What it does
The Security and Investigations Agents Regulations 2025 are subordinate legislation made under the Security and Investigations Agents Act 2002. Their primary function is twofold: first, to prescribe certain offences under the Act as infringement offences and to set the penalties payable by way of infringement notice, and second, to prescribe the fees payable for various licensing and administrative processes under the Act. Regulation 4 gives effect to this by stating that the offences listed in column 2 of Schedule 1 are infringement offences, and the penalty specified in column 3 of that Schedule is the amount payable under an infringement notice issued for that offence. The penalties are expressed in penalty units, and for most listed offences the Schedule distinguishes between a body corporate and a natural person, with the body corporate liable for a higher number of penalty units (often double the natural person amount). Regulation 5 similarly provides that the fees set out in Schedule 2 are the prescribed fees for the purposes of the Act. These fees are expressed in fee units and cover applications for licences (distinguishing between agent licences and employee licences), amendment of a licence, duplicate licences or identity cards, inspection of the register of licences, exemption from the requirement to wear an identity card, and provision of a copy of the code of conduct. The regulations take effect on 23 December 2025 and are administered by the Department of Justice. They do not themselves create substantive duties or rights; instead they operationalise the enforcement and funding mechanisms of the principal Act by specifying monetary amounts for infringement penalties and administrative fees. The regulations are brief - only five regulations and two schedules - and are purely mechanical in nature. A reader must cross-reference the principal Act to understand the content of each listed offence and the conditions under which fees are payable. The regulations are a classic example of delegated legislation that fills in the details left open by the primary statute, in this case the quantum of infringement penalties and the quantum of fees for licensing transactions.