Australian Capital Territory

auctioneers act 1959
This consolidation has been prepared by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel’s Office
Reprinted as at 28 February 1999
TABLE OF PROVISIONS
Section
	1.		Short title
	2.		Repeal
	3.		Interpretation
	4.		Auctioneers to be licensed
	5.		Applications for licences
	6.		New licences
	7.		Renewal of licences
	8.		Certificates of convictions
	9.		Objections to granting of licences
	10.	Granting of licences
	11.	Licence not to be granted in certain circumstances
	12.	Duration of licences
	13.	Cancellation and suspension of licences
	14.	Misrepresentation as to quality etc. of property
	15.	Record to be kept by auctioneers
	16.	Bids by seller
	17.	Amendment of notices etc. and extensions of time
	18.	Regulations

Schedule 1
Ordinances repealed by this Act
Schedule 2
Forms

Australian Capital Territory
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

auctioneers act 1959
An Act relating to Auctioneers
	Short title
1.  This Act may be cited as the Auctioneers Act 1959.1
2. 	Repeal
	The Ordinances specified in Schedule 1 are repealed.
3. 	Interpretation
(1) 	In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears—
“auctioneer” means a person who sells by auction or offers for sale by auction;
“charge” means a charge that has not been dealt with by a court, but does not include a charge that has been withdrawn or otherwise not been proceeded with;
“convicted” includes being discharged under section 556A of the Crimes Act 1900 or an equivalent provision of a law of the Commonwealth, a State, another Territory or another country, but does not include a reference to a conviction that has been set aside on appeal or review;
 “Court” means the Magistrates Court;
“licence” means a licence issued under this Act;

“the Registrar” means the Registrar of the Court, and includes the Deputy Registrar of the Court;
(2) 	For the purposes of this Act, a sale by auction is a public sale of property whereby—
	(a)	the highest, the lowest or the only bidder is the purchaser;
	(b)	the first person who claims property submitted for sale at a previously nominated price is the purchaser; or
	(c)	there is a competition for the purchase of property in any way commonly known and understood to be by way of auction.
(3) 	A reference in this Act to a form by letter shall be read as a reference to the form so lettered in Schedule 2.
4. 	Auctioneers to be licensed
(1) 	Subject to subsection (2), a person shall not carry on the business of an auctioneer unless the person is the holder of a licence.
Penalty:
	(a)	if the offender is a natural person—50 penalty units or imprisonment for 6 months, or both;
	(b)	if the offender is a body corporate—250 penalty units.
 (2) 	For the purpose of subsection (1)—
	(a)	the sale by auction of any property taken in execution by an officer of a court;
	(b)	the sale by auction by a person authorised by the Minister of any property belonging to the Territory or to an intestate estate; or
	(d)	the sale by auction by a poundkeeper under the Pounds Act 1928 of any cattle, as defined by that Act, impounded in a public pound,
shall not be deemed to be the carrying on of the business of an auctioneer.
5. 	Applications for licences
(1) 	A person who has attained the age of 18 years may apply to the Court for a licence by lodging with the Registrar—
	(a)	an application in accordance with Form A;
	(b)	a copy of the application; and
	(c)	references as to the applicant’s character and suitability for holding a licence given by 3 qualified persons.
(2) 	In this section—
“elector” has the same meaning as it has in the Electoral Act 1992;
“qualified person” means—
	(a)	an elector who is a person referred to in the Schedule to the Statutory Declarations Regulations of the Commonwealth; or
	(b)	another person approved by the Court.
6. 	New licences
(1) 	Where an application for a licence is lodged with the Registrar (not being an application to which section 7 applies) the Registrar shall forthwith—
	(a)	appoint a date for the hearing of the application by the Court, being a date not earlier than 21 days after the date on which the application is lodged with the Registrar; and
	(b)	endorse on the copy of the application a notice stating the date so fixed and return the copy to the applicant.
(2) 	The applicant shall—
	(a)	within 24 hours after lodging the application with the Registrar lodge with the Commissioner of Police the copy of the application on which the Registrar has made the endorsement referred to in paragraph (1) (b); and
	(b)	not later than 14 days before the date appointed for the hearing of the application, cause to be published in a newspaper circulating in the Territory notice of his or her application in accordance with Form B.
7. 	Renewal of licences
(1) 	Where—
	(a)	a person is the holder of a licence; and
	(b)	an application, in accordance with Form C, for a further licence to come into force on the expiration of that firstmentioned licence, together with a copy of the application, is lodged with the Registrar by that person before the month of June in the year in which that firstmentioned licence will expire,
the Registrar shall forthwith—
	(c)	appoint a date for the hearing of the application by the Court, being a date not earlier than 14 June, and not later than 30 June, of that year; and
	(d)	endorse on the copy of the application a notice stating the date so fixed and return the copy to the applicant.

