How do I apply for review of an expiation notice?

Each authority that issues expiation notices has their own review procedures in place.

To apply for the review of an expiation notice the police have issued to you because you were not the driver or owner of the vehicle involved in the alleged offence, you will need to fill out a nomination or statutory declaration, information about which you should have received with the expiation notice, but which can be downloaded from the SAPOL website.

You will need to provide:

and

or

If you not include the required information, your application for review may not be successful.

It is an offence to make a statement for the purposes of a nomination which is false or misleading in a material particular [Road Traffic Act 1961 (SA) ss 79B (14) and 174A(13)]. The police, council or other officer to whom a nomination is provided may require the person who made the nomination to verify the information contained in the nomination by statutory declaration [Road Traffic Act 1961 (SA) ss 79B(12) and 174A (5a)].

To apply for the review of an expiation notice the police have issued to you for any other reason, such as that the offence was trifling, you should first send a letter providing information about the offence and why it should be considered trifling. After receiving your letter, the police may or may not require you to provide more information in a statutory declaration.

A statutory declaration will need to be witnessed by one of the following:

A full list of persons authorised to witness statutory declarations is available on the Attorney-General's Department website.

From 1 January 2025, statutory declarations may be witnessed remotely via audio visual link and signed electronically. Visit the Attorney-General's Department website to learn more.

It is an offence to make a statutory declaration that you know to be untrue in a material particular. The maximum penalty for this offence is 4 years' imprisonment [Oaths Act 1936 (SA) s 27(1)].

You should submit your statutory declaration at a police station or send your letter or statutory declaration by post or online. Visit the SAPOL website for more information.

The police must receive your letter or statutory declaration before the due date for payment of your expiation notice. When police receive your letter they will suspend the time for payment and if the due date for payment passes, they will extend it.

Depending on the information you provide, the police may withdraw the expiation notice.

The police have a list of Frequently Asked Questions about expiation notices on their website.

If an authority (such as a local council) does not provide you with information about their review process, the best way to start is to telephone the authority and ask what their procedure is and bear the following general principles in mind:

When an authority receives an application for review of an expiation notice, like the police, they may require more information to be verified by statutory declaration.

If you would like to apply to the authority for a review of the expiation notice, you should do so without delay. An authority cannot always withdraw an expiation notice if it has already issued a certificate for the making of an enforcement order (see 'Enforcement of expiation notices’). If the authority receives an application and it has not yet issued a certificate, it must determine your application before issuing a certificate.

If after paying an expiation fee the expiation notice is later withdrawn for any of the reasons under section 16(1) of the Expiation of Offences Act 1996 (SA), the expiation fee must be refunded [s 16(2)].

What if the authority finds against me on a review?

If the authority finds against you on your application for review, they must notify you.

If they reject a statutory declaration you provide, for example, that you were not the driver at the time of the alleged offence pursuant to s 79B of the Road Traffic Act 1961 (SA), they must also issue you with an expiation enforcement warning notice. The authority cannot take any enforcement action against you until 14 clear days have passed from the date of the warning notice. A set warning enforcement fee, which may include particular costs which were incurred in warning you, will be added to the unpaid expiation fee [see Expiation of Offences Regulations 2011 (SA) reg 6].

The authority’s finding on an application for review on the ground that the offence was trifling cannot be further reviewed or appealed. However, if you then elect (choose) to be prosecuted for the alleged offence, you may argue to the Court that while you committed the offence, it was trifling and you should not be convicted or required to pay the court fine (see Electing to be prosecuted).

See Expiation of Offences Act 1996 (SA) s 11A and 18B.