reminder notices (s 12). They must identify themselves on the notices as prescribed: police by service number, authorised persons by full name or unique number supplied by the administering authority (ss 10-11). These provisions create a duty to include specific identifying details on both initial infringement notices and reminder notices.
• Companies: when an infringement notice is served on a company, the notice must include the company’s ACN (s 9(1)). This is an additional content duty over and above the standard requirements in the Magistrates Court Act 1930, s 121(1)(c), which the regulation references.
• Enforcement regarding vehicle-related offences: where an offence is declared vehicle-related (schedule 2 and s 7A(1)), additional procedures in division 3.8.3 of the Magistrates Court Act apply. That division includes procedural measures tailored to vehicle contexts. The regulation also imposes an exception duty on the enforcer: if the vehicle is a public passenger vehicle and the offender is a passenger, the vehicle-related provisions do not apply (s 7A(2)).

Rights and procedural entitlements

• Right to an infringement offer: the regulation makes specified Litter Act offences eligible for the infringement-notice route under the Magistrates Court Act 1930 (s 7). This is a statutory option that provides an administrative pathway in lieu of prosecution, as the explanatory note in s 3 indicates.
• Right to identification information: persons served with infringement or reminder notices will receive identification of the authorised person in a prescribed format (ss 10-11). That identification is a procedural right that supports verification and, where necessary, challenge.
• Right to company-identifying information: companies served with an infringement notice will receive the company’s ACN on the notice (s 9(1)). The regulation establishes the formal requirement that such notices must include that data point, which is relevant to corporate identity and enforcement.
• Financial clarity: schedule 1 and s 8 fix the dollar amounts payable by way of infringement notice, and s 8(3) fixes the reminder notice service cost at $34. These provisions give recipients definitive notice of the prescribed monetary consequences for specific listed offences.

Interaction with other statutory duties and rights

• The regulation operates within the Magistrates Court Act 1930 part 3.8 framework, so the general procedural rights, contestation options and enforcement mechanisms in the parent Act remain relevant (s 3, note; s 7). The regulation therefore does not displace statutory contest, payment, or court options available under the Magistrates Court Act.
• The dictionary and signpost definitions connect the regulation to the Litter Act 2004 and the Corporations Act for definitional matters. For example, "litter" and "level" are defined in the Litter Act 2004 and those definitions apply to the offences listed in schedule 1 (dictionary and notes).
• The definition of "public passenger vehicle" is drawn from the Road Transport (Public Passenger Services) Act 2001 (s 7A(3)), thereby importing a statutory meaning relevant to the s 7A(2) exclusion.

Procedural consequences not stated in the regulation

• The regulation prescribes content and service rules but does not itself lay out the consequences of non-compliance with those ministerial content obligations. The practical significance of, for example, a missing unique number or ACN is not specified in the regulation; any legal effect would be governed by the Magistrates Court Act procedures and by contestation in the relevant decision processes. The regulation therefore creates duties that can form the basis of administrative or legal challenge, without itself stipulating remedies or invalidity consequences.

Penalties

• Monetary amounts on infringement notices are fixed in schedule 1, column 4, and are payable by individuals as stated in s 8(1). The schedule records each offence in penalty units (column 3) and an associated dollar amount (column 4). For example, Litter Act s 9B level 1 (1 L or more but less than 10 L) is shown as 20 penalty units and an infringement penalty of $500 (schedule 1, item 5.1). The regulation explicitly makes the schedule dollar figure the payable sum for individuals (s 8(1)).
• Corporations face a defined multiplier: the penalty payable by a corporation under an infringement notice for a Litter Act offence is five times the amount mentioned in schedule 1, column 4 (s 8(2)). The regulation therefore imposes a concrete, legislated uplift on corporate financial exposure when compared with natural persons.
• Reminder notice service cost is set at $34 (s 8(3)). Under the infringement-notice framework, reminder notices typically follow non-payment and the $34 cost is a statutory additional amount for serving a reminder notice.