(2) 	The applicant shall within 24 hours after lodging the application with the Registrar lodge with the Commissioner of Police the copy of the application on which the Registrar has made the endorsement referred to in paragraph (1) (d).
(3) 	The Registrar shall, on or before 7 June in each year, cause to be published in a newspaper circulating in the Territory a notice in accordance with Form D—
	(a)	stating the names and addresses of the persons who have made applications for licences under this section; and
	(b)	stating the date or respective dates appointed for the hearing of the applications.
8. 	Certificates of convictions
(1) 	The Commissioner shall, not later than 5 days before the date appointed for the hearing of an application for a licence, furnish to the Registrar for the use of the Court a certificate stating whether, according to the records held by the Commissioner, it appears that the applicant has been charged with, or convicted of, any offence against a law of the Territory, the Commonwealth, a State, another Territory or another country.
(2) 	The applicant is entitled to inspect a certificate under subsection (1).
9. 	Objections to granting of licences
(1) 	Subject to subsection (2), the Commissioner of Police or any person who resides in the Territory may, upon the hearing of an application for a licence, object to the granting of the licence upon the ground that the applicant is not a fit and proper person to be the holder of a licence.
(2) 	A person, including the Commissioner of Police, is not entitled to object to the granting of a licence unless, not later than 7 days before the date appointed for the hearing of the application for the licence, the person—
	(a)	files with the Registrar a notice of objection setting out particulars of the ground of his or her objection; and
	(b)	serves a copy of the notice on the applicant.
(3) 	Where the Court is satisfied that an objection is frivolous or vexatious, the Court may order the objector to pay to the applicant an amount equal to the whole or any part of the amount by which the costs of the applicant were increased by reason of the objection.
(4) 	Where, as a result of an objection other than an objection by the Commissioner of Police, an application for a licence is refused, the Court may order the applicant to pay the whole or any part of the costs of the objector.
10. 	Granting of licences
(1) 	Subject to section 11, where, upon the hearing of an application for a licence, the applicant satisfies the Court that he or she is a fit and proper person to be the holder of a licence, the Court may direct the Registrar to issue a licence to the applicant and the Registrar shall issue a licence to the applicant in accordance with Form E.
(1A) 	For the purpose of determining whether an applicant for a licence is a fit and proper person to hold the licence, the Court may have regard to whether he or she—
	(a)	has been convicted of, or is subject to, a charge in relation to an offence—
	(i)	that involves fraud or dishonesty; or
	(ii)	against this Act or a corresponding law; or
	(b)	has been refused a licence under this Act or a corresponding law.
(2) 	The Court may, on the hearing of an application for a licence, request the Commissioner of Police to make such further enquiries as the Court thinks fit and may adjourn the hearing to enable the Commissioner to make the enquiries and furnish the report.
(3) 	Where the granting of a licence in pursuance of an application to which section 7 of applies is not objected to, the application may be determined in Chambers.
(4) 	In this section—
“corresponding law” means a law of a State, another Territory or another country that deals with the licensing or conduct of auctioneers.
11. 	Licence not to be granted in certain circumstances
	A licence shall not be granted to a person who is licensed to carry on the business of a pawnbroker under a law of the Territory or of any State.
12. 	Duration of licences
(1) 	Subject to this section and to section 13, a licence comes into force on the day on which it is issued and continues in force until 30 June next following that firstmentioned day.
(2) 	Subject to section 13, a licence granted pursuant to an application to which section 7 applies comes into force on 1 July next following the day on which the application was lodged with the Registrar and continues in force until 30 June next following that firstmentioned day.
13. 	Cancellation and suspension of licences
(1) 	The Court may, on the application of the Commissioner of Police, cancel a licence if the Court is satisfied—
	(a)	that the holder of the licence is not qualified to be the grantee of a licence by virtue of section 11; or
	(b)	that he or she is not a fit and proper person to be the holder of a licence.
(2) 	Where the Commissioner of Police has applied to the Court for the cancellation of a licence, the Court may, pending the determination of the application, suspend the licence.
(3) 	Where the holder of a licence is convicted of an offence against this Act or the regulations, the Court may cancel the licence or suspend the licence for such period as the Court thinks fit.
(4) 	Where a licence expires, is cancelled or is suspended, the holder of the licence shall forthwith deliver the licence to the Registrar.
Penalty:
	(a)	if the offender is a natural person—5 penalty units;
	(b)	if the offender is a body corporate—25 penalty units.
14. 	Misrepresentation as to quality etc. of property
	An auctioneer shall not knowingly misrepresent, or cause or permit to be misrepresented, the composition, structure, character, quality, origin or manufacture of any property offered by the auctioneer for sale by auction.
Penalty:
	(a)	if the offender is a natural person—30 penalty units;
	(b)	if the offender is a body corporate—150 penalty units.
15. 	Record to be kept by auctioneers
(1) 	An auctioneer shall forthwith record, in a book to be kept by him or her for the purpose, full particulars of any property sold by the auctioneer at auction and shall preserve the record so made in respect of any sale for a period of at least 12 months after the date of the sale.
Penalty:
	(a)	if the offender is a natural person—10 penalty units;
	(b)	if the offender is a body corporate—50 penalty units.
(2) 	An auctioneer shall, when at any reasonable time so requested by a member of the Police Force, produce to the member the book kept by the auctioneer for the purposes of subsection (1).

