Australian Capital Territory
Registrar-General Act 1993
A1993-63
Republication No 7
Effective: 1 July 2011
Republication date: 1 July 2011
Last amendment made by A2011-22
Authorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel
Authorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel—also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au
About this republication
The republished law
This is a republication of the Registrar-General Act 1993 (including any amendment made
under the Legislation Act 2001, part 11.3 (Editorial changes)) as in force on 1 July 2011. It also
includes any commencement, amendment, repeal or expiry affecting this republished law to 1
July 2011.
The legislation history and amendment history of the republished law are set out in endnotes 3
and 4.
Kinds of republications
The Parliamentary Counsel’s Office prepares 2 kinds of republications of ACT laws (see the
ACT legislation register at www.legislation.act.gov.au):
authorised republications to which the Legislation Act 2001 applies
unauthorised republications.
The status of this republication appears on the bottom of each page.
Editorial changes
The Legislation Act 2001, part 11.3 authorises the Parliamentary Counsel to make editorial
amendments and other changes of a formal nature when preparing a law for republication.
Editorial changes do not change the effect of the law, but have effect as if they had been made
by an Act commencing on the republication date (see Legislation Act 2001, s 115 and s 117).
The changes are made if the Parliamentary Counsel considers they are desirable to bring the law
into line, or more closely into line, with current legislative drafting practice.
This republication does not include amendments made under part 11.3 (see endnote 1).
Uncommenced provisions and amendments
If a provision of the republished law has not commenced, the symbol U appears immediately
before the provision heading. Any uncommenced amendments that affect this republished law
are accessible on the ACT legislation register (www.legislation.act.gov.au). For more
information, see the home page for this law on the register.
Modifications
If a provision of the republished law is affected by a current modification, the symbol M
appears immediately before the provision heading. The text of the modifying provision appears
in the endnotes. For the legal status of modifications, see the Legislation Act 2001, section 95.
Penalties
At the republication date, the value of a penalty unit for an offence against this law is $110 for
an individual and $550 for a corporation (see Legislation Act 2001, s 133).
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contents 1
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Australian Capital Territory
Registrar-General Act 1993
Contents
Page
1 Name of Act 2
2 Dictionary 2
3 Notes 2
4 Registrar-General 2
4A Deputy Registrars-General 2
5 Registrar-general a corporation sole 3
6 No enquiry required about deputy registrar-general’s compliance with
directions 3
8 Protection of registrar-general etc from liability 4
9 Invalidity of documents 4
Dictionary 5
Endnotes
Contents
Page
contents 2 Registrar-General Act 1993
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1 About the endnotes 6
2 Abbreviation key 6
3 Legislation history 7
4 Amendment history 8
5 Earlier republications 9
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Australian Capital Territory
Registrar-General Act 1993
An Act to establish an office of registrar-general
Section 1
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1 Name of Act
This Act is the Registrar-General Act 1993.
2 Dictionary
The dictionary at the end of this Act is part of this Act.
Note 1 The dictionary at the end of this Act defines certain terms used in this
Act.
Note 2 A definition in the dictionary applies to the entire Act unless the
definition, or another provision of the Act, provides otherwise or the
contrary intention otherwise appears (see Legislation Act, s 155 and
s 156 (1)).
3 Notes
A note included in this Act is explanatory and is not part of this Act.
Note See the Legislation Act, s 127 (1), (4) and (5) for the legal status of
notes.
4 Registrar-General
(1) The director-general must appoint a public servant as the
Registrar-General.
Note 1 For the making of appointments (including acting appointments), see
the Legislation Act, pt 19.3.
Note 2 In particular, an appointment may be made by naming a person or
nominating the occupant of a position (see Legislation Act, s 207).
(2) The registrar-general has the functions given to the registrar-general
by any law in force in the ACT.
4A Deputy Registrars-General
(1) The director-general may appoint a public servant as a Deputy
Registrar-General.
(2) A deputy registrar-general may exercise any function of the
registrar, subject to any direction of the registrar-general.
Section 5
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(3) A function of the registrar-general, when exercised by a deputy
registrar-general, is taken to have been exercised by the
registrar-general.
5 Registrar-general a corporation sole
(1) The registrar-general—
(a) is a corporation sole by the name of the Registrar-General of
the Australian Capital Territory; and
(b) has perpetual succession; and
(c) must have an official seal; and
(d) is capable, in the corporate name of the registrar-general, of
acquiring, holding and disposing of real and personal property
and suing and being sued.
(2) The Minister must, in writing, approve the design of the official
seal.
(3) An approval under subsection (2) is a notifiable instrument.
Note A notifiable instrument must be notified under the Legislation Act 2001.
6 No enquiry required about deputy registrar-general’s
compliance with directions
A person dealing with a deputy registrar-general is not bound to
enquire whether the deputy registrar-general, in exercising a
function in relation to the dealing—
(a) was subject to a direction of the registrar-general; or
(b) complied with a direction of the registrar-general to which the
deputy registrar-general was subject.
Section 8
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8 Protection of registrar-general etc from liability
(1) A protected person is not personally liable for conduct engaged in
honestly and without recklessness—
(a) in the exercise of a function under this Act; or
(b) in the reasonable belief that the conduct was in the exercise of
a function under this Act.
Note A reference to an Act includes a reference to the statutory instruments
made or in force under the Act (see Legislation Act, s 104).
(2) Any liability that would, apart from this section, attach to the
protected person attaches instead to the Territory.
(3) In this section:
conduct means an act or an omission to do an act.
protected person means a person who is, or has been—
(a) the registrar-general; or
(b) the deputy registrar-general.
9 Invalidity of documents
A document is not invalid on the ground that there was—
(a) an informality in connection with the affixing of the seal; or
(b) a failure to affix the seal.