Enforcement actors and methods

• Service of infringement and reminder notices is limited to police officers and authorised persons appointed under the Litter Act 2004, s 14 (s 12). The regulation therefore vests primary operational enforcement capacity in those classes of enforcers.
• Notices must identify the authorised person serving them in a prescribed form: police service number or authorised person's full name/surname and initials or unique number assigned by the administering authority (ss 10-11). This requirement embeds an evidentiary trace on the face of the notice that enforcement agencies are required to provide and which a recipient can use if disputing the notice.
• The regulation is implemented within the broader Magistrates Court Act 1930 infringement-notice processes. Section 3’s note explains that part 3.8 provides a system intended as an alternative to prosecution. For vehicle-related offences, the additional procedures in division 3.8.3 of the Magistrates Court Act apply (s 7A(1) and schedule 2), which materially alters procedural dynamics where vehicles are implicated. The content of division 3.8.3 is not reproduced in this regulation but is incorporated by operation of the parent Act via s 7A.

Quantification and conversion

• The republished regulation includes an informational note that at the republication date a penalty unit for an offence against this law is $160 for an individual and $810 for a corporation (Legislation Act 2001, s 133). Schedule 1 also records penalty units for each offence. However, s 8(1) fixes the amount payable for individuals as the dollar figure in schedule 1, column 4. For corporations s 8(2) makes the payable amount five times that schedule figure. Practitioners should therefore use the schedule’s dollar column for computing the immediate infringement amount and apply the corporate multiplier where relevant (s 8(2)). The separate note about penalty unit values is background statutory data (see the "Penalties" note at the front of the republished document).

Enforcement limits and exceptions

• The regulation carves out a specific exception to the vehicle-related procedural regime where the vehicle is a public passenger vehicle and the offender is a passenger (s 7A(2)). In those circumstances the additional vehicle-related provisions in the Magistrates Court Act division 3.8.3 do not apply.
• The regulation does not itself create criminal convictions or imprisonment; it prescribes the infringement-notice alternative. The regulatory text does not specify the consequences of non-payment beyond the standard Magistrates Court Act 1930 mechanisms for dealing with unpaid infringement notices and reminders. Consequently enforcement beyond issuance (such as prosecution for non-payment or default enforcement steps) will follow the parent Act’s processes.

Record-keeping and evidentiary mechanics

• The mandatory identification elements for the server of the notice (ss 10-11) create record-keeping and evidentiary obligations for enforcement agencies. Including service numbers, names, or unique numbers on the notice should serve both administrative transparency and proof of proper service should the notice be contested.

This regulation is an implementing, procedural instrument that explicitly cross-references several other statutory regimes. The principal interactions are:

• Magistrates Court Act 1930, part 3.8 and division 3.8.3: the regulation applies the infringement-notice framework in part 3.8 to specified Litter Act offences (s 7). Section 7A declares selected offences to be "vehicle-related" offences to which division 3.8.3 (Additional provisions for vehicle-related offences) of the Magistrates Court Act applies. That parent Act supplies the overall procedural architecture for issuing, contesting, reminding and enforcing infringement notices. The regulation does not replicate those parent provisions but slots into them.
• Litter Act 2004: the regulation does not define substantive littering offences. Instead it ties the infringement-notice mechanism to specific Litter Act provisions by reference. Schedule 1 lists the Litter Act provisions (for example s 8(1), s 9B levels, s 11) whose contraventions attract an infringement notice under this regulation (s 7 and schedule 1). The regulation’s dictionary signposts "litter" and "level" to the Litter Act 2004, which controls offence definitions and thresholds (dictionary).
• Corporations Act and company law: section 9 requires that an infringement notice served on a company include the company’s ACN. The regulation’s dictionary clarifies "company" means a company registered under the Corporations Act (s 9(2) and dictionary). This draws company identification and corporate status into the administrative record.
• Road Transport (Public Passenger Services) Act 2001: section 7A(3) adopts the definition of "public passenger vehicle" from that Act for the purpose of the s 7A(2) exception to vehicle-related procedures, thereby importing an external statutory definition to affect whether division 3.8.3 applies.
• Legislation Act 2001: the regulation sits within the broader scheme of legislative drafting and republication governed by the Legislation Act 2001. The republished instrument carries editorial notes explaining editorial amendments under part 11.3 and explains the legal status of notes (see the front material and s 4 note). The republication also notes the penalty unit values in accordance with Legislation Act 2001, s 133.
• Magistrates Court Act 1930, s 121(1)(c): section 9(1) of this regulation is additional to the general content requirements for an infringement notice in the Magistrates Court Act 1930, s 121(1)(c), as the regulation itself notes. That is, the ACN requirement supplements parent Act notice content requirements.

