Victoria Police (Fees and Charges) Regulations 2024

This instrument embeds several key legal and operational concepts in simple statutory mechanics. The central concepts are: fee units, authorised power to recover costs, temporal zones (before and on/after 1 January 2025), default contractual amounts, the distinction between personnel‑time and fixed‑amount information charges, and cost recovery for goods and services that Victoria Police does not ordinarily supply.

Fee units: all dollar amounts are expressed as multiples of fee units (Explanatory details). The Regulations do not fix a dollar price; they fix the number of fee units to be charged, and the Monetary Units Act 2004 determines the dollar value of a fee unit each financial year. The Explanatory details give the fee unit values for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 financial years and mandate rounding to the nearest 10 cents.

Authorisation to charge: the Regulations operate under s 277 of the Act (reg 2), and repeatedly reference s 274B and s 274C of the Act as the substantive authorising provisions for fee imposition in connection with commercial events (regs 5-7). The Regulations therefore function as subordinate rules that define what may be recovered and at what unit rates, while the Act supplies the power to charge.

Temporal distinction and staged expansion: the text deliberately separates rules that apply before 1 January 2025 from those that apply on or after that date. Before 1 January 2025, the scope of recoverable services in reg 5 is tied to traffic management functions around commercial events (reg 5(1)(b)). On or after 1 January 2025, reg 6 expands the scope to cover services provided for traffic management or "the performance of any of the functions of Victoria Police" (reg 6(1)(b)), a broader formulation. The Schedules change between the two timeframes: Schedule 1 and Schedule 3 apply pre‑2025, while Schedule 2 and Schedule 4 apply post‑2025. The post‑2025 Schedules add categories (for example protective services officers and drone/counter‑drone services in Schedule 4).

Personnel‑time versus fixed‑amount information charges: reg 8 allows charging on the basis of personnel time for certain information services, using the personnel rates in Schedule 2 (reg 8(2)). Reg 9 separately authorises fixed amounts for specified information services listed in Schedule 5 (such as national police certificates, fingerprinting and copies of reports). The Regulations contain an explicit mutual exclusivity rule: if charges are imposed under one regime for a particular service, they cannot be imposed under the other for the same service (reg 8(4) and reg 9(2)). The personnel‑time regime includes a component that requires the Chief Commissioner to include time spent searching, extracting and reviewing documents when calculating charges for document provision (reg 8(3)).

Default contractual amounts: reg 7 prescribes the amounts payable where there is no separate agreement between the Chief Commissioner and the commercial operator; it directly references Schedule 2 and Schedule 4 for personnel and service rates respectively and permits counting planning time in the absence of an agreement (reg 7(2) and (4)).

Services not ordinarily available within Victoria Police: reg 5(7), reg 6(7) and reg 7(5) allow recovery of the actual costs incurred in acquiring services or goods that are not ordinarily available within Victoria Police. The mechanism here is cost‑pass‑through rather than a prescribed unit rate.

Media application fees: regs 10-11 prescribe fees for applications by media organisations seeking authorisation to receive agency photographs and the giving of agency photographs. They are stated as specific fee unit amounts (11.6 and 33.7 fee units respectively).

Administrative boundaries and formalities: the explanatory material and endnotes make clear that headings and notes form part of the Statutory Rule (Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984) and that the Regulations were made on 18 June 2024 and will sunset on 18 June 2034 (Endnotes). The Explanatory details also set out fee unit mechanics and rounding.

Together these concepts convert the Act’s discretionary cost‑recovery powers into a detailed, itemised price list and a small set of rules about how to calculate and apply those prices. The Regulations both define the unit of account (fee units) and specify which categories of personnel, appliances and information attract a charge and at what numerical level.

The Regulations create immediate financial and administrative effects for three groups: (1) the Chief Commissioner and Victoria Police as the charging authority and supplier, (2) organisers and operators of commercial events (and the persons or corporations running commercial enterprises), and (3) users of police information services and media organisations seeking agency photographs. They also have ancillary effects on Victoria Police personnel and clients who interact with policing resources.