Dictionary
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Dictionary
(see s 2)
Note 1 The Legislation Act contains definitions and other provisions relevant to
this Act.
Note 2 For example, the Legislation Act, dict, pt 1, defines the following terms:
ACT
director-general (see s 163)
exercise
function
Minister (see s 162).
registrar-general means—
(a) the Registrar-General under section 4; or
(b) the Registrar-General of the Australian Capital Territory in its
corporate capacity under section 5.
seal means the official seal of the registrar-general mentioned in
section 5 (1) (c).
Endnotes
1 About the endnotes
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Endnotes
1 About the endnotes
Amending and modifying laws are annotated in the legislation history and the
amendment history. Current modifications are not included in the republished
law but are set out in the endnotes.
Not all editorial amendments made under the Legislation Act 2001, part 11.3 are
annotated in the amendment history. Full details of any amendments can be
obtained from the Parliamentary Counsel’s Office.
Uncommenced amending laws and expiries are listed in the legislation history and
the amendment history. These details are underlined. Uncommenced provisions
and amendments are not included in the republished law but are set out in the last
endnote.
If all the provisions of the law have been renumbered, a table of renumbered
provisions gives details of previous and current numbering.
The endnotes also include a table of earlier republications.
2 Abbreviation key
A = Act NI = Notifiable instrument
AF = Approved form o = order
am = amended om = omitted/repealed
amdt = amendment ord = ordinance
AR = Assembly resolution orig = original
ch = chapter par = paragraph/subparagraph
CN = Commencement notice pres = present
def = definition prev = previous
DI = Disallowable instrument (prev...) = previously
dict = dictionary pt = part
disallowed = disallowed by the Legislative r = rule/subrule
Assembly reloc = relocated
div = division renum = renumbered
exp = expires/expired R[X] = Republication No
Gaz = gazette RI = reissue
hdg = heading s = section/subsection
IA = Interpretation Act 1967 sch = schedule
ins = inserted/added sdiv = subdivision
LA = Legislation Act 2001 SL = Subordinate law
LR = legislation register sub = substituted
LRA = Legislation (Republication) Act 1996 underlining = whole or part not commenced
mod = modified/modification or to be expired
Endnotes
Legislation history 3
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3 Legislation history
Registrar-General Act 1993 A1993-63
notified 6 September 1993 (Gaz 1993 No S172)
s 1, s 2 commenced 6 September 1993 (s 2 (1))
remainder commenced 1 October 1993 (s 2 (2) and Gaz 1993
No S207)
as amended by
Statutory Offices (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1994 A1994-97 sch
1 pt 1
notified 15 December 1994 (Gaz 1994 No S280)
s 1, s 2 commenced 15 December 1994 (s 2 (1))
sch 1 pt 1 commenced 15 December 1994 (s 2 (2) and Gaz 1994
No S293)
Legislation (Consequential Amendments) Act 2001 A2001-44 pt 326
notified 26 July 2001 (Gaz 2001 No 30)
s 1, s 2 commenced 26 July 2001 (IA s 10B)
pt 326 commenced 12 September 2001 (s 2 and see Gaz 2001
No S65)
Statute Law Amendment Act 2007 A2007-3 sch 3 pt 3.85
notified LR 22 March 2007
s 1, s 2 taken to have commenced 1 July 2006 (LA s 75 (2))
sch 3 pt 3.85 commenced 12 April 2007 (s 2 (1))
Statute Law Amendment Act 2007 (No 2) A2007-16 sch 3 pt 3.33
notified LR 20 June 2007
s 1, s 2 taken to have commenced 12 April 2007 (LA s 75 (2))
sch 3 pt 3.33 taken to have commenced 12 April 2007 (s 2 (2))
Statute Law Amendment Act 2008 A2008-28 sch 3 pt 3.48
notified LR 12 August 2008
s 1, s 2 commenced 12 August 2008 (LA s 75 (1))
sch 3 pt 3.48 commenced 26 August 2008 (s 2)
Endnotes
4 Amendment history
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Administrative (One ACT Public Service Miscellaneous Amendments)
Act 2011 A2011-22 sch 1 pt 1.131
notified LR 30 June 2011
s 1, s 2 commenced 30 June 2011 (LA s 75 (1))
sch 1 pt 1.131 commenced 1 July 2011 (s 2 (1))
4 Amendment history
Name of Act
s 1 sub A2007-3 amdt 3.443
Dictionary
s 2 om A2001-44 amdt 1.3602
ins A2007-3 amdt 3.444
Notes
s 3 sub A2007-3 amdt 3.444
def registrar-general sub A1994-97 sch 1 pt 1
om A2007-3 amdt 3.444
def seal om A2007-3 amdt 3.444
Registrar-General
s 4 sub A1994-97 sch 1 pt 1; A2007-3 amdt 3.445
(3)-(5) exp 12 April 2008 (s 4 (5) (LA s 88 declaration applies))
am A2011-22 amdt 1.376
Deputy Registrars-General
s 4A ins A1994-97 sch 1 pt 1
sub A2007-3 amdt 3.445
am A2007-16 amdt 3.139
(4)-(6) exp 12 April 2008 (s 4A (6) (LA s 88 declaration
applies))
am A2011-22 amdt 1.376
Registrar-general a corporation sole
s 5 am A2001-44 amdt 1.3603
(4)-(6) exp 12 September 2002 (s 5 (6))
am A2007-3 amdt 3.446
No enquiry required about deputy registrar-general’s compliance with
directions
s 6 sub A2007-3 amdt 3.447
Acting appointments
s 7 om A1994-97 sch 1 pt 1
Protection of registrar-general etc from liability
s 8 am A1994-97 sch 1 pt 1; A2007-3 amdt 3.448, amdt 3.449
sub A2008-28 amdt 3.145