Points for practitioners about cross-Act mechanics

• Determination of offence coverage requires cross-referencing schedule 1 to the Litter Act 2004. The schedule lists the Litter Act provision numbers rather than reproducing their text. To determine whether a conduct event falls within an infringement-notice offence, practitioners must consult the Litter Act for the substantive elements, the Litter Act’s definitions of "litter" and "level", and the schedule entries that map those definitions to an infringement penalty.
• Where vehicle involvement occurs, the regulation’s declaration of vehicle-related offences (s 7A and schedule 2) triggers additional Magistrates Court Act processes. Practitioners should consult division 3.8.3 of the Magistrates Court Act to see how evidence, service, and contest options differ for vehicle-related matters.
• The regulation’s corporate multiplier (s 8(2)) interacts with corporate capacity and the Corporations Act in practice; the ACN requirement (s 9(1)) supports identification and appropriate corporate citation in notices and any subsequent proceedings.
• The administrative roles referenced in ss 6, 10 and 11 mean that the director-general for the Litter Act 2004 will be involved in assigning unique numbers for authorised persons and in broader administrative handling of the infringement scheme.

The republished regulation includes an amendment history traced in the endnotes. The instrument has been amended repeatedly since its original 2004 enactment. Major chronological points and substantive amendment entries recorded in the republished law are:

• Original instrument: Magistrates Court (Litter Infringement Notices) Regulations 2004, notified LR 23 September 2004; s 1 and s 2 commenced 23 September 2004; remainder commenced 30 September 2004 (legislation history).
• SL2005-9 (Magistrates Court (Litter Infringement Notices) Amendment Regulation 2005 (No 1)): notified LR 5 May 2005; amendments commenced 6 May 2005 (legislation history and amendment history note s 10 was substituted by SL2005-9 s 4, s 11 substituted, s 12 substituted).
• A2009-1 (Dangerous Substances and Litter (Dumping) Legislation Amendment Act 2009): amending parts included at pt 4; notified LR 17 February 2009; part 4 commenced 17 August 2009. This Act amended schedule 1 among other changes (legislation history and amendment history).
• A2010-34 (Litter (Shopping Trolleys) Amendment Act 2010): s 6 of that amending Act made changes; notified LR 2 September 2010; s 6 commenced 2 March 2011. Schedule 1 was amended accordingly to accommodate amendments relating to shopping trolleys (legislation history).
• A2011-22 (Administrative (One ACT Public Service Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2011): amended s 6 among other provisions; notified LR 30 June 2011; the relevant part commenced 1 July 2011 (amendment history).
• A2014-50 (Emergencies Amendment Act 2014): included an amendment (s 24) that commenced on 11 November 2014 (legislation history).
• A2015-15 (Statute Law Amendment Act 2015): contained amendments affecting the regulation; notified LR 27 May 2015; specific amendments commenced 10 June 2015 (amendment history lists s 12 substitutions/amendments).
• A2019-39 (Litter Legislation Amendment Act 2019): made multiple changes to the regulation. The amendment history entry records: insertion of schedule 2 (s 43), insertion of s 7A (s 41), amendments to s 3, s 6, s 7, s 8, s 9, s 10 and s 11, and revisions to schedule 1 and the dictionary (s 39-45). The Act was notified LR 31 October 2019; most amendments commenced 1 November 2019 (legislation history and amendment history).
• A2023-27 (Transport Canberra and City Services Legislation Amendment Act 2023): made an amendment to schedule 1 (amdt 1.1). The Act was notified LR 7 July 2023; sch 1 commenced 14 July 2023 (legislation history).

