Defence (Prohibited Words and Letters) Regulations 1957
Statutory Rules 1957 No. 16 as amended
made under the
Defence Act 1903
This compilation was prepared on 27 June 2002
taking into account amendments up to SR 2001 No. 305
Prepared by the Office of Legislative Drafting
Attorney-General’s Department, Canberra

Contents
Page
	1	Name of Regulations [see Note 1]	3
	2	Use of words and groups of letters prohibited without consent	3
	3	Applications for consent	3
	4	Grants or refusal of consent	4
	5	Delegation	4
	6	Offences	4
Schedule	Prohibited words and letters	5
Part 1	Australian Navy	5
Part 2	Australian Army	6
Part 3	Australian Air Force	6
Notes 	7

  
  
1	Name of Regulations [see Note 1]
		These Regulations are the Defence (Prohibited Words and Letters) Regulations 1957.
2	Use of words and groups of letters prohibited without consent
		The use, in connexion with a trade, business, calling or profession or by an organization or body of persons, of:
	(a)	a word, or words, specified in the second column of a Part of the Schedule, being a word or words that is or are descriptive or indicative of:
	(i)	a part of the Naval Forces, Military Forces or Air Forces of a part of the Queen’s dominions; or
	(ii)	a service or body of persons associated with the defence of the Commonwealth; or
	(b)	a group of letters specified in the third column of a Part of the Schedule, being a group of letters that is descriptive or indicative of:
	(i)	a part of the Naval Forces, Military Forces or Air Forces of a part of the Queen’s dominions; or
	(ii)	a service or body of persons associated with the defence of the Commonwealth;
		is prohibited unless the consent in writing of the Minister to the use has been obtained.
3	Applications for consent
	(1)	An application for the consent of the Minister to the use of a word or words, or a group of letters specified in the second or third column of the Schedule shall be made in writing to the Minister and shall state the grounds upon which the application is made.
	(2)	The Minister may, by notice in writing, require a person who has made such an application to furnish such additional information in relation to the application as is required by the notice.
4	Grants or refusal of consent
	(1)	The Minister may, in his discretion, grant his consent to the use of the word, words or group of letters or may refuse the application.
	(2)	The consent of the Minister may be granted with or without conditions.
5	Delegation
		The Minister may, by instrument, delegate to an officer of the Defence Force who holds a rank not below that of Colonel, or an equivalent rank, his or her powers under regulations 3 and 4.
6	Offences
		A person must not knowingly use a word, words or a group of letters in contravention of regulation 2.
Penalty:   $500.

Schedule	Prohibited words and letters
(regulation 2)
Part 1	Australian Navy

Column 1
Item	Column 2
Prohibited Words 	Column 3
Prohibited Letters	
1 	Royal Australian Navy 	RAN 	
2 	Her Majesty’s Australian Ship 	HMAS 	
3 	Her Majesty’s Australian Ships 	HMA Ships 	
4 	Permanent Naval Forces 		
5 	Naval Emergency Reserve Forces 	NERF 	
6 	Royal Australian Naval Reserve 	RANR 	
7 	Royal Australian Fleet Reserve 	RAFR 	
8 	Naval 		
9	Navy		
10 	Naval Forces		
Part 2	Australian Army

Column 1
Item	Column 2
Prohibited Words 	Column 3
Prohibited Letters	
1 	Australian Army Reserve 		
2 	Australian Flying Corps 	AFC 	
3 	Australian Imperial Force 	AIF 	
4 	Australian Military Forces 	AMF 	
5 	Australian Regular Army 	ARA 	
6 	Defence Force 		
7 	Permanent Military Forces 		
8 	Regular Army Emergency Reserve 		
9 	Regular Army Supplement		
10	Australian Army		
Part 3	Australian Air Force

Column 1
Item	Column 2
Prohibited Words 	Column 3
Prohibited Letters	
1 	Air Force 		
2 	Air Force Emergency Force 	AFEF 	
3 	Australian Air Force Reserve 	AAFR 	
4 	Permanent Air Force 	PAF 	
5 	Royal Australian Air Force 	RAAF 	

Notes to the Defence (Prohibited Words and Letters) Regulations 1957
Note 1
The Defence (Prohibited Words and Letters) Regulations 1957 (in force under the Defence Act 1903) as shown in this compilation comprise Statutory Rules 1957 No. 16 amended as indicated in the Tables below. 
Table of Statutory Rules
Year and 
number	Date of notification 
in Gazette	Date of
commencement	Application, saving or
transitional provisions	
1957 No. 16	17 Apr 1957	17 Apr 1957		
1976 No. 51	6 Feb 1976	9 Feb 1976	—	
1981 No. 102	13 May 1981	13 May 1981	—	
1990 No. 378	6 Dec 1990	6 Dec 1990	—	
2000 No. 41	29 Mar 2000	29 Mar 2000	—	
2001 No. 305	15 Oct 2001	[see Note 2]	—	
Table of Amendments
ad. = added or inserted      am. = amended      rep. = repealed      rs. = repealed and substituted	
Provision affected	How affected	
R. 1		rs. 2000 No. 41	
R. 2		am. 1976 No. 51; 1981 No. 102	
R. 3		am. 1976 No. 51	
R. 4		am. 2000 No. 41	
R. 5		am. 1976 No. 51	
	rs. 1990 No. 378	
R. 6		ad. 1990 No. 378	
Heading to The Schedule		rep. 1976 No. 51	
Heading to Schedule		ad. 1976 No. 51	
Schedule		am. 1976 No. 51; 1981 No. 102	
	rs. 1990 No. 378	
	am. 2000 No. 41	
Note 2
Regulation 2 and Schedule 5 of Statutory Rules 2001 No. 305 provide as follows:
2	Commencement
		These Regulations commence on the day on which Chapter 2 of the Criminal Code commences.
Schedule 5
[1]	Regulation 2
omit
The use
insert
	(1)	For this regulation, the use
[2]	Regulation 2
omit
prohibited unless the consent in writing of the Minister to the use has been obtained.
insert
a restricted use.
[3]	Regulation 2
insert
	(2)	A person is guilty of an offence if:
	(a)	the person makes use of a word or words, or group of letters; and
	(b)	the use is a restricted use; and
	(c)	the use is not in accordance with a consent obtained under these Regulations.
Penalty:   5 penalty units.
	(3)	In paragraph (2) (c), strict liability applies to physical element that the consent was obtained under these Regulations.
Note   For strict liability, see section 6.1 of the Criminal Code.
[4]	Regulation 6
omit
The commencement of SR 2001 No. 305 was misdescribed and the amendments are not incorporated in this compilation.