Penalty for contravention of subsection (2):
	(a)	if the offender is a natural person—5 penalty units;
	(b)	if the offender is a body corporate—25 penalty units.
16. 	Bids by seller
	Where, under the conditions of sale relating to a sale by auction, a right to bid by or on behalf of the seller is not specified—
	(a)	the seller shall not bid at the sale;
	(b)	the seller shall not cause any person to bid on his or her behalf at the sale;
	(c)	a person shall not bid on behalf of the seller at the sale; and
	(d)	the auctioneer shall not knowingly take a bid from the seller or any person bidding on behalf of the seller.
Penalty:
	(a)	if the offender is a natural person—50 penalty units;
	(b)	if the offender is a body corporate—250 penalty units.
17. 	Amendment of notices etc. and extensions of time
	On the hearing of an application under this Act, the Court may, for the purposes of the application, and on terms as to costs or otherwise as it  deems fit—
	(a)	permit the amendment of a notice, document or instrument;
	(b)	if satisfied that injustice to any person will not be occasioned by so doing, disregard a defect in a notice, document or instrument; and
	(c)	enlarge or abridge the time fixed by this Act or the regulations for doing any act or thing, whether the application for the enlargement or abridgement is made before or after the expiration of the time so fixed.
18. 	Regulations
	The Executive may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing all matters which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act, and, in particular, prescribing penalties not exceeding—
	(a)	if the offender is a natural person—10 penalty units; or
	(b)	if the offender is a body corporate—50 penalty units;
for any offence against the regulations.