Specific amendment mechanics recorded in the amendment history (endnote 4) include:

• s 7A was inserted by A2019-39 s 41 to declare vehicle-related offences and to provide the public passenger vehicle exception.
• Schedule 2 (Litter Act 2004 vehicle-related offences) was inserted by A2019-39 s 43.
• The dictionary entries for "level" and "litter" were inserted or updated by A2019-39 s 44 to point to the Litter Act 2004.
• Section 9 (contents of infringement notices,other information) was amended by A2019-39 s 45 to require ACN inclusion for company notices.
• Section 8 was amended by A2019-39 s 45 so that schedule 1 column 4 is the dollar amount payable for individuals and to insert the corporation multiplier. Section 8(3) fixing the cost of serving a reminder notice at $34 is set out in the republished law.

The legislation history endnotes provide commencement dates for each amending instrument. For example, the Litter Legislation Amendment Act 2019 (A2019-39) amendments took effect 1 November 2019. The most recent amendment recorded in the republished law is A2023-27’s change to schedule 1, with the schedule amendment commencing 14 July 2023.

Practitioners should consult the legislation history and amendment history entries (endnotes 3 and 4) for precise commencement dates and the specific provisions altered by each amending law. The republished law includes editorial notes indicating that the Parliamentary Counsel may have made editorial amendments under the Legislation Act 2001, part 11.3; these are administrative and do not change substance.

The republished regulation and its endnotes do not record any judicial decisions or litigation history arising from this regulation. The endnotes and the body of the regulation list legislative history and amendments, but they do not name cases or record appeals or decisions that interpret this regulation. The document therefore does not provide any precedent or judicial construction specific to this subordinate instrument.

From the text of the regulation alone, likely areas where litigation or contested review could arise are nevertheless identifiable because the regulation imposes procedural obligations on enforcers and prescribes mandatory content for notices:

• Sufficiency of service and identification: ss 10-12 impose specific identification content requirements on infringement and reminder notices and restrict who may serve notices. A typical ground for contest in infringement-notice regimes is whether service complied with statutory requirements. The regulation itself requires particular identifying elements (police service number or authorised person name/unique number). A failure to comply with those prescribed content items could be advanced by a recipient as a basis to challenge the notice under the Magistrates Court Act processes, although this regulation does not itself set the remedy.
• Corporate identity and ACN: s 9(1) requires an infringement notice served on a company to include the ACN. A dispute may involve whether the notice was properly served on the correct corporate entity and whether the absence or incorrectness of the ACN affects the enforcement process.
• Vehicle-related procedural application: s 7A declares specified offences to be vehicle-related for the purposes of division 3.8.3. The application or non-application of division 3.8.3, and the s 7A(2) exception for passengers on public passenger vehicles, could generate factual and legal disputes about the status of the vehicle or the actor’s role (driver or passenger). Those disputes would be resolved under the Magistrates Court Act procedures and ordinary judicial review processes.

Because no cases are cited in the regulation, any references to litigation possibilities here are predictive, rooted in the types of procedural rules the instrument enacts rather than in recorded adjudications. Practitioners seeking case law addressing the precise questions identified here must consult decisions under the Magistrates Court Act 1930 and any decisions that deal with enforcement under the Litter Act 2004, which are not included in the republished regulation.

The regulation appears straightforward, but several practical pitfalls arise directly from the text and cross-references. These are matters that can produce disputes, administrative error, or unexpected cost exposure.

