Acts Interpretation Act 1901

PART 8 - DISTANCE, TIME AND AGE  

SECTION 36   CALCULATING TIME  

36(1)    
A period of time referred to in an Act that is of a kind mentioned in column 1 of an item in the following table is to be calculated according to the rule mentioned in column 2 of that item:

Calculating periods of time
	Column 1	Column 2
Item	If the period of time:	then the period of time:
1	is expressed to occur between 2 days	includes both days.
2	is expressed to begin at, on or with a specified day	includes that day.
3	is expressed to continue until a specified day	includes that day.
4	is expressed to end at, on or with a specified day	includes that day.
5	is expressed to begin from a specified day	does not include that day.
6	is expressed to begin after a specified day	does not include that day.
7	is expressed to end before a specified day	does not include that day.

Example 1:

If a claim may be made between 1 September and 30 November, a claim may be made on both 1 September and 30 November.

Example 2:

If a permission begins on the first day of a financial year, the permission is in force on that day.

Example 3:

If a licence continues until 31 March, the licence is valid up to and including 31 March.

Example 4:

If a person ' s right to make submissions ends on the last day of a financial year, the person may make submissions on that day.

Example 5:

If a variation of an agreement is expressed to operate from 30 June, the variation starts to operate on 1 July.

Example 6:

If a decision is made on 2 August and a person has 28 days after the day the decision is made to seek a review of the decision, the 28-day period begins on 3 August.

Example 7:

If a person must give a notice to another person at any time during the period of 7 days before the day a proceeding starts and the proceeding starts on 8 May, the notice may be given at any time during the 7-day period starting on 1 May and ending on 7 May.

36(2)    
If:

(a) an Act requires or allows a thing to be done; and

(b) the last day for doing the thing is a Saturday, a Sunday or a holiday;

then the thing may be done on the next day that is not a Saturday, a Sunday or a holiday.

Example:

If a person has until 31 March to make an application and 31 March is a Saturday, the application may be made on Monday 2 April.

36(3)    
In this section:

holiday
, in relation to the time for doing a thing, means:

(a) a day that is a public holiday in the place in which the thing is to be or may be done; and

(b) if the thing is to be or may be done at a particular office or other place - a day on which the place or office is closed for the whole day.