Section 504 — Regulations

(1) The Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing all matters which by this Act are required or permitted to be prescribed or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, may make regulations:

(a) making provision for and in relation to:

(i) the charging and recovery of fees in respect of any matter under this Act or the regulations, including the fees payable in connection with the review of decisions made under this Act or the regulations, whether or not such review is provided for by or under this Act; or

(ii) the charging and recovery of fees in respect of English language tests conducted by or on behalf of the Department;

(iii) the way, including the currency, in which fees are to be paid; or

(iv) the persons who may be paid fees on behalf of the Commonwealth;

(b) making provision for the remission, refund or waiver of fees of a kind referred to in paragraph (a) or for exempting persons from the payment of such fees;

(c) making provision for or in relation to the furnishing or obtaining of information with respect to:

(i) persons on board a vessel arriving at a port in Australia in the course of, or at the conclusion of, a voyage or flight that commenced at, or during which the vessel called at, a place outside Australia; and

(ii) persons on board a vessel leaving a port in Australia and bound for, or calling at, a place outside Australia; and

(iii) persons on board an aircraft arriving at or departing from an airport in Australia, being an aircraft operated by an international air carrier;

(d) making provision for and in relation to the use that may be made by persons or bodies other than officers of the Department of information collected pursuant to regulations made under paragraph (c);

(e) making provision for and in relation to:

(i) the giving of documents to;

(ii) the lodging of documents with; or

(iii) the service of documents on; the Minister, the Secretary or any other person or body, for the purposes of this Act;

(f) prescribing the practice and procedure in relation to proceedings before a Commissioner or a prescribed authority Migration Act 1958 317 Part 9 Miscellaneous Division 2 Other under this Act, including the summoning of witnesses, the production of documents, the taking of evidence on oath or affirmation, the administering of oaths or affirmations and the payment of expenses of witnesses;

(g) requiring assurances of support to be given, in such circumstances as are prescribed or as the Minister thinks fit, in relation to persons seeking to enter, or remain in, Australia and providing for the enforcement of assurances of support and the imposition on persons who give assurances of support of liabilities in respect of the maintenance of, and other expenditure in connexion with, the persons in respect of whom the assurances of support are given;

(i) enabling a person who is alleged to have contravened section 137 to pay to the Commonwealth, as an alternative to prosecution, a prescribed penalty, not exceeding 10 penalty units;

(j) enabling a person who is alleged to have contravened section 229 or 230 to pay to the Commonwealth, as an alternative to prosecution, a prescribed penalty, not exceeding:

(i) in the case of a natural person—30 penalty units; and

(ii) in the case of a body corporate—100 penalty units; and

(jaa) enabling a person who is alleged to have committed an offence against subsection 245N(2) to pay to the Commonwealth, as an alternative to prosecution, a prescribed penalty, not exceeding 10 penalty units; and

(ja) enabling a person who is alleged to have committed an offence against subsection 280(1) to pay to the Commonwealth, as an alternative to prosecution, a penalty of 12 penalty units; and

(k) prescribing penalties, of imprisonment for a period not exceeding 6 months or a fine not exceeding 10 penalty units, in respect of offences against the regulations; and

(l) making provision for matters that, under the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000, are required or permitted to be prescribed in regulations made under this Act.

(2) Section 14 of the Legislation Act 2003 does not prevent, and has not prevented, regulations whose operation depends on a country or other matter being specified or certified by the Minister in an instrument in writing made under the regulations after the commencement of the regulations.

(2A) The regulations that may be made under paragraph (1)(e) include, but are not limited to, regulations specifying circumstances in which a document is to be taken to have been given in a specified way.

(3) The regulations that may be made under paragraph (1)(e) include, but are not limited to, regulations providing that a document given to, or served on, a person in a specified way shall be taken for all purposes of this Act and the regulations to have been received by the person at a specified or ascertainable time.

(3A) The Evidence Act 1995 does not affect the operation of regulations made for the purposes of paragraph (1)(e).

(4) Regulations in respect of a matter referred to in paragraph (1)(g) may apply in relation to maintenance guarantees given before the commencement of this Part in accordance with the regulations that were in force under any of the Acts repealed by this Act.

(5) An assurance of support given, after the commencement of this subsection, in accordance with regulations under paragraph (1)(g) continues to have effect, and may be enforced, in accordance with such regulations in spite of any change in circumstances whatsoever.

(5A) The following have effect only in relation to assurances of support that were given before 1 July 2004 and are not assurances of support in relation to which Chapter 2C of the Social Security Act 1991 applies or applied:

(a) subsection (5) of this section;

(b) regulations made under paragraph (1)(g) (whether before, on or after the commencement of this subsection) providing for:

(i) the enforcement of assurances of support; or Migration Act 1958 319 Part 9 Miscellaneous Division 2 Other

(ii) the imposition on persons who give assurances of support of liabilities in respect of the maintenance of, and other expenditure in connection with, the persons in respect of whom the assurances of support are given.

(6) In this section: international air carrier means an air transport enterprise that operates an air service between Australia and a place outside Australia.