• Corporate multiplier is explicit and large: s 8(2) makes corporate penalties five times the schedule amount. There is no discretion in the regulation to reduce that multiplier for corporations. Practitioners dealing with corporate clients must be aware that the statutory infringement amount for corporations is not the same as for individuals. The regulation also requires the ACN to appear on company notices (s 9(1)), which ties identification to corporate liability.
• Schedule presents penalty units and dollar figures; use column 4 for individual payments: schedule 1 sets out both penalty units and an "infringement penalty ($)" figure for each offence. Section 8(1) makes the schedule’s dollar figure the amount payable by an individual, and s 8(2) prescribes the corporate multiplier. Practitioners should not rely on penalty units alone to compute the immediate infringement amount because the regulation fixes the payable amount by reference to schedule 1, column 4. The republished law also contains a note about penalty unit values (Legislation Act 2001, s 133) which may confuse calculation if treated in isolation.
• Identification and service format are prescribed but consequences for errors are not spelled out: ss 10-11 require identification of the authorised person on the notice in specific ways. The regulation does not state the legal consequences of failing to include the required identification. That omission leaves room for disputes about whether a deficient notice is legally effective. Practitioners should treat compliance with identification requirements as an essential administrative step because the regulation provides the elements a recipient can point to when contesting a notice.
• Unique numbers assigned by the administering authority are a single point of administrative dependency: ss 10(b)(ii) and 11(b)(ii) permit identification by "any unique number given, for this regulation, to the authorised person by the administering authority". If the administering authority’s assignment process is faulty or inconsistently applied, identification on notices may be challenged. The regulation assumes an administrative process that must be implemented reliably.
• Vehicle-related designation interacts with passenger exception: s 7A(1) declares certain offences vehicle-related and subject to the Magistrates Court Act’s division 3.8.3. Section 7A(2) excludes passenger offenders on public passenger vehicles. Determining whether an offender is a passenger or whether the vehicle is a "public passenger vehicle" (a defined term drawn from the Road Transport (Public Passenger Services) Act 2001, s 7A(3)) can be factually complex. That complexity creates room for argument about procedural applicability.
• Reminder notice cost not indexed: s 8(3) fixes the cost of serving a reminder notice at $34. Unlike penalty-unit-linked fines, this is a fixed dollar amount that may require updating by legislative amendment to remain aligned with real costs. Practitioners should note that the $34 figure is a statutory number that could become outdated.
• The regulation relies on external definitions for key concepts: the notion of "litter" and the "level" definitions (referenced in schedule 1 item 5 and in the dictionary) are in the Litter Act 2004. To interpret the penalty attaching to a given factual circumstance, a practitioner must consult the Litter Act definitions and levels. Failure to do so may lead to applying the wrong penalty tier.
• The regulation prescribes who may serve notices but not what amounts of procedural discretion those persons have: s 12 confines service to police or authorised persons under the Litter Act s 14. The regulation does not elaborate on delegation, supervisory recordkeeping obligations, or internal approval requirements. Agencies must build internal procedures to ensure statutory compliance by their authorised people.

These "gotchas" arise directly from the regulation’s text or from its reliance on external statutory material. Because the regulation is procedural, its practical effect depends heavily on administrative implementation by the administering authority and on compliance by authorised persons. Where the regulation is silent about consequences, the parent Magistrates Court Act 1930 and ordinary legal challenge mechanisms will determine outcomes.

Below is a practical compliance checklist and recommended administrative controls derived from the regulation’s requirements and cross-references. The recommendations are grounded in the text and focus on reducing administrative risk and ensuring enforceability.

Essential compliance actions for administering authorities and enforcement agencies

