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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