	SCHEDULE 1	Section 2
Ordinances Repealed by this Act
Auctioneers Ordinance 1927 (No. 2 of 1927)
Auctioneers Ordinance 1932 (No. 2 of 1932)
Auctioneers Ordinance 1936 (No. 46 of 1936)
Auctioneers Ordinance 1938 (No. 12 of 1938)

Schedule 2
Form A	Section 5
Australian Capital Territory
Auctioneers Act 1959
Application for Auctioneer’s Licence

To the Magistrates Court,
I,                                                         , residing at                                                                                      
and carrying on business at                                                                                 , hereby apply for a licence under the Auctioneers Act 1959.
2. The following statement shows the addresses at which I have resided during the period of 5 years immediately preceding the date of this application and the period during which I resided at each of those addresses:
		From ... / ... /19 ... , to ... / ... /19 ...
		From ... / ... /19 ... , to ... / ... /19 ...
3. The following statement shows the occupations that I have followed during the period of 5 years immediately preceding the date of this application and the period during which I followed each of those occupations:
.		From ... / ... /19 ... , to ... / ... /19 ...
.	..	From ... / ... /19 ... , to ... / ... /19 ...
Dated this                                     day of                                 , 19        .
	(Signature.)

Form B	Section 6
Australian Capital Territory
Auctioneers Act 1959
I,                                                                  of                                                                       , hereby give notice that I have lodged with the Registrar of the Magistrates Court at Canberra an application for the grant to me of a licence under the Auctioneers Act 1959. The application has been set down for hearing by the Court on the                                                                                                                          
day of                                           , 19          , at          o’clock in the           noon.
Any person wishing to object to the granting of the licence is required to file a notice of objection (setting out particulars of the ground of objection) with the Registrar of the Court at Canberra, and to serve a copy of the notice on me, not later than 7 days before that date.

Form C	Section 7
Australian Capital Territory
Auctioneers Act 1959
Application for Auctioneer’s Licence
To the Magistrates Court,
I                                                                  , residing at                                                                          and 
carrying on business at                                                                                           , hereby apply for a licence under the Auctioneers Act 1959.
2.  I am at present the holder of a licence under that Act, being a licence that expires 
on                                               , 19       , and request that the licence hereby applied for come into force on the expiration of that last-mentioned licence.
Dated this                            day of                                , 19      .
	(Signature.)

Form D	Section 7
Australian Capital Territory
Auctioneers Act 1959
Notice is hereby given that applications have been made under section 7 of the Auctioneers Act 1959 for the renewal of licences granted under that Act.
The names and addresses of the applicants and the date(s) appointed for the hearing of the applications are as follows:
	Name.	Address.	Date of hearing of application.
.............................	.................................	.....................................
.............................	.................................	.....................................
.............................	.................................	.....................................
Any person wishing to object to the renewal of the licence granted to any of the abovementioned persons is required to file a notice of objection (setting out particulars of the ground of objection) with me, and to serve a copy of the notice on the applicant, not later than 7 days before the date of hearing of the application.
Dated this                             day of                               , 19      .
	Registrar of the Magistrates Court 
	at Canberra.

form e	Section 10
Australian Capital Territory
Auctioneers Act 1959
Licence
In pursuance of the provisions of the Auctioneers Act 1959, 
of                                                                            is licensed to carry on the business of an auctioneer in the Australian Capital Territory until 30 June, 19      .
Dated this                           day of                                          , 19      .
	Registrar of the Magistrates Court
	at Canberra

NOTES
1.	The Auctioneers Act 1959 as shown in this reprint comprises Act No. 2, 1959 amended as indicated in the Tables below.
	Citation of Laws—The Self-Government (Citation of Laws) Act 1989 (No. 21, 1989) altered the citation of most Ordinances so that after Self-Government day they are to be cited as Acts.  That Act also affects references in ACT laws to Comonwealth Acts.
2.	The Legislation (Republication) Act 1996 (No. 51, 1996) authorises the Parliamentary Counsel in preparing a law for republication, to make certain editorial and other formal amendments in accordance with current legislative drafting practice.  Those amendments make no change in the law.  Amendments made pursuant to that Act do not appear in the Table of Amendments but details may be obtained on request from the Parliamentary Counsel’s Office. 
Table 1
Table of Ordinances
Ordinance	Number  
and year	Date of 
notification 
in Gazette	Date of 
commencement	Application, saving or transitional provisions	

