Service and Execution of Process Act 1992

Subject to subsections (2) and (8), service of a process, order or document under this Act is taken to have been proved only if the following are proved:

the identity of the person who served it;

the time at which and the day on which it was served;

the place at which it was served;

the way in which it was served;

if service was effected in a way that required the person served to be identified—the way in which the person served was identified.

Subsection (1) does not apply to service by post.

Service of a process, order or document under this Act by post on an individual is taken to have been proved only if the following are proved:

it was sent by pre‑paid post to the person’s last known address, or the person’s address for service in the proceedings concerned;

it was addressed to the person, or, if it was sent to an address for service that is the office of a solicitor, to that solicitor;

the day on which it was posted.

Service of a process, order or document under this Act by post on a company, a registered body or any other body corporate is taken to have been proved only if the following are proved:

it was sent by pre‑paid post to an address for service on the company, registered body or other body corporate under section 9 or 10;

it was addressed to the company, registered body or other body corporate, or, if the address for service is the office of a solicitor, to that solicitor;

the day on which it was posted.

Service of a process, order or document under this Act may be proved:

by affidavit sworn before:

any justice of the peace having jurisdiction in the State or part of the State in which the service was effected; or

a Commissioner for Affidavits or Declarations; or

a notary public for that State or part of that State; or

a person who is a barrister or a solicitor, or both; or

in any way in which the service might have been proved if it had been effected within the State in which the process, order or document was issued.

It is only necessary to call the deponent to give evidence of service if a court, authority or tribunal, or a person appearing before a court, authority or tribunal, so requires.

For the purposes of paragraph (1)(e), evidence of a statement that:

is made by a person served; and

concerns the person’s identity or office;

The court, authority or tribunal before which service on a person is to be proved may dispense with all or any of the requirements of subsection (1) if it is satisfied that personal service of the process, order or document in question was effected on the person.

For the purposes of this Act, a document that purports to have been signed by a person acknowledging that the person has received a specified postal article is admissible as evidence that the person received the article.

For the purposes of this Act, a document that purports to have been signed by a person acknowledging that a court, authority, tribunal or body for which the person is acting has received a specified postal article is admissible as evidence that the court, authority, tribunal or body received the article.

A process, order or document served by post under this Act is presumed to have been served on the fourth day after the day it was posted unless evidence is adduced that raises real doubt that the process, order or document was delivered by post to the person to whom it was addressed within 4 days after the day it was posted.