EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
REGISTRATION OF DEATHS ABROAD ACT 1984
REGISTRATION OF DEATHS ABROAD REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
Statutory Rules No 1989 No. 338 issued by the authority of the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Section 28 of the Registration of Deaths Abroad Act 1984 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Section 19 of the Act provides that the Registrar of Overseas Deaths (the Registrar) may charge a fee for searching the Register and for providing enquirers with copies of various documents thereon. These fees are prescribed in the Registration of Deaths Abroad Regulations (the Regulations).
Regulations 3 and 4 prescribe the detail of the forms of application used for the registration of a death or disappearance abroad (Schedule I, Forms 1 and 2). Regulation 5 prescribes the format of the certificate of death abroad issued by the Registrar (Schedule II).
As the Registrar is the Australian Capital Territory Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, it is the preferred practice that fees charged under the Act be the same as fees charged for the same services in the ACT.
The Registrar had also requested, on behalf of the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Institute of Health, that minor amendments as to the detail of the various forms be made.
The Regulations raise the fees payable under the Act to accord with those payable under ACT legislation, and insert a further field of information on Forms 1 and 2, Schedule I, and Schedule II.
Details of the Regulations are as follow:
Regulation 1 defines “Principal Regulations” as being the Registration of Deaths Abroad Regulations.
Regulation 2 raises fees for the issue of certain certificates from $10 to $15, and from $6 to $12.
Regulation 3 inserts a further field of information, namely “Last known occupation” into Schedule I, Forms 1 and 2.
Regulation 4 inserts a further field of information, namely “Last known occupation” into Schedule II.