Oaths and Affirmations Act 2018

77 Pages·2017·0.66 MB·English

Authorised Version
Oaths and Affirmations Act 2018
No. 6 of 2018

TABLE OF PROVISIONS
Section Page
Part 1—Preliminary 1
1 Purposes 1
2 Commencement 2
3 Definitions 2
4 Application of this Act 6
5 Act binds the Crown 6
Part 2—Oaths and affirmations 7
6 Application of Part 7
7 Choice of oath or affirmation 7
8 Form of oaths and affirmations 8
9 Oath or affirmation to be said aloud 8
10 Effect on oath of religious texts and beliefs 8
11 Administration to multiple persons 9
12 Powers of courts, certain officers of courts and other persons to
administer oaths and affirmations 9
13 Appointment by interstate or overseas court or body to take or
receive evidence 11
14 Officer must refuse to administer oath or affirmation in certain
circumstances 12
15 Reasonable modifications may be made 12
16 Audio and audio-visual evidence 12
17 Minor non-compliance does not affect validity 13
Part 3—Affidavits 14
18 Application of Part 14
19 Affidavits made in Victoria 14
20 Offence to require payment of fee to take affidavit 16
21 Affidavits made out of Victoria 17
22 Offence to take affidavit if not authorised affidavit taker and
offence to purport to be authorised affidavit taker 18
23 Prescribed form of affidavit 19
24 Authorised affidavit taker authorised to administer oath or
affirmation 19
25 Signature and oath requirements—deponent 19
26 Requirements of authorised affidavit taker 19
27 Jurat 20
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Section Page
28 Affidavit by illiterate, blind or cognitively impaired person 21
29 Minor non-compliance does not affect validity 22
Part 4—Statutory declarations 23
30 Statutory declarations made in Victoria 23
31 Offence to take statutory declaration if not statutory declaration
witness and offence to purport to be statutory declaration
witness 24
32 Provision of assistance to person making statutory declaration 25
33 Statutory declarations made out of Victoria 25
34 Reasonable modifications may be made 27
35 Statutory declaration by illiterate, blind or cognitively impaired
person 27
36 Offence to make false statutory declaration 27
37 False or misleading statement as to making of statutory
declaration 27
38 Minor non-compliance does not affect validity 28
Part 5—Certification 29
Division 1—Authorised certifiers 29
39 Authorised certifiers 29
Division 2—Scheme for certification of copies of original
documents 29
40 Application 29
41 Process for certifying copies of documents 30
42 Process for certifying copy of a certified copy 30
43 Multiple page documents 31
44 Documents in languages other than English 31
45 Minor non-compliance does not affect validity 32
Division 3—General certification offences 32
46 Application 32
47 Offence to present false copy of a document for certification 32
48 Offence to certify certain copies of documents 32
49 False or misleading statement as to certification of copy of
document 33
Part 6—General 34
50 Perjury to make false statement by oath, affirmation or affidavit 34
51 Infringement offences 34
52 Regulations 34

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Section Page
Part 7—Transitional provisions, repeals and consequential
amendments 37
Division 1—Repeals and transitional provisions 37
53 Administration of oaths and affirmations 37
54 Oaths affirmations affidavits declarations 37
55 Attestations verifications acknowledgements notarial Acts etc. 37
56 Persons making wilful false statements on oath, declaration etc.
guilty of perjury 37
57 Abolition of extra-judicial oaths 37
58 Form of oath and affirmation and affirmations in writing 37
59 Regulations dealing with transitional matters 38
Division 2—Consequential amendments to Evidence
(Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1958 39
60 Oaths affirmations affidavits declarations 39
61 Heading to Part VII amended 39
62 Regulations 39
Division 3—Consequential amendment of other Acts 39
63 Crimes Act 1958 39
64 Constitution Act 1975 40
65 Evidence Act 2008 40
66 Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984 41
67 Public Notaries Act 2001 41
68 Further consequential amendments 41
Division 4—Repeal of amending provisions 41
69 Repeal of amending provisions 41
Schedule 1—Form of oath and affirmation 42
Schedule 2—Further consequential amendments 43

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Endnotes 74
1 General information 74

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Authorised Version

Victoria

†
Oaths and Affirmations Act 2018
No. 6 of 2018
[Assented to 27 February 2018]

The Parliament of Victoria enacts:

