Subordinate Legislation Regulations 2024

The Regulations operate around a narrow set of concepts, each defined or implied by the text.

• Statutory rule applies, adopts or incorporates matter, the triggering concept: A statutory rule that "applies, adopts or incorporates any matter contained in a document" triggers the publishing obligation (reg 5(1)). The Regulations use those three verbs conjunctively; they do not define them further within the instrument, so their ordinary statutory meaning and any interpretive guidance from the parent statute and Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984 will govern application.

• Document: The Regulations refer to "a document" as the source of the matter applied, adopted or incorporated and require the statutory rule to identify that document in a table (reg 5(1)(a)). The instrument does not define "document", but it excludes certain categories of material from the requirement by reference to ILA s 32(2)(a) (reg 5(2)). Practitioners must therefore treat "document" broadly unless an exclusion under ILA s 32(2)(a) applies.

• Table in a footnote or endnote: The required format is explicit , the statutory rule must be published with a footnote or endnote containing a table that performs the two identification tasks (reg 5(1)). The Regulations do not specify the exact form or columns of the table, beyond the required content. The choice between footnote or endnote is left open.

• Exclusions by reference to ILA s 32(2)(a): Subregulation (2) lists five categories that do not attract the table requirement: an Act, a Commonwealth Act, a Code, a statutory rule, and a statutory rule made under a Commonwealth Act. The exclusion is framed by reference to the Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984 (reg 5(2)), so the meaning and boundaries of the exclusion turn on that Act.

• Relationship with style and interpretive provisions of the ILA: The endnotes attached to the Regulations quote several ILA provisions that affect how statutory rules are to be compiled and interpreted. These include s 54A (style changes), s 39B (treatment of undivided regulations amended by adding subregulations), and s 36 and related subsections on headings, examples, punctuation, provision numbers, and the location of "legislative items" such as penalties or notes (endnotes: Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984). Those provisions influence what is, and is not, regarded as part of a statutory rule for publication and interpretive purposes.

• Sunset and versioning: The endnotes record the date of making (18 June 2024), the commencement date (23 June 2024) and the ten-year sunset under s 5 of the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994 (endnotes, General information). The Version and Table of Amendments entries show the Regulations are subject to amendment and version-tracking (front matter and Table of Amendments).

These concepts combine to create a publication governance rule that maps incorporated external material to the precise statutory rule provision that imports it, while leaving core categories of primary and certain secondary law outside the requirement by express cross-reference to the ILA.

The Regulations directly affect anyone responsible for drafting, settling, publishing or maintaining statutory rules in Victoria. That group includes:

• Government drafters and counsel: The obligation attaches at the point of publication of a statutory rule that applies, adopts or incorporates matter from another document. Drafters must identify where rules draw on external material and ensure the required footnote or endnote table is prepared and included with the published instrument (reg 5(1)).

• Parliamentary counsel and legislative publishers: The official publisher that produces the legislative database and the printed/statutory rule versions is the practical actor that will add the required footnote or endnote table when the statutory rule is published (reg 5(1)). The Regulations do not prescribe who must prepare the table, but the obligation to publish with the table imposes a task on the body responsible for official publication.

• Departments and agencies that make statutory rules: Agencies that exercise enabling powers and prepare subordinate instruments must ensure their instruments, when made, are accompanied by the necessary table identification. The cost and administrative step is on the instrument-making process.

• Legal publishers and commercial printers: Inscribers of subordinate instruments in commercial or consolidated publications will need to follow the published format and ensure tables are present where required. The Regulations apply to the statutory rule as published, so third-party reproductions that omit the table risk divergence from official publication.

• Users of subordinate legislation: Practitioners, regulated entities, businesses and advisers who rely on statutory rules to determine compliance points are indirectly affected. The requirement is designed to improve traceability of incorporated documents by mapping them into the instrument; readers will expect to find, in the footnote/endnote table, the document identity and the clause or regulation number that imports it (reg 5(1)).

• Excluded categories and providers of incorporated documents: The list of exclusions in reg 5(2) means that providers of Acts, Commonwealth Acts, Codes, other statutory rules and statutory rules under Commonwealth Acts are not subject to the table requirement when their matter is adopted. That changes the coverage of the requirement: where a statutory rule incorporates matter within those excluded categories, the publisher need not include the table.