Chief Commissioner / Victoria Police: the instrument assigns the Chief Commissioner the formal power and responsibility to impose the prescribed fees "in connection with a commercial event" (regs 5-6), to impose charges for information services (regs 8-9), and to set or recover costs for goods or services not ordinarily available (regs 5(7) and 6(7)). This places decision authority with Victoria Police to determine when and how those fees are applied, within the statutory constraints and schedules. The Chief Commissioner also bears the administrative burden of identifying the relevant personnel rank or service, recording commencement and dismissal times for duty (see reg 5(3) and reg 6(3)(a)), accounting for planning time where permitted, applying fee unit conversions, and issuing invoices and receipts.

Commercial event operators and persons operating commercial enterprises: these persons are the natural payers where the service is provided "in connection with a commercial event" (regs 5-7). The Regulations specify default payable amounts in the absence of an agreement (reg 7). An organiser of a festival, concert, sporting event, or other commercial assembly will be billed for officers by rank (Schedule 1 pre‑2025; Schedule 2 post‑2025) and equipment/vehicle or air/water services (Schedule 3 pre‑2025; Schedule 4 post‑2025). The operator will need to budget for first‑hour and subsequent half‑hour rates expressed in fee units, converted to dollars for the applicable financial year (Explanatory details). Media organisations are affected specifically by regs 10-11, which prescribe application fees for agency photographs.

Users of police information services: the Regulations target a range of third‑party users who require police assistance or documentation. Reg 8 names categories such as police personnel acting as defence or civil witnesses, persons or entities requiring searches of police files or supervised examinations of files, interviewees requesting file searches in relation to reported incidents, and persons requiring sworn affidavits. Reg 9 and Schedule 5 capture those seeking national police certificates, fingerprinting services (ink or Live Scan), copies of accident or crime reports, subrogation notices processed by insurers or loss assessors, and documents produced to courts under subpoena. The schedule differentiates between volunteers for not‑for‑profit organisations (Item 1 national police certificate) and other persons (Item 2), and also provides separate items for fingerprinting and collision reports.

Victoria Police personnel and protective services officers: the Schedules list unit rates by rank and by class of employee (for example "Inspector or higher rank", "Senior sergeant or sergeant", "Rank below sergeant", and VPS Grades 2-7). The inclusion of Protective Services Officers (Schedule 2) after 1 January 2025 means that events may be charged for the deployment of PSOs, and those officers' time can be billed at the listed rates when used in connection with commercial events or information services where personnel‑time charges apply (reg 6(1), reg 8(2)).

Insurers and loss assessors: Item 9 in Schedule 5 prescribes a small charge for processing subrogation notices provided by loss assessors or insurers (1.5 fee units). This creates a direct, itemised charge for a routine administrative interaction between insurers and Victoria Police.

Courts and litigants: Items 12-13 in Schedule 5 cover production of documents subject to subpoena. The Regulations put a specific, chargeable price on producing the first 10 pages of documents and on extra pages, with rules for whether personnel time or the fixed schedule applies (reg 8(4) / reg 9(2)).

Collectively, the Regulations create identifiable payers (commercial operators, media applicants, information requesters, insurers) and decision‑makers (the Chief Commissioner/Victoria Police), and impose recordkeeping, invoicing and budgeting obligations on both sides. The endnote on fee unit values requires potential payers to check the fee unit dollar conversion for the applicable financial year, because the legislative instrument fixes fee unit quantities, not dollar amounts.

The Regulations allocate particular duties to the Chief Commissioner and prescribe payables and entitlements for third parties. They do not create novel criminal offences or define sanctions for non‑payment; they set prices and rules for application of those prices.

Duties of the Chief Commissioner

• Authority to impose fees: the Chief Commissioner may impose fees in the circumstances described by regs 5-6 (in connection with commercial events) and charges under regs 8-9 (for information services). This is an enabling duty in the sense that the Chief Commissioner has the authority to charge; there is no onus in the Regulations requiring fees to be charged in every case.
• Calculation specifics: when charging for personnel services, the Chief Commissioner must include only the period from commencement of duty to dismissal for services provided before 1 January 2025 (reg 5(3)). On or after 1 January 2025 the Chief Commissioner must include the period from commencement to dismissal and may include planning time (reg 6(3)). For services provided as searches or provision of documents, the Chief Commissioner must include search, extraction and review time when calculating time‑based charges (reg 8(3)).
• Avoidance of double charging: the Chief Commissioner must not apply both the personnel‑time regime (reg 8) and the fixed‑amount regime (reg 9) to the same services (reg 8(4) and reg 9(2)).
• Cost recovery for non‑ordinary goods/services: where goods or services are not ordinarily available within Victoria Police, the Chief Commissioner may impose amounts that represent the costs incurred in acquiring them (regs 5(7), 6(7), 7(5)). The duty here is to base the fee on actual costs incurred.
• Default rates in absence of agreement: reg 7 tasks the Chief Commissioner with applying the Schedule 2 rates and Schedule 4 rates as default amounts when there is no agreement with the commercial operator; this simplifies the Chief Commissioner’s administrative duty to calculate amounts.

