Bills Digest No. 171 2002-03
Acts Interpretation Amendment (Court Procedures) Bill
2003
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as
introduced and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest
does not have any official legal status. Other sources should be
consulted to determine the subsequent official status of the
Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Background
Main Provisions
Concluding Comments
Contact Officer & Copyright Details
Passage History
Acts Interpretation
Amendment (Court Procedures) Bill 2003
Date
Introduced: 5 June
2003
House:
House of
Representatives
Portfolio:
Attorney-General
Commencement:
7 July
2003
The Bill amends the Acts Interpretation Act 1901
(Cwlth) to make it clear that a reference in Commonwealth
legislation to a summons, information or complaint (or other
current forms of initiating proceedings) includes all relevant
methods of initiating proceedings. The purpose of the amendment is to
ensure that changes to procedures for initiating proceedings in
State and Territory law do not create any unintended problems for
the prosecution of criminal offences under Commonwealth
law.
The Commonwealth does not have its own
criminal courts. Commonwealth offences are prosecuted in State and
Territory Courts.
Changes to
New South Wales
criminal procedure commence
on 7 July
2003. The changes include the introduction
of new court attendance notices to take the place of the old system
of summons laid upon information or complaint made before a
Justice.
As a result of these changes, certain
Commonwealth provisions that rely on existing terminology may no
longer be effective. It is also possible that other States and
Territories will introduce similar changes in the
future.
The Acts Interpretation Act 1901
(Cwlth) provides statutory authority for methods of
interpretation of all Commonwealth legislation. It avoids
repetition of common provisions thereby reducing the size of
Commonwealth statutes.
Item 1 of Schedule 1 inserts
new section
27A into the Acts
Interpretation Act 1901. As noted above, the new section will
ensure that references in Commonwealth legislation to the
commencement of proceedings (by State or Territory procedures) are
taken to include all documents through which proceedings may be
instituted in a court.
Item 2 ensures that the
amendment applies to proceedings on or after 7 July 2003. If the
Bill does not come into effect by that date the amendment will have
a retrospective operation. However, as the nature of the amendment
is to allow existing procedures to continue to operate and has no
effect on the rights or obligations of the individual, no issue concerning the presumption
against the retrospective operation of statutes
arises.
The Bill is purely technical in nature. Its
passage will ensure that no unintended technical problems arise in
the initiation of criminal proceedings under Commonwealth criminal
law in State and Territory courts.
Jane Hearn
12 June 2003
Bills Digest Service
Information and Research Services
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ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 2003
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Published by the Department of the Parliamentary Library,
2003.
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