Who pays and who decides: The principal compliance cost is administrative and borne by the instrument drafters and publishers. They decide the content and placement of the table (footnote or endnote) and must map the external document to the statutory rule provision. The Regulations do not create new charges or fees. The parent Act supplies the authority for these obligations (reg 2). The Regulations will cease to have effect after ten years from making under s 5 of the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994 unless re-made or extended (endnotes, General information).

Duties

• Publish a table identifying incorporated documents: The central statutory duty is that a statutory rule which applies, adopts or incorporates material from another document must be published with a footnote or endnote containing a table that (a) specifies the external document and (b) indicates the statutory rule provision to which the incorporated matter relates (reg 5(1)(a)-(b)). This is a mandatory publishing requirement expressed in the operative regulation.

• Observe exclusions: The duty does not apply to matter contained in the five categories listed by reference to ILA s 32(2)(a): an Act, a Commonwealth Act, a Code, a statutory rule, or a statutory rule made under a Commonwealth Act (reg 5(2)). The duty therefore requires a preliminary legal check on the nature of the incorporated material to determine whether the exclusion applies.

• Conform with ILA style and interpretive provisions: While not a duty stated as a separate obligation in the Regulations, the endnotes reproduce key ILA provisions that affect how statutory rules are compiled and interpreted. Treating headings, examples, diagrams, notes and punctuation as forming part of a statutory rule (ILA s 36 and subsections) has the practical effect that drafters must consider these elements when identifying the scope of incorporated matter for the table.

Rights and limits

• No right to impose additional substantive requirements: The Regulations confine themselves to the publishing mechanism and do not create new substantive entitlements or regulatory prohibitions. They do not alter the substantive legal effect of adopted or incorporated material. The endnotes explicitly record that certain materials printed after the Endnotes do not form part of a statutory rule (ILA s 36(3)(3D)(3E)), thereby constraining what can be treated as authoritative law versus accompanying material.

• Choice of footnote or endnote format: The Regulations grant the publisher or drafter the choice between using a footnote or an endnote to carry the required table (reg 5(1)). The instrument does not prescribe table design beyond its two required elements, so publishers retain discretion on form and layout.

• No penalty or sanction contained: The Regulations themselves do not create offences, fines or civil penalties for non-compliance within their text. That limits immediate coercive mechanisms within this instrument; enforcement would depend on other administrative or legal mechanisms available under the parent Act or general law.

Practical obligations follow from the above: the responsible officer must identify when a statutory rule incorporates external matter, determine whether an exclusion in reg 5(2) applies, and ensure the published instrument contains a table that identifies the external document and ties it to the specific statutory rule provision. The instrument’s reliance on ILA interpretive provisions changes the way drafters calculate what is part of the statutory rule for the purpose of complying with the publishing duty.

The Regulations do not include any penalty provisions or express enforcement mechanisms within their text. There is no provision in the Regulations that creates an offence, prescribes fines, requires audits or sets out administrative sanctions for failure to publish the required table. The instrument is a publication and transparency rule about the form in which statutory rules must be published, not a penal or licensing measure.

Because the Regulations are made under section 28 of the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994 (reg 2), any enforcement questions that arise in practice will need to be considered against the parent Act and general administrative law frameworks. The Regulations themselves do not specify which entity is responsible for monitoring compliance or the consequences of omission. The absence of express sanctions in the text implies that:

• Non-compliance will not trigger a penalty within these Regulations themselves. If there is administrative oversight, it is not articulated here.

• Legal consequences, if any, will be derivative: a failure to publish the table may produce practical and interpretive consequences for users of the statutory rule (for example, reduced transparency about the provenance of incorporated material), but the Regulations do not indicate that a defective publication invalidates the statutory rule or alters its legal effect.

• Remedies, if sought, would likely arise under general statutory review or judicial review doctrines (for example, challenges to the validity of a statutory rule or to the process by which it was made), but the Regulations do not canvass or confine those routes. The endnotes do not record any enforcement machinery.