Rights and entitlements of payers / applicants

• Right to be charged according to the published schedule: commercial event operators and other payers are entitled to have the amounts charged correspond to the schedules in the Regulations unless there is a separate contractual arrangement that specifies otherwise (reg 7 contemplates absence of agreement and consequences).
• Right to a single charging regime for any given service: a requester of police information services is entitled not to be doubly charged; if reg 9 fixed charges are applied, charges under reg 8 for the same services must not be imposed and vice versa (reg 8(4), reg 9(2)).
• Media application fees: media organisations have an explicit statutory fee to pay for an application to be authorised to receive agency photographs (reg 10) and for an application to be given agency photographs (reg 11). The fee quantum is publicly prescribed in fee units (11.6 and 33.7 fee units).

Other operational duties and effects

• Recordkeeping timeframes: the Chief Commissioner must establish the relevant time period for personnel services (commencement to dismissal) and include permitted planning time in specified settings (regs 5(3), 6(3), 6(6), 7(2) and (4)). This creates an operational duty to track start/stop times and planning hours precisely.
• Fee unit accounting: both parties need to account for the fee unit conversion applicable to the financial year in which the service is charged (Explanatory details).
• Payment procedures: while the Regulations set the payable amounts, they do not contain an internal mechanism for enforcement or recovery of unpaid amounts. The Act supplies the authorisation for fees, and collection mechanisms would be determined under the Act and by Victoria Police’s administrative procedures, which are not detailed in the Regulations.

Notable absence of rights or duties in the text

• No dispute resolution mechanism is specified for disagreements about charges in the Regulations themselves.
• No civil or criminal penalties are prescribed for failing to pay the fees within these Regulations; any enforcement mechanism is left to the Act or general law.

In short, the Regulations assign the Chief Commissioner the duty to apply the schedules and determine time periods, while payers are entitled to be charged as per the schedules and to avoid double charging where both information charging regimes could apply. The mutual exclusivity on information charges and the allowance to include planning time in many post‑2025 circumstances are operationally significant duties/rights embedded in the instrument.

The Regulations establish fees and charges but do not themselves create or set out specific criminal penalties, civil sanctions or detailed enforcement processes for non‑payment. Their enforcement and penalty consequences therefore flow from their connection to the Act and to general legal and administrative mechanisms rather than from express penal provisions in the Regulations.

What the Regulations specify

• The Regulations set the unit amounts that may be imposed by the Chief Commissioner (regs 5-11). They do not, however, include provisions that prescribe how unpaid fees are to be enforced, whether by civil action, set‑off, recovery as a debt, administrative refusal of services, or administrative penalties.
• The Explanatory details and Endnotes make no reference to penalty provisions or enforcement procedures in the Regulations themselves.

Where enforcement would arise

• The Regulations are made under s 277 of the Victoria Police Act 2013 (reg 2). The Act contains the substantive authorising provisions referenced in these Regulations (notably s 274B and s 274C). Any statutory enforcement mechanism for recovery of unpaid fees or administrative remedies would therefore have to be located in the Act or in wider law governing public sector debts, contracts and debt recovery. The Regulations operate as a tariff schedule authorised by the Act; they do not replace or replicate the Act’s procedural provisions.
• Users and payers should consult the Act for the legal consequences of non‑payment, and Victoria Police’s administrative guidelines and contract terms for commercial events where they may prescribe remedies or dispute processes (the Regulations themselves are silent on these matters).

Operational enforcement mechanisms implicit in the instrument

• Debiting and invoicing: because the Chief Commissioner is empowered to impose fees, Victoria Police will have internal financial procedures to invoice, record and seek payment. Those administrative processes will determine short‑term practical consequences of non‑payment (for example, withholding further discretionary services, invoicing escalations, or referral to debt recovery).
• Contractual remedies: where there is an agreement between the Chief Commissioner and a commercial operator, that agreement may contain contractual enforcement terms (reg 7 only applies where there is no agreement). The Regulations therefore implicitly incentivise operators who want certainty to negotiate agreements that include clear payment and enforcement provisions.
• Court recovery: in the absence of internal mechanisms specified in the Regulations, Victoria Police may recover unpaid amounts by suing for debt or pursuing another civil remedy under the Act; the Regulations do not bar civil recovery but they do not prescribe it either.