Auctioneers Ordinance 1959	2, 1959	25 Mar 1959	25 Mar 1959		
Auctioneers Ordinance  
(No. 2)  1959	15, 1959	19 Nov 1959	19 Nov 1959	—	
Ordinances Revision (Decimal Currency) Ordinance 1966	19, 1966	23 Dec 1966	23 Dec 1966	—	
Ordinances Revision (Age of Majority) Ordinance 1974	47, 1974	24 Oct 1974	1 Nov 1974	—	
Magistrates Court Ordinance 1985	67, 1985	19 Dec 1985	1 Feb 1986 (see Gazette 1986, No. G3, p. 265)	—	
Self-Government (Consequential Amendments) Ordinance 1989	38, 1989	10 May 1989	Ss. 1 and 2:  10 May 1989 Remainder:  11 May 1989 (see s. 2 (2) and Gazette 1989, No. S164)
	—	
Self-Government day 11 May 1989

Table 2
Table of Acts
Act	Number  
and year	Date of 
notification 
in Gazette	Date of 
commencement	Application, saving or transitional provisions	

Magistrates and Coroner’s Courts (Registrar) Act 1991	44, 1991	20 Sept 1991	Ss. 1 and 2:  20 Sept 1991
Remainder:  25 Sept 1991 (see Gazette 1991, No. S103, p. 2)	—	
Statute Law Revision (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1993	1, 1993	1 Mar 1993	1 Mar 1993	—	
Statutory Offices (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1994	97, 1994	15 Dec 1994	Ss. 1 and 2:  15 Dec 1994
Remainder:  15 Dec 1994 (see Gazette 1994, No. S293)	Part III 
(ss. 4-9)	
Auctioneers (Amendment) Act 1995	14, 1995	30 June 1995	30 June 1995	—	
(Reprinted as at 31 January 1996)	
Uncollected Goods (Consequential Provisions) Act 1996	87, 1996	20 Dec 1996	Ss. 1 and 2:  20 Dec 1996
Remainder:  19 Mar 1997 (see
 s. 2 (2) and Gazette 1997, No. S71)	Part III (ss. 7-10)	
Statute Law Revision (Penalties) Act 1998	54, 1998	27 Nov 1998	Ss. 1 and 2:  27 Nov 1998
Remainder:  9 Dec 1998 (see Gazette 1998, No. 49, p. 1078)
	—	

Table of Amendments
ad. = added or inserted      am. = amended     rep. = repealed      rs. = repealed and substituted

Provision	How affected

S. 3	am. No. 67, 1985; Act No. 44, 1991; No. 1, 1993; No. 14, 1995
S. 4	am. No. 15, 1959; No. 19, 1966; No. 38, 1989; Act No. 1, 1993; No. 97, 1994; No. 14, 1995; No. 87, 1996; No. 54, 1998
S. 5	am. No. 47, 1974; Act No. 44, 1991; No. 1, 1993
	rs. No. 14, 1995
S. 6	am. Act No. 44, 1991; No. 1, 1993
S. 7	am. Act No. 44, 1991; No. 1, 1993; No. 14, 1995
S. 8	am. Act No. 44, 1991; No. 1, 1993
	rs. No. 14, 1995
S. 9	am. Act No. 44, 1991; No. 1, 1993; No. 14, 1995
S. 10	am. No. 19, 1966; Act No. 44, 1991; No. 1, 1993; No. 14, 1995
S. 11	am. Act No. 1, 1993; No. 14, 1995
S. 12	am. Act No. 44, 1991; No. 1, 1993
S. 13	am. No. 19, 1966; Act No. 44, 1991; No. 1, 1993; No. 54, 1998
Ss. 14-16	am. No. 19, 1966; Act No. 1, 1993; No. 54, 1998
S. 18	am. No. 19, 1966; No. 38, 1989; Act No. 1, 1993; No. 54, 1998
S. 19	am. Act No. 1, 1993
	omitted as redundant No. 51, 1996
Heading to Schedule 2	rs. No. 51, 1996
Schedule 2	am. No. 67, 1985; Act No. 44, 1991; No. 1, 1993