Part 1—Preliminary
1 Purposes
The purposes of this Act are—
(a) to re-enact and modernise the law relating to
oaths, affirmations, affidavits and statutory
declarations; and
(b) to establish a scheme for the certification
of copies of documents; and
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Part 1—Preliminary
(c) to repeal Divisions 1 to 11 of Part IV,
Part V and other provisions of the Evidence
(Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1958; and
(d) to make consequential amendments to
the Evidence Act 2008, the Constitution
Act 1975, the Interpretation of Legislation
Act 1984 and other Acts.
2 Commencement
(1) Subject to subsection (2), this Act comes into
operation on a day or days to be proclaimed.
(2) If a provision of this Act does not come into
operation before 1 March 2019, it comes
into operation on that day.
3 Definitions
In this Act—
administering officer means any person
authorised to administer oaths or
affirmations by or under this Act or
any other Act or by convention;
Australian consular officer means a person
appointed to hold or act in any of the
following offices (being an office of the
Commonwealth) in a country or place
outside Australia—
(a) ambassador;
(b) high commissioner;
(c) Minister;
(d) head of mission;
(e) commissioner;
(f) chargé d'affaires;
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(g) counsellor or secretary at an embassy,
high commissioner's office, legation or
other post;
(h) consul-general;
(i) consul;
(j) vice-consul;
(k) trade commissioner;
(l) consular agent;
(m) envoy;
authorised affidavit taker means a person
authorised to take an affidavit by or under
Part 3;
authorised certifier means a person authorised
to certify a copy of a document by or under
Part 5;
certify does not include attest;
child means a person under the age of 18 years;
cognitive impairment includes an intellectual
disability, an acquired brain injury, autism
spectrum disorder and a neurological
impairment;
exhibit includes annexure or attachment;
honorary justice has the same meaning as it has
in the Honorary Justices Act 2014;
identical does not mean of the same size or
colour, provided that the use of a different
size or colour does not result in the loss of
any material information;

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judicial officer means any of the following—
(a) a Judge or reserve Judge of the
Supreme Court;
(b) an Associate Judge or reserve
Associate Judge of the Supreme Court;
(c) a Judge or reserve Judge of the
Supreme Court who is appointed or
assigned to VCAT;
(d) a judge of the County Court;
(e) a reserve judge of the County Court;
(f) an associate judge of the County Court;
(g) a reserve associate judge of the County
Court;
(h) a person referred to in paragraph (d)
or (e) who is appointed or assigned to
VCAT;
(i) a magistrate or reserve magistrate;
(j) a magistrate or reserve magistrate
who is appointed or assigned to the
Children's Court, the Coroners Court
or VCAT;
(k) a reserve coroner;
(l) a person appointed under section 94
of the Coroners Act 2008;
(m) a judicial registrar of the following
courts—
(i) the Supreme Court;
(ii) the County Court;
(iii) the Magistrates' Court;
(iv) the Children's Court;
(v) the Coroners Court;
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jurat means a written statement at the end of an
affidavit setting out where and when the
affidavit was sworn or affirmed, followed by
the signature and authority of the authorised
affidavit taker;
original document, in Part 5, means a document
that an authorised certifier, having used the
authorised certifier's best judgment,
determines is—
(a) original; or
(b) a document or extract that has
been certified, otherwise than under
Division 2 of that Part, as a true extract
from, or copy of, a register of public
documents or any other official record
by the keeper or holder of that register
or record;
person acting judicially includes the following—
(a) any arbitrator;
(b) any person or body having by law or
by consent of parties authority to hear,
receive and examine evidence;
(c) any officer in any public department
having in the discharge of the person's
duties authority to examine evidence;
public document has the same meaning as it has
in the Evidence Act 2008;
statutory declaration witness means a person
authorised to witness a statutory declaration
by or under Part 4.

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4 Application of this Act
Nothing in this Act limits—
(a) in the case of the Supreme Court, the
Court's inherent jurisdiction, implied
jurisdiction or statutory jurisdiction; or
(b) in the case of a court other than the
Supreme Court, the court's implied
jurisdiction or statutory jurisdiction; or
(c) in the case of a tribunal, the tribunal's
statutory jurisdiction; or
(d) any other powers of a court or tribunal
arising or derived from the common law
or under any other Act (including any
Commonwealth Act), rule of court, practice
note or practice direction.
5 Act binds the Crown
This Act binds the Crown in right of Victoria
and, to the extent that the legislative power of the
Parliament permits, the Crown in all its other
capacities.

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Part 2—Oaths and affirmations
Part 2—Oaths and affirmations
6 Application of Part
(1) This Part sets out basic requirements for oaths
and affirmations that may be used if an oath or
affirmation is required to be taken by or under an
Act or by convention.
(2) Only section 12 of this Part applies in respect of
an oath taken or an affirmation made by—
(a) a witness in a proceeding to which the
Evidence Act 2008 applies; or
(b) a person acting as an interpreter in a
proceeding to which that Act applies.
Note
Section 4 of the Evidence Act 2008 specifies the proceedings
to which that Act applies. Division 2 of Part 2.1 of that Act sets
out the requirements for oaths and affirmations in respect of
proceedings to which that Act applies but does not specify who
may administer an oath or affirmation.
7 Choice of oath or affirmation
(1) A person who is required to take an oath or make
an affirmation may choose whether to take an oath
or make an affirmation.
(2) The administering officer must inform the person
that the person has this choice, unless the officer
is satisfied that the person knows that the person
has the choice.
(3) The administering officer may direct the person to
make an affirmation if—
(a) the person refuses to choose whether to take
an oath or make an affirmation; or
(b) it is not reasonably practicable for the person
to take an appropriate oath.

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