Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

[Index] [Search] [Download] [Related Items] [Help]

MARRIAGE AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2003 (NO. 1) 2003 NO. 46

STATUTORY RULES 2003 No. 46

ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Marriage Act 1961

MARRIAGE AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2003 (No. 1)

Section 120 of the Marriage Act 1961 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations 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.

The purpose of the Regulations is to make necessary provision to support the operation of Item 15 of Schedule 2 of the Marriage Amendment Act 2002 (the Amendment Act), and to make a minor technical amendment to the Marriage Regulations 1963.

Item 15 of Schedule 2 of the Amendment Act, which commenced on 9 April 2003, contains an amendment to subsection 42(5) of the Act, made as part of the legislative package to reform the Marriage Celebrants Program. The amendment allows for a prescribed authority, defined in section 5 of the Act, to authorize the solemnization of a marriage despite less than one month's notice having been given, if the authority is satisfied that one or more of the circumstances prescribed in the regulations have been met.

Details of the Regulations are as follows:

Regulation 1 is formal.

Regulation 2 provides for the commencement of the Regulations on the commencement of item 15 to the Marriage Amendment Act 2002.

Regulation 3 states that Schedule 1 amends the Marriage Regulations.

Item 1 of Schedule 1 renumbers Regulation 39 as regulation 38A.

Item 2 inserts regulation 39 which states that for subsection 42(5) of the Act the circumstances mentioned in Schedule 1B are prescribed.

Item 3 amends date references from 19-- to 20--. This amendment gives effect to the intention of item 27 of Schedule 1 to the Marriage Amendment Regulations 2002 (No. 1), which was misdescribed and had no effect.

Item 4 amends the heading to Form 14 in Schedule 1 of the Marriage Amendment Regulations 2002. This amendment is consequential on the renumbering of Regulation 39 as 38A.

Item 5 of Schedule 1 inserts Schedule 1B.

Item 1 (1) of Schedule 1B sets out the circumstance in which the required one month's notice of an intended marriage can be shortened based on employment or other travel commitments necessitating the solemnization of the marriage in less than one month. Subclause (2) sets out the matters which may be taken into account in determining whether the circumstance is met

Item 2 (1) sets out the circumstance in which the required one month's notice of an intended marriage can be shortened based on wedding or celebration arrangements connected with the wedding predicated on the solemnization of the marriage in less than one month. Subclause (2) sets out the matters which may be taken into account in determining whether the circumstance is met.

Item 3 (1) sets out the circumstance in which the required one month's notice of an intended marriage can be shortened based on a party to the marriage or someone involved with the proposed marriage suffering from a serious medical condition necessitating the solemnization of the marriage in less than one month. Subclause (2) sets out the matters which may be taken into account in determining whether the circumstance is met.

Item 4 (1) sets out the circumstance in which the required one month's notice of an intended marriage can be shortened based on a party to the marriage being involved in a legal proceeding necessitating the solemnization of the marriage in less than one month. Subclause (2) sets out the matters which may be taken into account in determining whether the circumstance is met.

Item 5 (1) sets out the circumstance in which the required one month's notice of an intended marriage can be shortened based an error having occurred by an authorized celebrant (or a person who the parties believed to be a celebrant), resulting in the notice not being given, or being invalid, stale or lost and plans having been made for the marriage to take place in less than one month. Subclause (2) sets out the matters which may be taken into account in determining whether the circumstance is met.

Items 1-5 also include some examples of fact situations, typical of those which may be presented to a prescribed authority for decision. These do not form part of the regulations and as such are non-binding. They are included to provide guidance for prescribed authorities.