Civil Procedure (Representative Proceedings) Act 2022

Part 1 — on the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent;

the rest of the Act — on a day fixed by proclamation.

This Act applies to a proceeding commenced on or after the day on which this section comes into operation, whether the cause of action accrued before, on or after that day.

This Act does not prevent the commencement or continuance of proceedings under any provision of the rules of the Court providing for proceedings by or against a person as representing others who have the same interest in proceedings.

A proceeding may be commenced as a representative proceeding if —

7 or more persons have claims against the same person; and

the claims of all those persons are in respect of, or arise out of, the same, similar or related circumstances; and

the claims of all those persons give rise to a substantial common issue of law or fact.

A representative proceeding is a proceeding commenced by one or more of those persons on behalf of and as representing some or all of them.

A representative proceeding may be commenced whether or not the relief sought —

is, or includes, equitable relief; or

consists of, or includes, damages; or

includes claims for damages that would require individual assessment; or

is the same for each person represented.

A representative proceeding may be commenced whether or not the proceeding —

is concerned with separate contracts or transactions between the respondent in the proceeding and individual group members; or

involves separate acts or omissions of the respondent done or omitted to be done in relation to individual group members.

If a proceeding can be commenced as a representative proceeding, a person who has a sufficient interest to commence the proceeding on their own behalf against another person has a sufficient interest to commence the proceeding against that other person as a representative proceeding on behalf of other persons referred to in section 6(1)(a).

A person may commence a representative proceeding on behalf of other persons against more than one respondent irrespective of whether or not the person and each of those other persons have a claim against every respondent in the proceeding.

A person who has commenced a representative proceeding retains a sufficient interest to continue the proceeding and to appeal against a decision in the proceeding even if the person ceases to have a claim against the respondent.

The consent of a person to be a group member in a representative proceeding is not required unless consent is required under subsection (2).

None of the following persons is a group member in a representative proceeding unless the person gives written consent to being a group member —

the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory;

a Minister of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory;

a body corporate established for a public purpose by a law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory, other than an incorporated company or association;

an officer of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory, in the person’s capacity as such an officer.

In this section —

It is not necessary for a person under disability to have a next friend merely in order to be a group member.

A group member who is a person under disability may only take a step in the representative proceeding, or conduct part of the proceeding, by the group member’s next friend unless the Court otherwise orders.

An application commencing a representative proceeding, or a document filed in support of such an application, must, in addition to any other matters required to be included —

describe or otherwise identify the group members to whom the proceeding relates; and

specify the nature of the claims made on behalf of the group members and the relief claimed; and

specify the questions of law or fact common to the claims of the group members.

In describing or otherwise identifying group members for the purposes of this section, it is not necessary to name, or specify the number of, the group members.

The Court must fix a date before which a group member may opt out of a representative proceeding.

A group member may opt out of the representative proceeding by written notice given under the rules of the Court before the date so fixed.

The Court may, on the application of a group member, the representative party or the respondent in the proceeding, fix another date so as to extend the period during which a group member may opt out of the representative proceeding.

Except with the leave of the Court, the hearing of a representative proceeding must not commence earlier than the date before which a group member may opt out of the proceeding.