Mutual exclusivity as a limit on charging: the Regulations impose a statutory constraint that prevents double charging for the same information service (reg 8(4) and reg 9(2)). That statutory rule is an internal limit on enforcement insofar as it prevents the Chief Commissioner from recovering under two different heads for the same work.

Compliance risk and uncertainty

• Because the Regulations do not specify enforcement procedures, payers face uncertainty about collection costs, timing for payment, dispute resolution and the remedies available to Victoria Police. The absence of a prescribed dispute resolution pathway in the Regulations means disputes are likely to be handled under contract terms or by reference to general administrative law and the Act.
• Any party seeking to challenge a charged amount would need to rely on contractual review, administrative grievance processes within Victoria Police, or court proceedings; none of these procedures is set out in the Regulations themselves.

In short, the Regulations prescribe what is chargeable and at what unit, but they do not prescribe sanctions or enforcement steps. Enforcement mechanisms arise from the Act, contracts and general legal remedies rather than from the Regulations themselves. Users and practitioners must therefore look beyond the Regulations to determine how payment is demanded and what consequences flow from non‑payment.

The Regulations are a subordinate instrument that interacts directly with several other Acts referenced in the text and endnotes. The interaction is primarily one of authorisation (the Act) and of monetary calculation (Monetary Units Act 2004), with administrative consequences under the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994 and interpretative consequences under the Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984.

Primary statutory relationship: Victoria Police Act 2013

• The Regulations are made under s 277 of the Victoria Police Act 2013 (reg 2). Multiple provisions in the Regulations expressly tie the operability of fees to specific sections of the Act. For example, regs 5 and 6 explicitly state that they operate "for the purposes of section 274B of the Act" (regs 5(1), 6(1)), and reg 7 is "for the purposes of section 274C of the Act" (reg 7(1)). Regulations 10 and 11 specify fees for purposes of ss 237(2) and 239(2)(a) of the Act respectively. Thus the Regulations function as the Act’s delegated price list.
• The Act will contain the legal thresholds and procedural rules that enable the Chief Commissioner to impose fees, contract, recover sums, and regulate the use of agency photographs; the Regulations detail the amounts and the calculation rules that flow from those statutory powers.

Monetary Units Act 2004 and fee units

• The Explanatory details instruct that fees are to be expressed and calculated in fee units within the meaning of the Monetary Units Act 2004. The Regulations therefore rely on that Act for the dollar value of each fee unit and for the requirement that the Treasurer fix and publish the value of a fee unit for each financial year (Explanatory details). The Regulations specify the number of fee units to be charged; the Monetary Units Act provides the dollar conversion.
• The Explanatory details list the fee unit values for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 years, and note rounding to the nearest 10 cents. Future dollar amounts will move with the Treasurer’s determination under the Monetary Units Act.

Subordinate Legislation Act 1994

• The Endnotes state that the Regulations will sunset ten years after the day of making under s 5 of the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994 (Endnotes). This imposes a temporal statutory limit on the instrument’s life, requiring reconsideration, re‑making, or amendment prior to the sunset date if the fee regime is to continue.

Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984

• The Endnotes and explanatory material reference the Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984, indicating that headings, notes and punctuation included in a statutory rule made on or after 1 January 2001 form part of the Statutory Rule (Endnotes). That interpretative framework affects how Schedules and notes are read and applied.

Court procedure and evidence law

• The Regulations interact indirectly with court processes by charging for production of documents subject to subpoena (Schedule 5, Items 12-13). Any litigation arising from disputes about charges, or actions to recover unpaid fees, will be governed by general civil procedure and by the Act.

Contract law

• Reg 7 contemplates that the Chief Commissioner and commercial operators may enter agreements that vary the default charges. Where an agreement exists, its contractual terms will govern pricing and enforcement in place of the default schedule. In the absence of agreement, the statutory default rates apply. This creates a direct interaction between these Regulations and traditional contract law principles.

