Australian Capital Territory
Registrar-General Act 1993    
A1993-63
Republication No 6
Effective:  26 August 2008 – 30 June 2011
Republication date: 26 August 2008
Last amendment made by A2008-28

Unauthorised version prepared by ACT Parliamentary Counsel’s Office

About this republication
The republished law
This is a republication of the Registrar-General Act 1993 (including any amendment made under the Legislation Act 2001, part 11.3 (Editorial changes)) as in force on 26 August 2008.  It also includes any amendment, repeal or expiry affecting the republished law to 26 August 2008.  
The legislation history and amendment history of the republished law are set out in endnotes 3 and 4. 
Kinds of republications
The Parliamentary Counsel’s Office prepares 2 kinds of republications of ACT laws (see the ACT legislation register at www.legislation.act.gov.au):
•	authorised republications to which the Legislation Act 2001 applies
•	unauthorised republications.
The status of this republication appears on the bottom of each page.
Editorial changes
The Legislation Act 2001, part 11.3 authorises the Parliamentary Counsel to make editorial amendments and other changes of a formal nature when preparing a law for republication.  Editorial changes do not change the effect of the law, but have effect as if they had been made by an Act commencing on the republication date (see Legislation Act 2001, s 115 and s 117).  The changes are made if the Parliamentary Counsel considers they are desirable to bring the law into line, or more closely into line, with current legislative drafting practice.  
This republication does not include amendments made under part 11.3 (see endnote 1).
Uncommenced provisions and amendments
If a provision of the republished law has not commenced or is affected by an uncommenced amendment, the symbol  U  appears immediately before the provision heading.  The text of the uncommenced provision or amendment appears only in the last endnote.
Modifications
If a provision of the republished law is affected by a current modification, the symbol  M  appears immediately before the provision heading.  The text of the modifying provision appears in the endnotes.  For the legal status of modifications, see Legislation Act 2001, section 95.
Penalties
The value of a penalty unit for an offence against this republished law at the republication date is—
	(a)	if the person charged is an individual—$100; or
	(b)	if the person charged is a corporation—$500.

Australian Capital Territory
Registrar-General Act 1993

Contents
	Page
	1	Name of Act	2
	2	Dictionary	2
	3	Notes	2
	4	Registrar-General	2
	4A	Deputy Registrars-General	2
	5	Registrar-general a corporation sole	3
	6	No enquiry required about deputy registrar-general’s compliance with directions	3
	8	Protection of registrar-general etc from liability	4
	9	Invalidity of documents	4
Dictionary		5
Endnotes
	1	About the endnotes	6
	2	Abbreviation key	6
	3	Legislation history	7
	4	Amendment history	8
	5	Earlier republications	9

Australian Capital Territory
Registrar-General Act 1993

An Act to establish an office of registrar-general

    