Practitioners should note the distinction between a publication obligation and an offence-based regulatory instrument. The risk of non-compliance is therefore primarily administrative and reputational unless and until another statutory instrument, policy, or the parent Act establishes a sanctioning route. In practice, the official publisher is the competent actor to ensure compliance to avoid divergence between the made instrument and the published instrument; the Regulations place the publication obligation on the statutory rule as published (reg 5(1)).

These Regulations are expressly made under section 28 of the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994 (reg 2) and therefore sit as subordinate instrument rules within the Victorian legislative architecture. The text and endnotes explicitly cross-reference several provisions of the Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984 (ILA) which affect both the meaning of the exclusions and what forms part of a statutory rule for publication and interpretation. Key interactions recorded in the instrument and its endnotes are:

• Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984, s 32(2)(a): The exclusion in reg 5(2) is framed by reference to ILA s 32(2)(a). That means the categories of material that do not require the table are defined by the ILA. Practitioners must therefore consult ILA s 32(2)(a) to determine whether a particular adopted document falls within an excluded category (reg 5(2)).

• ILA provisions on style and composition of statutory rules: The endnotes reproduce or summarise several ILA provisions that govern what is part of a statutory rule: s 54A (authorising certain style changes), s 39B (treatment of undivided regulations amended by insertion), s 36 and its subsections (which state that headings, examples, diagrams, notes and punctuation form part of statutory rules made on or after 1 January 2001, and that provision numbers form part of all statutory rules), and s 36B on the location of "legislative items" (endnotes: Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984). Those provisions affect how drafters should treat embedded material and how to package the table required by reg 5(1) so that it aligns with what the ILA regards as forming part of the statutory rule.

• Sunset under the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994: The endnotes record that these Regulations will "sunset 10 years after the day of making on 18 June 2034" pursuant to s 5 of the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994 (endnotes, General information). That statutory sunset is an interaction that will require renewal or re-making if the regime is to continue beyond that date.

• Revocations and amendment instruments: Regulation 4 revokes earlier subordinate legislation regulations and their amending instruments (reg 4(a)-(e)). The Table of Amendments records further amendments made by S.R. No. 56/2025 which substituted reg 1 and revoked reg 6. Those cross-instrument interactions mean practitioners should consult current consolidated versions and amendment history to understand present obligations.

• Limits on what is part of a statutory rule: The endnotes state that explanatory memoranda, table of provisions, endnotes, index and other material printed after the Endnotes do not form part of a Statutory Rule (ILA s 36(3)(3D)(3E)). That interaction constrains efforts to use accompanying material as a substitute for the table required by reg 5(1); the required table must be part of the published statutory rule (in a footnote or endnote) to meet the obligation.

In short, compliance and interpretation of the publishing obligation will require reference to the parent Subordinate Legislation Act 1994 and to specific ILA provisions. The Regulations do not operate in isolation; they marshal ILA rules to define the scope of both the duty and the boundaries of what counts as part of the statutory rule.

The instrument includes a short but explicit amendment and revocation trail in both the main body and the endnotes.

• Making and commencement: The Regulations were made on 18 June 2024 by the Governor in Council under section 28 of the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994 and came into operation on 23 June 2024 (endnotes, General information; reg 3).

• Revocations effected on commencement: Regulation 4 revokes five instruments: the Subordinate Legislation Regulations 2014 (S.R. No. 83/2014) and four amending instruments , S.R. No. 2/2015, S.R. No. 13/2019, S.R. No. 173/2021, and S.R. No. 3/2022 (reg 4(a)-(e); explanatory details 1-5 link each revocation to the specific SR numbers). The explanatory details at the back map reg 4 entries to those SR numbers directly.

• Subsequent amendment recorded in this consolidated version: An annotation near the front of the instrument states: "Reg. 1 substituted by S.R. No. 56/2025 reg. 4." Additionally, there is an annotation that "Reg. 6 revoked by S.R. No. 56/2025 reg. 5." The Table of Amendments records Subordinate Legislation Amendment (Revocation of Prescribed Bookshop) Regulations 2025, S.R. No. 56/2025, dated 17 June 2025, with a commencement entry for 18 June 2025 (Table of Amendments). Those annotations indicate active post-enactment amendment management and demonstrate that specific parts of the instrument have been altered by later statutory rule.