Administrative law and access to information

• The Regulations set prescribed fees for information provision (national police checks, fingerprinting, copies of reports). Any dispute about the application of charges potentially engages administrative law principles (for example, procedural fairness) when an individual or organisation contests a charging decision by Victoria Police. The Regulations themselves are silent on appeal or review rights.

In summary, the Regulations are a price schedule operating under the Victoria Police Act 2013, relying on the Monetary Units Act 2004 for dollar conversion and subject to the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994 sunset rule. They foresee contractual variation with commercial operators and intersect with general contract, administrative and civil enforcement law to give effect to fee imposition and collection.

The Regulations are a new instrument made on 18 June 2024 (Endnotes) and in doing so they revoke the prior Victoria Police (Fees and Charges) Regulations 2014 (reg 3). The Table of Amendments in the Regulations records that there are no amendments made to this 2024 instrument by subsequent statutory rules, subordinate instruments or Acts (Endnotes, 2 Table of Amendments). Key temporal milestones and structural amendment features are as follows.

• Making and commencement: made on 18 June 2024 by the Governor in Council under s 277 of the Victoria Police Act 2013, and the Regulations came into operation on the day of making, 18 June 2024 (Endnotes, General information).
• Revocation of earlier instrument: the 2014 Regulations (S.R. No. 80/2014) are expressly revoked by reg 3.
• Sunset provision: the Regulations will automatically sunset on 18 June 2034 under s 5 of the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994 (Endnotes). The sunset requires a decision by Government before that date if continuation is intended.
• Fee unit references and value updates: the Regulations express fees in fee units. The Explanatory details supply the fee unit values for two financial years (2023-24 at $15.90; 2024-25 at $16.33) and indicate that the Treasurer fixes the value for future years under the Monetary Units Act 2004 and publishes it in the Government Gazette and a Victorian newspaper before 1 June in the preceding financial year (Explanatory details). Thus the dollar equivalents of a given fee unit amount will vary annually without amendment to these Regulations.
• No amendments recorded: the statutory Table of Amendments states that, at the time of publication, there have been no amendments to the 2024 Regulations (Endnotes, 2 Table of Amendments).

Because Schedules set rates in fee units rather than dollars, the practical dollar effect of these Regulations may change each financial year as the Treasurer varies the fee unit. Any future amendment that alters the number of fee units assigned to a service will be a substantive change to the tariff and would be recorded in the Table of Amendments. The current instrument establishes the baseline schedule and an expiry date; continuation or adjustment beyond 2034 will require further legislative action.

The instrument itself contains no citation of case law and the Endnotes (Table of Amendments and Explanatory details) do not record any judicial consideration of these Regulations. The Regulations are new as at 18 June 2024 and revocation of the predecessor instrument (the 2014 Regulations) is recorded, but there is no litigation history included in or attached to the text provided.

What the Regulations show about potential litigation vectors (based on the text)

• Because the Regulations create monetary obligations and specify units for recovery, they could in principle give rise to civil disputes about the correct application of charges (for example, calculating planning time, commencement/dismissal times, interpretation of "in connection with a commercial event", or whether a service is "not ordinarily available" within Victoria Police and therefore subject to cost recovery). The text does not supply case references or guidance on these interpretive questions.
• Mutual exclusivity between charging regimes (reg 8(4) and reg 9(2)) could in practice generate litigation if parties disagree whether a particular service falls within the fixed schedule or is better charged on personnel time. The Regulations provide the rule but do not define all boundary cases.
• Fees for production of documents subject to subpoena (Schedule 5, Items 12-13) could be challenged in particular cases if a party argues that the charge is incompatible with court orders or procedural fairness. The Regulations make the charge permissible but do not address how court process interacts with charging; subsequent litigation could address that tension.
• Media application fees (regs 10-11) are small and prescriptive, but disputes could arise if a media applicant contests whether a photograph is "agency" material or disputes the fee level. The Regulations themselves set the fee units; challenges would likely look to the Act’s procedures for authorisations.

Because the Regulations do not record judgments or litigation, there is no reported litigation history to summarise here. Practitioners should monitor case law once the instrument is in force for court decisions addressing interpretive issues that the Regulations leave unspecified.

The Regulations contain several drafting and operational features that can create traps for both payers and Victoria Police administrators if not attended to. These are concrete procedural and interpretive points, grounded in the text.