1	Name of Act
This Act is the Registrar-General Act 1993.
2	Dictionary
The dictionary at the end of this Act is part of this Act.
Note 1	The dictionary at the end of this Act defines certain terms used in this Act.
Note 2	A definition in the dictionary applies to the entire Act unless the definition, or another provision of the Act, provides otherwise or the contrary intention otherwise appears (see Legislation Act, s 155 and s 156 (1)).
3	Notes
A note included in this Act is explanatory and is not part of this Act.
Note	See the Legislation Act, s 127 (1), (4) and (5) for the legal status of notes.
4	Registrar-General
	(1)	The chief executive must appoint a public servant as the Registrar‑General.
Note 1	For the making of appointments (including acting appointments), see the Legislation Act, pt 19.3. 
Note 2	In particular, an appointment may be made by naming a person or nominating the occupant of a position (see Legislation Act, s 207).
	(2)	The registrar-general has the functions given to the registrar-general by any law in force in the ACT.
4A	Deputy Registrars-General
	(1)	The chief executive may appoint a public servant as a Deputy Registrar-General.
	(2)	A deputy registrar-general may exercise any function of the registrar, subject to any direction of the registrar-general.
	(3)	A function of the registrar-general, when exercised by a deputy registrar-general, is taken to have been exercised by the registrar‑general.
5	Registrar-general a corporation sole
	(1)	The registrar-general—
	(a)	is a corporation sole by the name of the Registrar-General of the Australian Capital Territory; and
	(b)	has perpetual succession; and
	(c)	must have an official seal; and
	(d)	is capable, in the corporate name of the registrar-general, of acquiring, holding and disposing of real and personal property and suing and being sued.
	(2)	The Minister must, in writing, approve the design of the official seal.
	(3)	An approval under subsection (2) is a notifiable instrument.
Note	A notifiable instrument must be notified under the Legislation Act 2001.
6	No enquiry required about deputy registrar-general’s compliance with directions
A person dealing with a deputy registrar-general is not bound to enquire whether the deputy registrar-general, in exercising a function in relation to the dealing—
	(a)	was subject to a direction of the registrar-general; or
	(b)	complied with a direction of the registrar-general to which the deputy registrar-general was subject.
8	Protection of registrar-general etc from liability
	(1)	A protected person is not personally liable for conduct engaged in honestly and without recklessness—
	(a)	in the exercise of a function under this Act; or
	(b)	in the reasonable belief that the conduct was in the exercise of a function under this Act.
Note	A reference to an Act includes a reference to the statutory instruments made or in force under the Act (see Legislation Act, s 104).
	(2)	Any liability that would, apart from this section, attach to the protected person attaches instead to the Territory.
	(3)	In this section:
conduct means an act or an omission to do an act.
protected person means a person who is, or has been—
	(a)	the registrar-general; or
	(b)	the deputy registrar-general.
9	Invalidity of documents
A document is not invalid on the ground that there was—
	(a)	an informality in connection with the affixing of the seal; or
	(b)	a failure to affix the seal.

Dictionary
(see s 2)
Note 1	The Legislation Act contains definitions and other provisions relevant to this Act.
Note 2	For example, the Legislation Act, dict, pt 1, defines the following terms:
·	ACT
·	exercise
·	function
·	Minister (see s 162).
registrar-general means—
	(a)	the Registrar-General under section 4; or
	(b)	the Registrar-General of the Australian Capital Territory in its corporate capacity under section 5.
seal means the official seal of the registrar-general mentioned in section 5 (1) (c).

Endnotes
1	About the endnotes
Amending and modifying laws are annotated in the legislation history and the amendment history.  Current modifications are not included in the republished law but are set out in the endnotes.
Not all editorial amendments made under the Legislation Act 2001, part 11.3 are annotated in the amendment history.  Full details of any amendments can be obtained from the Parliamentary Counsel’s Office.
Uncommenced amending laws and expiries are listed in the legislation history and the amendment history.  These details are underlined.  Uncommenced provisions and amendments are not included in the republished law but are set out in the last endnote.
If all the provisions of the law have been renumbered, a table of renumbered provisions gives details of previous and current numbering.  
The endnotes also include a table of earlier republications.
2	Abbreviation key

am = amended	ord = ordinance	
amdt = amendment	orig = original	
ch = chapter	par = paragraph/subparagraph	
def = definition	pres = present	
dict = dictionary	prev = previous	
disallowed = disallowed by the Legislative 	(prev...) = previously	
Assembly	pt = part	
div = division	r = rule/subrule	
exp = expires/expired	renum = renumbered	
Gaz = gazette	reloc = relocated	
hdg = heading	R[X] = Republication No	
IA = Interpretation Act 1967	RI = reissue	
ins = inserted/added	s = section/subsection	
LA = Legislation Act 2001	sch = schedule	
LR = legislation register	sdiv = subdivision	
LRA = Legislation (Republication) Act 1996	sub = substituted	
mod = modified/modification	SL = Subordinate Law	
o = order	underlining = whole or part not commenced	
om = omitted/repealed	or to be expired	

