Who's responsible:

Statutory declarations

A statutory declaration is a written statement declared to be true in the presence of an authorised witness.  A person wishing to use a statutory declaration in connection with a law of the Commonwealth, the Australian Capital Territory or certain other Territories must make the declaration in accordance with the Statutory Declarations Act 1959 (the Act) and the Statutory Declarations Regulations 1993 (the Regulations). 

Under the Act a person who wilfully makes a false statement in a statutory declaration is guilty of an offence and may be fined or jailed, or both.

The Act provides that a statutory declaration must be in the prescribed form and must be made before a prescribed witness.  The form for making a statutory declaration and the persons who can witness a statutory declaration are prescribed under the Regulations.  The form and a list of persons before whom a statutory declaration may be witnessed can be accessed using the links to the right of this page.

The form must be used for all matters arising under a law of the Commonwealth, the Australian Capital Territory or certain other Territories. A statutory declaration may be invalid if it is made using an incorrect form, is witnessed by a person not prescribed by the Regulations as an authorised witness, or if it is incomplete.

An information sheet for persons making a statutory declaration and for witnesses can also be accessed from the link to the left of this page should you require further information.

A printed version of the form is available in commercial quantities from:

CanPrint Communications
PO Box 7456
Canberra Mail Centre ACT 2610
Tel: 1300 889 873
Email: sales@infoservices.com.au

Persons wishing to make a statutory declaration in relation to a matter under a State law will need to check the procedures for making and witnessing declarations with the relevant State Department of Justice or State Attorney-General's Department.