1. Fee units, not dollars: the Schedules set amounts in fee units, not a dollar amount. The dollar cost depends on the Treasurer’s fee unit value for the financial year (Explanatory details). For accurate budgeting and invoicing, parties must check the fee unit value for the relevant financial year and apply the rounding rule (nearest 10 cents). Failure to do so will produce incorrect dollar invoices.

2. Temporal bifurcation (before and on/after 1 January 2025): regs 5 and 6 create materially different scopes and categories depending on the date of the service. Before 1 January 2025, reg 5 restricts recoverable services to those connected with traffic management around a commercial event (reg 5(1)(b)). On or after 1 January 2025, reg 6 expands permissible recoverable services to include those for "traffic management or the performance of any of the functions of Victoria Police" (reg 6(1)(b)). Practitioners must be careful to identify the date when services are provided, as the roster, personnel categories (for example protective services officer entries in Schedule 2), and equipment lists can differ across the two regimes.

3. Planning time can be billable only in certain circumstances: for services provided before 1 January 2025, reg 5’s time computation (reg 5(3)) is strictly from commencement to dismissal and does not include planning. From 1 January 2025, reg 6 expressly permits inclusion of planning time (reg 6(3)(b) and 6(6)(b)). Reg 7, which applies where there is no agreement, also permits inclusion of planning time for default charges. This nuanced difference can produce materially different charges depending on whether an event is before or after 1 January 2025, and whether there is an agreement in place. Users should explicitly clarify whether planning time will be included and how it will be evidenced.

4. Mutual exclusivity on information charges: reg 8(4) and reg 9(2) prohibit imposing both regimes for the same services. That means that the Chief Commissioner must choose whether to apply personnel‑time charges (Schedule 2) or fixed Schedule 5 charges for a given request. If a requester is ambiguous about the service sought, or if paperwork is mixed, charging errors are possible. Practitioners should request a determination in writing from Victoria Police as to which regime will apply.

5. Services "not ordinarily available" are charged at cost: regs 5(7), 6(7) and 7(5) allow Victoria Police to recover the costs it incurs in acquiring services not ordinarily available within the organisation. The Regulations do not define the scope of "not ordinarily available" or prescribe an audit trail for the costs to be recovered. Disagreements about what counts and which costs are recoverable can be a source of dispute.

6. Schedule formatting and reading carefully: Schedules 3 and 4’s air service entries display large numerical amounts (for example rotary helicopter 625.7 fee units for the first hour, 312.9 for subsequent half hours). Because the printed layout uses multiple columns, there is a risk of misreading which column corresponds to "first hour" versus "subsequent half hour". Always cross‑check the header of the relevant Schedule when translating fee units to dollars.

7. Default rates in absence of agreement: reg 7 supplies fallback rates when there is no agreement between the Chief Commissioner and a commercial operator. This means that event organisers who fail to negotiate terms may be subject to statutory default charges set out in Schedule 2 and Schedule 4. It puts a premium on negotiating agreements that might cap or limit planning time billing or specify other terms.

8. No enforcement or dispute process in the Regulations: as noted earlier, the instrument does not set out enforcement or internal dispute processes. Parties should not assume that the Regulations provide an immediate statutory mechanism for contesting a charged amount. They should check contract terms (if any), Victoria Police administrative guidelines, and the Act for specific remedies.

9. Rounding and small‑value items: the Explanatory details require rounding to the nearest 10 cents. For items such as police bicycle (0.30 fee units first hour) or other small unit items, rounding can meaningfully affect the billed amount, particularly in smaller transactions or aggregated items.

10. Media fees set in fee units: regs 10-11 prescribe media application fees in fee units (11.6 and 33.7 respectively). Media organisations must calculate the dollar equivalent using the relevant fee unit value and ensure the correct amount accompanies applications. A miscalculation could cause procedural delays.

These "gotchas" are not legal traps in the sense of hidden penalties; they are concrete procedural and interpretive items that can produce billing disputes, cashflow surprises, or administrative friction if not actively managed.

This section sets out practical, source‑grounded steps for the Chief Commissioner, commercial event operators, media applicants and users of information services to comply with the Regulations as written.