• Versioning and incorporated amendments: The document header shows "Version incorporating amendments as at 18 June 2025" and a Version No. 002. The Table of Amendments confirms that the 2025 SR 56/2025 effected certain changes.

• Sunset mechanism: The endnotes also record the statutory sunset under the parent Act: these Regulations will sunset ten years after making, on 18 June 2034, by operation of section 5 of the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994 (endnotes, General information). That creates an automatic termination date unless further legislative action is taken.

Practitioners should therefore track both the consolidated version and the separate amending statutory rules. The instrument itself uses marginal annotations to show which parts were substituted or revoked by SR 56/2025; those marginalia are part of the published version and should be treated as the official amendment history for the purposes of statutory consolidation.

The Regulations and their endnotes do not record any litigation history. The text contains no case names, judicial citations or references to litigation outcomes. The endnotes and explanatory details record only administrative and legislative information such as commencement dates, revocation particulars and interpretive cross-references to the Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984.

Because there are no cases cited in the instrument, there is no source-grounded litigation precedent to summarise from this text. The Regulations do not themselves provide guidance about any disputes arising from failures to publish the required table or the legal consequences of defective publication. Any litigation challenging the validity of a statutory rule or the adequacy of its publication would therefore need to be sourced from reported cases or filings outside this instrument; the instrument itself does not supply such material.

For practitioners tasked with risk assessment, the absence of recorded litigation in the instrument is a neutral fact: the document contains no judicial interpretation that clarifies how courts would treat non‑compliance with the publishing requirement, whether a defective publication affects the legal effect of the instrument, or how the exclusion in reg 5(2) should be applied in disputed cases. Those are legal questions that would be litigated under general administrative law or statutory interpretation principles, but this instrument does not contain or cite any judicial answers.

The Regulations are compact but contain several practical and interpretive traps that can arise in drafting, publication and compliance.

• Ambiguity over "document": The Regulations require identification of "the document referred to in the statutory rule that contains the matter" (reg 5(1)(a)) but do not define "document". That invites uncertainty about whether a set of guidelines, a template, a circular, a commercial standard, electronic data or an external webpage qualifies. The exclusion in reg 5(2) narrows some cases but does not resolve all borderline questions. Practitioners must therefore exercise caution and adopt a conservative approach when identifying whether an instrument engages the table requirement.

• Choice of footnote or endnote but no format standard: The Regulations permit either a footnote or an endnote but do not prescribe table layout or required bibliographic details (reg 5(1)). Different publishers may therefore adopt inconsistent formats, which can reduce the uniformity the Regulations seek to achieve. Agencies should standardise their internal templates to avoid inconsistent or incomplete identifying information.

• Exclusions may be counterintuitive: Reg 5(2) excludes Acts, Commonwealth Acts, Codes, statutory rules and statutory rules made under Commonwealth Acts from the table requirement. That means a statutory rule that incorporates material from a Code or another statutory rule need not carry the table. Users relying on a statutory rule to trace incorporated material may therefore find that some types of incorporated sources are not identified in the same way as others, which could hinder transparency.

• Reliance on Interpretation of Legislation Act machinery: The endnotes identify several ILA provisions that influence what is part of a statutory rule (headings, examples, punctuation and provision numbers) and how amendments that insert subregulations are to be treated (ILA s 39B and s 36 et seq.). If drafters ignore those ILA rules, they risk miscalculating whether material forms part of the statutory rule for the purpose of including it in the table.

• No explicit transitional or validation rule for defective publications: The Regulations mandate publication with the table but do not state the legal effect of failing to include it, nor whether a later corrected publication cures a defect. Failure to publish the table could therefore create uncertainty about the availability of the incorporated material to readers, even though the Regulation does not itself specify that a statutory rule is invalidated by omission.

• Revocations of prior instruments may have removed prior guidance: The Regulations revoke the 2014 Regulations and various amending instruments (reg 4). If previous instruments contained different publication rules or transitional arrangements, those have been extinguished. Users must consult the consolidated instrument and the amendment history; reliance on outdated internal templates based on prior regulations is hazardous.

