National Electronic Conveyancing System

States and Territories

The Australian States and Territories have confirmed their commitment to the national approach towards electronic conveyancing. They are all represented on the National Steering Committee and have come together in establishing the National Electronic Conveyancing Office to progress the development of a National Electronic Conveyancing System.

Each State and Territory has a State project team which is taking the lead on preparing for NECS and providing input on NECS jurisdiction-specific requirements.

Hobart - 1 & 2 April 2008

Melbourne - 10 December 2007

Canberra - 02 November 2007

Adelaide - 08 May 2007

Perth - 03 October 2006

Adelaide - 02 August 2006

HOBART - 1 & 2 APRIL 2008

The SPT held its seventh meeting in Hobart over two days on 1 & 2 April 2008. The meeting agreed that a charter would assist in guiding its activities in the future and that a draft charter would be considered at the next meeting.

The meeting also agreed that:

One jurisdiction member on the National Project Team (NPT) was sufficient to represent the interests of all jurisdictions in the matters considered by the SPT
The SPT should meet at least six times each year
Future scheduling of SPT meetings should have regard for NPT deliberations.

NSW presented an overview of its NECS Readiness Program and explained its business case for participating in NECS.

The draft NECS Requirements Definition (NRD), circulated in June 2007, was agreed as the basis for documenting jurisdiction requirements of NECS. Jurisdictions were invited to consider whether the NRD covered all the functionalities required in NECS. WA offered to develop a common requirements documentation template to be tested by Victoria and NSW before adoption at the next meeting.

Tasmania demonstrated the Tasmanian On-Line Dealings (TOLD) system. Its useability and cost-effectiveness and the substantial take-up being achieved in Tasmania was noted.

The second day of the meeting concentrated on National Documentation Issues and National Practice Issues.

The meeting confirmed the previously agreed principles to govern development of a consistent approach to business practice requirements for Client Identity Verification, Client Authorisation and Instrument Certification. Further discussion was held on the implementation of these business practices.

Discussion commenced on the issue of control of the right to deal. NSW and Queensland agreed to prepare a comparative summary of the positions among the jurisdictions. The National Office was tasked with researching overseas experience with evidencing the right to deal in electronic conveyancing environments.

Fee invoicing and payment collection were also raised. The jurisdictions are to review their current processes in readiness for further discussion at the next meeting.

The next meeting is expected to be held in Darwin in early June.

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MELBOURNE - 10 DECEMBER 2007

The SPT held its sixth meeting in Melbourne on 10 December 2007 in order to confirm the draft principles discussed at length at the previous meeting. These draft principles will be used to guide development of a consistent approach to business practice requirements for CIV, CA and IC.

Discussion then commenced as to how each of the business practice requirements should be implemented. The aim is to develop a consistent view among the jurisdictions over the next few meetings on what is required and how it should be put into place, incorporating detailed consideration within each jurisdiction.

A revised Assessment Methodology was provided to the members by NECO prior to the meeting. NECO did not accept that the revised Queensland methodology adequately incorporated the process agreed to at the last meeting. The focus of the methodology should have been on providing jurisdictions with a definition of their individual and collective system requirements of NECS and also providing indicative costing of changes necessary for ECV to satisfy the jurisdictions' collective system requirements.

The meeting (with Vic and Qld dissenting) agreed on amendments to the NECO Assessment Methodology which would require final endorsement from each jurisdiction prior to implementation.

CANBERRA - 02NOVEMBER 2007

The fifth SPT meeting was held in Canberra on 02 November 2007. The SPT was provided with an overview of the proposed NECS legal framework which is currently with the jurisdictions for comment. Victoria undertook to provide NECO with its comments in light of their experience in developing arrangements for ECV.

With that background the focus of the meeting was on discussion of principles that would underlie practice requirements for a consistent national approach to the issues of client identity verification (CIV), client authorisation (CA) and instrument certification (IC). These issues were identified during the initial consultation phase as being of critical concern to stakeholders in the development of NECS. It was agreed by the meeting that the draft principles would be further reviewed by jurisdictions prior to its next meeting.

Queensland provided a paper entitled "ECV Assessment Methodology" in light of the discussion at the last SPT meeting. It proposed a methodology for assessing the cost effectiveness of modifying ECV to meet the requirements of other jurisdictions. The meeting discussion confirmed the importance of the methodology providing a means to help each jurisdiction determine their system requirements of NECS which should be coordinated by NECO and conducted in the context of the National Roadmap. Queensland undertook to update its methodology in line with the process agreed by the meeting and bringit to the next meeting for formal approval.

ADELAIDE- 08 MAY 2007

The State Project Team (SPT) met in Adelaide on 08 May 2007 with their focus now more on the implementation of NECS.

As a result of the decisions of the National Steering Committee meeting in March 2007, the SPT needed to reassess its role. The meeting concentrated on developing processes for resolving several issues. The key function of the SPT is to assist in the task of jurisdiction readiness for NECS. As a group, they can provide assistance to each other in the key areas of development for each jurisdiction including such matters as defining jurisdictional requirements, considering legal framework issues, technology and procedural issues.

The SPT also discussed several matters where it is hoped that a consistent national position can be developed. The meeting agreed on processes to consider whether a consistent approach could be found to some issues such as client authorisation and certification templates.

PERTH - 03 OCTOBER 2006

The second meeting of the State and Territory project teams was held on 3 October 2006 at the Burswood Convention Centre in Perth.

The meeting was given an update on the activities of the National Office including the independent consultancies, the Alignment Review and the presentation to SCAG.

Rick Dixon gave a report on the progress of the Victorian Project. The independent consultants also gave presentations regarding their projects.

The meeting then discussed several Notes for National Uniformity in depth including:

• Note 1 – Accreditation of certifiers
• Notes 4 & 5 – Client ID verification
• Note 6 – Client authorisation templates
• Note 8 – Use of certificates of title
• Note 9 – Wordings of instrument certificates.

There was discussion about the development of the NECS Data Standard in agreement with LIXI. The meeting also noted that forms rationalisation was a national issue with parallels to NECS.

ADELAIDE -02 AUGUST 2006

The State and Territory project teams met in Adelaide on 2 August 2006 to discuss the areas for possible national uniformity, which are set out in the NECS Operations Description. The teams are meeting again in October 2006 on a range of matters including:

- The accreditation of certifiers
- Verification of client identity procedures
- Client authorization templates
- The future use of Certificates of Title in an electronic environment.

Jurisdictions are all working on projects moving towards electronic conveyancing. To find out more about the work individual States and Territories are doing, or to contact your State Project team representative, click on the map below.

Australia

Level 2, 10-16 Queen Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone: (03) 8626 4545
Fax: (03) 8626 4546
National email: info@necs.gov.au

State and Territory project teams' Intranet