For Victoria Police (Chief Commissioner and finance/operations teams)

1. Implement a time‑tracking system that records for each deployed person: date, start time (when person commences duty at the event), end time (when dismissed from duty at the event), rank/class and role. For post‑2025 services, also capture planning hours where those are to be included under reg 6(3)(b), 6(6)(b) or reg 7(2)/(4).
2. Adopt an internal policy to determine whether a given deployment is "in connection with a commercial event" and whether the charging will be under reg 5 (pre‑1 January 2025) or reg 6 (post‑1 January 2025). Ensure records identify the date of service to pick the correct Schedule (1 & 3 pre‑2025; 2 & 4 post‑2025).
3. Formalise an administrative instruction to ensure that for information services the Chief Commissioner applies only one charging regime for the same service, as required by reg 8(4) and reg 9(2). Document the choice and notify the requester in writing.
4. Where a service is "not ordinarily available within Victoria Police" and costs are to be recovered (regs 5(7), 6(7), 7(5)), establish procurement and costing documentation that evidences the actual costs incurred, so the fee charged is clearly traceable to those costs.
5. Keep the fee unit values readily available and updated each financial year as fixed by the Treasurer under the Monetary Units Act 2004; publish or make available the dollar conversion for common categories to minimise disputes (Explanatory details).
6. Include rounding rules (nearest 10 cents) in invoices and financial documentation to match the Explanatory details and avoid disputes about minor amounts.
7. Where agreements with event operators exist, ensure contracts specify how planning time is treated, what equipment costs are recoverable, how disputes will be settled, and invoicing/payment terms; reg 7 only applies where there is no agreement.

For commercial event organisers and operators

1. Identify early whether a planned event will likely require Victoria Police resources as defined by regs 5-7. If yes, engage with Victoria Police to negotiate an agreement rather than rely on the default statutory rates in reg 7. Agreements can clarify whether planning time is billable and can cap or otherwise adjust the default unit rates.
2. Budget using fee unit conversions: determine which financial year’s fee unit value applies to the billing period, multiply fee units by that dollar value, and apply the required rounding to the nearest 10 cents (Explanatory details).
3. Pay special attention to the post‑1 January 2025 changes: if the event is on/after that date the scope of chargeable activity has broadened (reg 6(1)(b)) and additional personnel categories (for example Protective Services Officers) and equipment (drones/counter‑drone) appear in Schedules 2 and 4. If your event crosses the date boundary in planning or execution, clarify which regime applies to which activities.
4. Request itemised invoices that show fee units, the fee unit dollar value applied, and the calculation including any planning time, so charges can be independently checked against the published Schedules and the Treasurer’s fee unit value.
5. If the event operator is a not‑for‑profit or includes volunteer participation, note that Schedule 5 distinguishes national police certificates for volunteers (Item 1) from other applicants (Item 2). Ensure you request the correct item when seeking checks.

For users of information services (including legal practitioners, insurers, and the public)

1. Determine whether the service you seek is listed in Schedule 5 (fixed charge) or is more properly charged on a personnel‑time basis under reg 8 and Schedule 2. If in doubt, ask Victoria Police which regime it intends to apply and obtain that confirmation in writing.
2. When requesting national police certificates, fingerprinting or report copies, use the Schedule 5 item numbers to request the correct charge and ensure you include the correct fee unit conversion in your payment. For additional pages of an accident or subpoenaed document, Schedule 5 prescribes $1 per additional page (Items 11 and 13).
3. For requests that involve file searches and document review, expect the Chief Commissioner to include time to search for, extract and review documents in any personnel‑time based charge (reg 8(3)). Ask for an itemised breakdown of search and review time if you want to contest the charge.
4. Media applicants seeking agency photographs must lodge applications with appropriate fees as prescribed in regs 10-11 (11.6 and 33.7 fee units). Confirm the fee unit value and include the correct amount.

Practical administrative checks for all payers and recipients

• Always confirm the applicable fee unit value for the financial year relevant to the service date, and require invoices to show the fee unit, multiplier and rounding applied.
• Where planning time is or may be charged, ask for a documented methodology for how planning time is calculated and for evidence that planning time was reasonably required and actually expended.
• If disputing a charge, check whether a contract governs the engagement. Contracts will supersede the default rates in reg 7; if no contract exists, reg 7’s default amounts apply.
• Where goods or services obtained externally are being cost‑passed under the "not ordinarily available" clauses, ask for procurement invoices and cost breakdowns to ensure the charge matches actual acquisition costs.

These steps reflect obligations and options that the Regulations themselves create. They do not create additional statutory remedies, so parties should make use of contractual negotiations, transparent invoicing and early clarification of charging regimes to avoid disputes.