• Shadow amendments and marginal notes: The instrument contains annotations showing reg 1 was substituted and reg 6 revoked by SR 56/2025. That can be overlooked if users work from an earlier printed copy. Always consult the consolidated, versioned online text for current obligations.

• Formatting vs legal effect tension: The Regulations are a publication rule. It is not self-evident from the text whether the absence of the table affects the substantive operation of the statutory rule, or merely the publication record. That tension is a practical risk for drafters and publishers who may assume different things about the consequences of omission.

Addressing these gotchas requires attention to internal drafting processes, consistent publication templates, and a conservative approach to identifying incorporated documents. Where doubt exists about whether the exclusion in reg 5(2) applies, include the identifying information or document the legal reasoning for its omission to reduce downstream interpretive disputes.

Compliance requires simple but disciplined steps tied to the statutory rule drafting and publication workflow. The Regulations are procedural: a statutory rule that applies, adopts or incorporates matter must be published with a footnote or endnote containing a table that identifies the external document and the statutory rule provision it relates to (reg 5(1)). The following practical checklist converts that obligation into actionable items:

1. Identify incorporation events at drafting stage

   • When drafting a statutory rule, flag any clause that applies, adopts or incorporates material from an external source. The obligation is triggered by the act of applying, adopting or incorporating any matter contained in a document (reg 5(1)).

2. Test for exclusions under ILA s 32(2)(a)

   • For each incorporation event, determine whether the material is contained in one of the excluded categories: an Act, a Commonwealth Act, a Code, a statutory rule, or a statutory rule made under a Commonwealth Act (reg 5(2)). If the material falls into an excluded category, the table is not required. Record the rationale for any exclusion decision as part of the drafting record.

3. Prepare the table content

   • Draft a table entry that includes, at minimum, the title or form of the external document and the specific provision(s) of the statutory rule to which the document relates, because reg 5(1)(a)-(b) requires both identification of the document and indication of the statutory rule provision. Although the Regulations do not prescribe precise bibliographic details, including the document title, date (where applicable), version reference and the exact clause/regulation number mapping reduces later ambiguity.

4. Decide on footnote or endnote placement

   • Choose whether the table will appear as a footnote or an endnote for the statutory rule publication. The Regulations permit either option (reg 5(1)). Coordinate with the official publisher to ensure placement conforms to the publisher’s house style and the ILA provisions on what forms part of a statutory rule (see endnotes: ILA s 36 et seq.).

5. Coordinate with the official publisher

   • Confirm with the government or legislative publisher who will incorporate the table into the published statutory rule. The obligation is on the statutory rule as published; therefore, the official publication must contain the table. Ensure the publisher will include the table and that their metadata and online entry reflect the inclusion.

6. Review style and interpretive implications under the ILA

   • Because the endnotes reference ILA provisions that treat headings, examples, punctuation and provision numbers as part of statutory rules (ILA s 36 et seq.), double-check that the table and related drafting decisions align with those provisions so that the incorporated document is traceable in the context of the full statutory rule.

7. Maintain version control and amendment records

   • Record in the instrument’s internal change log any substitution, revocation or amendment that affects publishing obligations, including references to S.R. amendment numbers. The Regulations themselves show how annotations reflect amendments (e.g., reg 1 substituted by S.R. No. 56/2025 reg. 4). Keep a copy of the consolidated version accessible.

8. Document decisions and retain proofs

   • Where a decision is taken not to include a table because of an exclusion, retain the legal reasoning as part of the instrument file. Where a table is included, retain proof of publication (final printed or electronic published version) showing the table present at the time of publication to guard against later disputes about completeness.

9. Monitor for changes and sunset

   • Note that these Regulations will sunset ten years after making under s 5 of the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994 (endnotes, General information). Track legislative amendments (for example, SR 56/2025) and new instructions from the official publisher.

A minimal sample structure for a single table row, consistent with the Regulations, would be: (a) Document: [name and identifying details]; and (b) Statutory rule provision(s): [regulation/clause numbers in the instrument]. The Regulations do not mandate additional elements, but adding a date/version and a URL where the document is publicly accessible is prudent for transparency.

By integrating the above steps into the drafting-to-publication pipeline, drafters and publishers can satisfy the procedural publishing obligation set out in reg 5(1) while documenting exclusions under reg 5(2).