During the COVID-19 pandemic the Australian government and several states and territories introduced electronic signing and/or remote witnessing by audio-visual link for certain types of documents, including affidavits and statutory declarations.
Many jurisdictions introduced these measures temporarily and then subsequently made the arrangements permanent.
In South Australia, changes to the Oaths Regulations 2021 and related Codes of Practice will introduce these measures permanently from 1 January 2025. Additional changes have come into effect from August.
Changes from 22 August 2024
Changes to the Oaths Regulations on 22 August 2024 expand the types of people authorised to take affidavits. This now includes:
- Australian Federal Police officers
- investigation officers within the Australian Financial Security Authority
- officers in SafeWork SA who enforce legislation administered by SafeWork SA (as well as inspectors under the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 who are authorised to take affidavits in connection with exercising their compliance powers).
This follows changes made by the Oaths Regulations on 1 December 2021 to permanently expand the types of people authorised to witness statutory declarations.
Relevant information
Oaths (Prescribed Requirements) Amendment Regulations 2024 (PDF, 211.6 KB)
Revised Code of Practice for Statutory Declarations (PDF, 178.6 KB)
Revised Code of Practice for Affidavits (PDF, 122.7 KB)
Changes taking effect 1 January 2025
Changes to the Oaths Regulations and the associated Code of Practice for Statutory Declarations and Code of Practice for Affidavits will:
- allow statutory declarations and affidavits to be completed and witnessed electronically (to date remote witnessing has only been allowed on a temporary basis - and only for affidavits - since the COVID-19 pandemic)
- clarify the rules about signing and witnessing South Australian statutory declarations electronically while interstate or overseas.
Next steps
Further information will be published in the Authorised witnesses page about the changes to the Oaths Regulations and Codes of Practice that will take effect from 1 January 2025.