• Assign and record unique numbers for authorised people: the administering authority (director-general for the Litter Act 2004, s 6) should implement a documented process for issuing any unique numbers used for identifying authorised people on notices (ss 10(b)(ii) and 11(b)(ii)). Maintain a secure central register linking the unique number to the authorised person’s identity. Ensure that authorised persons know how to use and record that number on infringement and reminder notices.
• Train authorised people and police on required identification format: ss 10-12 specify identification content. Training materials and templates should require inclusion of the police officer’s service number or the authorised person’s full name, surname and initials, or the unique number supplied by the administering authority. Use standardised notice templates that enforce those fields to avoid omission.
• Ensure ACN inclusion for company notices: s 9(1) requires that an infringement notice served on a company include the company’s ACN. Develop procedures for quick verification of company details prior to issuing a notice and mandate a company-check step in any enforcement checklist. If the target is a corporate entity, record the ACN on the notice and in the enforcement record.
• Use the schedule dollar figures for computing individual infringement amounts and apply the corporate multiplier where applicable: s 8(1) uses the dollar figure in schedule 1, column 4 for individual payments. Section 8(2) sets the corporation penalty as five times that amount. Build these calculations into enforcement IT systems and notice templates to avoid manual errors. Do not rely purely on penalty-unit numbers without consulting schedule 1 column 4 and applying s 8(2) for corporations.
• Embed the $34 reminder service cost in collection workflows: s 8(3) is explicit. Ensure reminder notices issued by the agency properly include the $34 fee and that accounts receivable practices reflect this statutory amount. Monitor the need for updating administrative systems if the fixed $34 is changed by later amendment.
• Integrate Litter Act definitions into officer guidance: the schedule references Litter Act provisions and levels (for example, Litter Act s 9B levels 1-3). Provide authorised people with quick-reference guidance to determine which "level" applies to a given volume or type of litter incident. Ensure authorised persons can identify whether an incident is covered by schedule 1 and which schedule item applies.
• Vehicle-related processes: where an offence is listed in schedule 2 and therefore declared vehicle-related (s 7A and schedule 2), enforcement procedures must conform to division 3.8.3 of the Magistrates Court Act 1930. Provide authorised people with the procedural checklist for vehicle-related offences and train them on the public passenger vehicle exception in s 7A(2). Incorporate steps to determine whether a vehicle is a "public passenger vehicle" as defined in the Road Transport (Public Passenger Services) Act 2001.
• Maintain contemporaneous service records: because ss 10-12 make identification of the server a required element on notices, maintain contemporaneous digital records including the server’s identity, unique number, service number, time, date and the location of service. These records will be important if a notice is contested under the Magistrates Court Act procedures.
• Use approved forms and preserve statutory content: the Magistrates Court Act s 121 and this regulation together prescribe required content. Use standardized templates that meet both parent Act content requirements and the additional items set out in this regulation, including ACN where applicable and authorised-person identification.
• Review and update templates after legislative amendments: the instrument has been amended multiple times (see amendment history). Assign responsibility to a legal or legislative liaison to monitor further amendments and to promptly update notice templates and operational guidance.

Advice for companies and private parties who may receive notices

• Check identity details on the face of the notice: confirm the listed authorised person’s identity (service number, name or unique number) and cross-check ACN details for corporate notices. If any of the statutorily required identification elements are missing or inconsistent with agency records, consider procedural steps to query or contest the notice following the Magistrates Court Act's processes.
• Be aware of corporate multiplier exposure: corporate entities should note that s 8(2) applies a 5x multiplier to schedule amounts. That means quick internal triage and, where appropriate, prompt engagement with the administering authority or legal counsel to determine whether to accept or contest the notice.
• Prompt response to reminder notices: reminder notices carry a $34 cost under s 8(3). Non-payment will usually trigger further steps under the Magistrates Court Act infringement-notice machinery, so businesses and individuals should check payment options and dispute mechanisms early.

Record-keeping and audit controls

• Maintain an audit trail for every infringement and reminder notice from detection through service and, if issued, payment or contest. The audit trail should include the authorised person’s identification, the Litter Act provision relied upon, the schedule item number, the dollar amount applied (using schedule 1 column 4), and evidence of service.
• Periodically reconcile the enforcement database against schedule 1 and any amending instruments to ensure that dollar amounts and item mappings remain accurate. Because the schedule has been historically amended, systems should not hard-code amounts without an update mechanism.

Implementation checklist for policy or municipal enforcement bodies

• Confirm the administering authority’s procedures for assigning unique numbers to authorised people and ensure the assignment process is secure and auditable (s 6; ss 10-11).
• Issue standardised infringement and reminder notice templates that incorporate all statutory content elements required by the Magistrates Court Act and this regulation, including ACN for company notices (s 9(1)), authorised-person identification (ss 10-11), and the correct dollar amounts (s 8 and schedule 1).
• Train authorised people in how to determine which schedule item applies, particularly for "level" determinations under Litter Act s 9B levels, and how to apply the vehicle-related procedural rules where schedule 2 applies (s 7A and schedule 2).
• Build financial controls so that corporate multipliers and reminder fees are automatically applied and recorded (s 8(2) and s 8(3)).

Following these steps will align administrative practice with the statutory text and reduce points of procedural vulnerability that can arise under the Magistrates Court Act infringement-notice pathway as applied to litter offences.