Australian Capital Territory
Plastic Shopping Bags Ban Act 2010    
A2010-49
Republication No 2
Effective:  1 November 2011 – 1 July 2014
Republication date: 1 November 2011
Act not amended
(republication for commenced provision and
expiry of transitional provision (s 100))

Unauthorised version prepared by ACT Parliamentary Counsel’s Office

About this republication
The republished law
This is a republication of the Plastic Shopping Bags Ban Act 2010 (including any amendment made under the Legislation Act 2001, part 11.3 (Editorial changes)) as in force on 1 November 2011.  It also includes any commencement, repeal or expiry affecting this republished law.  
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, the symbol  U  appears immediately before the provision heading.  Any uncommenced amendments that affect this republished law are accessible on the ACT legislation register (www.legislation.act.gov.au). For more information, see the home page for this law on the register.
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 the Legislation Act 2001, section 95.
Penalties
At the republication date, the value of a penalty unit for an offence against this law is $110 for an individual and $550 for a corporation (see Legislation Act 2001, s 133).

Australian Capital Territory
Plastic Shopping Bags Ban Act 2010

Contents
	Page
	1	Name of Act	2
	3	Dictionary	2
	4	Notes	2
	5	Offences against Act—application of Criminal Code etc	2
	6	What is a plastic shopping bag?	3
	7	Retailer not to supply plastic shopping bags	3
	8	Regulation-making power	4
	9	Review of Act	4
Dictionary		5
Endnotes
	1	About the endnotes	6
	2	Abbreviation key	6
	3	Legislation history	7
	4	Amendment history	7
	5	Earlier republications	8
	6	Expired transitional or validating provisions	8

Australian Capital Territory
Plastic Shopping Bags Ban Act 2010

An Act to restrict the supply of plastic shopping bags, and for other purposes

    

1	Name of Act
This Act is the Plastic Shopping Bags Ban Act 2010.
3	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, and includes references (signpost definitions) to other terms defined elsewhere in this Act.
For example, the signpost definition ‘plastic shopping bag—see section 6’ means that the term ‘plastic shopping bag’ is defined in that section.
Note 2	A definition in the dictionary (including a signpost definition) 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)).
4	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.
5	Offences against Act—application of Criminal Code etc
Other legislation applies in relation to offences against this Act.
Note 1	Criminal Code
The Criminal Code, ch 2 applies to all offences against this Act (see Code, pt 2.1).  
The chapter sets out the general principles of criminal responsibility (including burdens of proof and general defences), and defines terms used for offences to which the Code applies (eg conduct, intention, recklessness and strict liability).
Note 2	Penalty units
The Legislation Act, s 133 deals with the meaning of offence penalties that are expressed in penalty units.
6	What is a plastic shopping bag?
In this Act:
plastic shopping bag—
	(a)	means—
	(i)	a bag that is made (in whole or in part) of polyethylene with a thickness of less than 35 microns; or
	(ii)	a bag prescribed by regulation to be a plastic shopping bag; but
	(b)	does not include—
	(i)	a biodegradable bag; or
	(ii)	a plastic bag that is an integral part of the packaging in which goods are sealed prior to sale; or
	(iii)	a barrier bag; or
	(iv)	a bag prescribed by regulation not to be a plastic shopping bag.
7	Retailer not to supply plastic shopping bags
	(1)	A retailer commits an offence if—
	(a)	the retailer supplies a plastic shopping bag to a customer of the retailer; and
	(b)	the plastic shopping bag is supplied for the customer to carry goods bought, or to be bought, from the retailer.
Maximum penalty:  50 penalty units.
	(2)	An offence against this section is a strict liability offence.
8	Regulation-making power
	(1)	The Executive may make regulations for this Act.
Note	A regulation must be notified, and presented to the Legislative Assembly, under the Legislation Act.
	(2)	A regulation may apply, adopt or incorporate an instrument as in force from time to time.
Note 1	The text of an applied, adopted or incorporated law or instrument, whether applied as in force from time to time or at a particular time, is taken to be a notifiable instrument if the operation of the Legislation Act, s 47 (5) or (6) is not disapplied (see s 47 (7)).
Note 2	A notifiable instrument must be notified under the Legislation Act.
9	Review of Act
	(1)	The Minister must review the operation of this Act as soon as practicable after the end of its 2nd year of operation.
	(2)	The Minister must present a report of the review to the Legislative Assembly within 6 months after the day the review is started.
	(3)	This section expires 3 years after the day it commences.

Dictionary
(see s 3)
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
·	by
·	Executive
·	for
·	may
·	month
·	must
·	regulation.
barrier bag means a bag used to carry unpackaged perishable food including fruit, vegetables, meat and fish.
biodegradable bag means a plastic bag that meets the requirements prescribed by regulation for being compostable.
plastic shopping bag—see section 6.
retailer means a person who sells goods in trade or commerce.

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 are not included in the republished law.  The details of these laws are underlined in the legislation history.  Uncommenced expiries are underlined in the legislation history and amendment history.
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

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

3	Legislation history
Plastic Shopping Bags Ban Act 2010 A2010-49
notified LR 14 December 2010
s 1, s 2 commenced 14 December 2010 (LA s 75 (1))
s 7 commenced 1 November 2011 (s 2 (2))
remainder commenced 1 July 2011 (s 2 (1))
4	Amendment history
Commencement
s 2	om LA s 89 (4)
Review of Act
s 9	exp 1 July 2014 (s 9 (3))
Transitional—retailer to make alternative shopping bags available and display notices
s 100	exp 1 November 2011 (s 100 (6))
Fair Trading (Consumer Affairs) Act 1973,
Dictionary, definition of fair trading legislation, new paragraph (da)
s 101	om LA s 89 (3)

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 and date	Effective	Last amendment made by	Republication for	
R1
1 July 2011	1 July 2011–
31 Oct 2011	not amended	new Act	
6	Expired transitional or validating provisions
This Act may be affected by transitional or validating provisions that have expired.  The expiry does not affect any continuing operation of the provisions (see Legislation Act 2001, s 88 (1)).
Expired provisions are removed from the republished law when the expiry takes effect and are listed in the amendment history using the abbreviation ‘exp’ followed by the date of the expiry.
To find the expired provisions see the version of this Act before the expiry took effect.  The ACT legislation register has point-in-time versions of this Act.

©  Australian Capital Territory 2011