3	Legislation history
Registrar-General Act 1993 No 63
notified 6 September 1993 (Gaz 1993 No S172)
s 1, s 2 commenced 6 September 1993 (s 2 (1))
remainder commenced 1 October 1993 (s 2 (2) and Gaz 1993 No S207)
as amended by
Statutory Offices (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1994 No 97 sch 1 pt 1
notified 15 December 1994 (Gaz 1994 No S280)
s 1, s 2 commenced 15 December 1994 (s 2 (1))
sch 1 pt 1 commenced 15 December 1994 (s 2 (2) and Gaz 1994 No S293)
Legislation (Consequential Amendments) Act 2001 No 44 pt 326
notified 26 July 2001 (Gaz 2001 No 30)
s 1, s 2 commenced 26 July 2001 (IA s 10B)
pt 326 commenced 12 September 2001 (s 2 and see Gaz 2001 No S65)
Statute Law Amendment Act 2007 A2007-3 sch 3 pt 3.85
notified LR 22 March 2007
s 1, s 2 taken to have commenced 1 July 2006 (LA s 75 (2))
sch 3 pt 3.85 commenced 12 April 2007 (s 2 (1))
Statute Law Amendment Act 2007 (No 2) A2007-16 sch 3 pt 3.33
notified LR 20 June 2007
s 1, s 2 taken to have commenced 12 April 2007 (LA s 75 (2))
sch 3 pt 3.33 taken to have commenced 12 April 2007 (s 2 (2))
Statute Law Amendment Act 2008 A2008-28 sch 3 pt 3.48
notified LR 12 August 2008
s 1, s 2 commenced 12 August 2008 (LA s 75 (1))
sch 3 pt 3.48 commenced 26 August 2008 (s 2)
4	Amendment history
Name of Act
s 1	sub A2007-3 amdt 3.443
Dictionary
s 2	om 2001 No 44 amdt 1.3602
	ins A2007-3 amdt 3.444
Notes
s 3	sub A2007-3 amdt 3.444
	def registrar-general sub 1994 No 97 sch 1 pt 1
	om A2007-3 amdt 3.444
	def seal om A2007-3 amdt 3.444
Registrar-General
s 4	sub 1994 No 97 sch 1 pt 1; A2007-3 amdt 3.445
	(3)-(5) exp 12 April 2008 (s 4 (5) (LA s 88 declaration applies))
Deputy Registrars-General
s 4A	ins 1994 No 97 sch 1 pt 1
	sub A2007-3 amdt 3.445
	am A2007-16 amdt 3.139
	(4)-(6) exp 12 April 2008 (s 4A (6) (LA s 88 declaration applies))
Registrar-general a corporation sole
s 5	am 2001 No 44 amdt 1.3603
	(4)-(6) exp 12 September 2002 (s 5 (6))
	am A2007-3 amdt 3.446
No enquiry required about deputy registrar-general’s compliance with directions
s 6	sub A2007-3 amdt 3.447
Acting appointments
s 7	om 1994 No 97 sch 1 pt 1
Protection of registrar-general etc from liability
s 8	am 1994 No 97 sch 1 pt 1; A2007-3 amdt 3.448, amdt 3.449
	sub A2008-28 amdt 3.145
Dictionary
dict	ins A2007-3 amdt 3.450
	def registrar-general ins A2007-3 amdt 3.450
	def seal ins A2007-3 amdt 3.450
5	Earlier republications
Some earlier republications were not numbered. The number in column 1 refers to the publication order.  
Since 12 September 2001 every authorised republication has been published in electronic pdf format on the ACT legislation register.  A selection of authorised republications have also been published in printed format. These republications are marked with an asterisk (*) in column 1.  Electronic and printed versions of an authorised republication are identical. 

Republication No	Amendments to	Republication date	
1	Act 1994 No 97	31 January 1998	
2	Act 2001 No 44	13 February 2002	
3	A2001-44	13 September 2002	
4	A2007-3	12 April 2007	
4 (RI)	A2007-3 ‡	20 June 2007	
5	A2007-3	13 April 2008	
‡ includes retrospective amendments by A2007-16	

©  Australian Capital Territory 2008