Registry committals

A registry committal is conducted pursuant to Sections 114 and 115 of the Justices Act 1886. This administrative process in criminal proceedings permits the Clerk of the Court to commit a legally represented defendant to the Supreme or District Court to stand trial or to be sentenced with the consent of both Defence and Prosecution. Legally represented defendants, upon application to the court and with the agreement of the prosecuting agency, may transfer their matters to the higher court without appearing in court, and without requiring the court to determine whether the evidentiary threshold for committal has been met.

The Registry Committal online application aims to streamline the application and approval process by enabling collaboration between defence and prosecution digitally pre-lodgement.

The workflow follows the legal requirement for lodging registry committals, and includes integrated data sources (QWIC), rules driven alerts and notifications, trackable process and automated distribution of outcomes and documents.

Only legal practitioners, law firm or prosecuting agency staff and registry staff are permitted to use the registry committal process. Self-represented litigants are not legally able to commit a matter via Registry Committal. They must use the court committal process to commit an indictable offence to a higher court.

To undertake a registry committal using the online application, users must be registered to use the Courts and Tribunals Online Services Portal. The User guide explaining how to set up and join an organisation is available on the portal.

Documents you may need

To submit the Registry Committal application for Prosecutor approval and to the Registry, the following documents may be required:

• Bench Charge Sheet/s – if charge/s are being substituted
• Acknowledgement of Plea – if your client intends to plead guilty to some or all offences
• Surety – if there is surety attached to any bail
• VJR – optional, not required to be uploaded but may well assist in completing the registry committal
• Notice

1. Go to the Queensland Courts and Tribunals Online Services Portal.
2. Click on the ‘Login’ link in the top right of the screen. This will take you to the ‘Login to your account’ screen.
3. Click on the green ‘Login with Digital ID’ button. This will take you to the ‘Login to continue’ screen.
4. Login using either your Queensland Digital Identity (QDI) or MyID.

1. Draft Registry Committal – defence draft and submit a Registry Committal to a Prosecuting Agency.
2. Prosecution Review – Prosecuting agency review Registry Committal and either return to step 1 for further action or submit for registry processing.
3. Registry Process – registry processing on QWIC and submitted to registrar for final verification.
4. Verify – Clerk of the Court actions the Registry Committal (granted or refused).
5. Completed – no further action required.

Note: notification emails are sent to defence, at each stage of the process when the application has been actioned by the Prosecuting Agency or Registry staff.

The OSP will recognise if the account creating the application is not a legal practitioner and will display the below message:

• Select the Legal Practitioner from the drop down list, who this will be submitted on behalf of.
• Click Continue or Save (to continue later).

The details of the user logged into the OSP will automatically populate in the Legal practitioner details section, along with the following message.

• Click Change practitioner button, if there’s a need to create a draft application on behalf of a different legal practitioner within the organisation.
• Click Continue or Save (to continue later)

The Step 2 – Get court records screen will display.

This section enables case files to be assigned to the Registry Committal application by searching for defendants by name or providing the Case File number directly. The case details are pulled directly from the Court Case Management System (QWIC).

• Select Defendant details and provide details (given name/s, last name, Court location, date of birth – the more details provided, the better chance of finding the required case)

OR

• Select Case file number and enter number and click Search.

The search results of records matching the search parameters provided will display below the Search button.

Click Add case beside as many cases to be included on the Registry Committal application as is required.

The selected case/s display at the bottom of the section, click Remove Case button if added by mistake. Multiple cases can be added to the Registry Committal application.

Click Continue or, to continue later click Save.

The Step 3 – Select Charges screen displays.

The charge details are extracted from the Courts Case Management system QWIC, and will appear as per the Bench Charge Sheet/s. All appropriate charges will be displayed from the selected cases, and an option must be chosen for each charge.

Select Committal Option for each charge.

Definitions of Committal Options are:

• Commit – to be committed to a higher court without change.
• Amend – to be committed to a higher court with amendments to the charge details (e.g. Charge title, Statute, Section number). No new bench charge sheet is required
• Substitute – substitute this charge for a new charge as per agreement with the prosecution. This requires a new Bench Charge Sheet to be uploaded.
• Withdraw – remove this charge as per agreement with prosecution. Often Withdraw and Substitute are interlinked – e.g. withdraw multiple charges and replace with a single substituted charge. e) No action – this charge will not be committed.

Once the committal options for all the charges have been selected, click Continue or, to continue later, click Save.

The Step 4 – Application details screen will display

The final section of the application contains the legal questions relating to the application.

Complete the Application details section.

Note: Committal details section: Warning messages appear if information provided does not align with the Registry Committal legislation (Justices Act s114). The warnings will not stop the application from being submitted however may result in it being returned for amendments or refused.

E.g., if the defendant intends to give evidence at a committal hearing, a warning message will display.

Choosing the jurisdiction the application is to be committed to, either District Court of Queensland or Supreme Court of Queensland, will display the respective drop-down list of court locations to choose from.

Custody details

If the defendant is on bail, current legislation requires they are not to be in breach of their bail conditions relating to the charges.

Selecting No to the question “Is the defendant remanded in custody” will prompt additional questions.

Note: The following page shows details, instructions and warning notices associated with the Yes and No options above.

Custody details – Details and warnings

1. Is the defendant reprimanded in custody?
   • If Yes, no further action is required. Go to the Evidence section.
2. Does the defendant have any related breach of bail charge/s outstanding before the court? 
   • If Yes, warning message will display. Go to the Evidence section.
   • If No, continue on to question
3. Is the defendant in breach of any bail conditions?
   • If Yes, a warning message below will display (this does not prevent registry committal being submitted, however may result in it being returned or refused). Go to Evidence section.
   • If No, continue to question 4 below.
4. Does the defendant have a surety attached to their bail?
   • If No, go to Evidence section.
   • If Yes, the prompt to upload bail surety document will display. The application cannot be submitted without uploading the surety document. Go to Evidence section.

Evidence section

Whether a defendant has been provided copies of written statements or not will then require relevant consent options to be specified.

1. Has the defendant been given copies of the written statements in proceedings?
   • If Yes, continue on to question 2.
2. Does the defendant consent to the Clerk of the Court ordering the defendant be committed for trial or sentence without the written statements (including evidence of an affected child under the Evidence Act 1977, part 2, division 4A) in the proceeding being filed in the court?
   • If Yes, go to Plea section.
   • If No, warning message below will display, go to Plea section.
3. Has the defendant been given copies of the written statements in proceedings? 
   • If No, continue on to question 4.
4. Does the defendant consent to the Clerk of the Court ordering the defendant be committed for trial or sentence without the written statements (including evidence of an affected child under the Evidence Act 1977, part 2, division 4A) in the proceeding being given to the defendant?
   • If Yes, continue to question a.

1. Does the defendant consent to the Clerk of the Court ordering the defendant be committed for trail or sentence without the written statements (including evidence of an affected child under the Evidence Act 1977, part 2, division 4A) in the proceeding being filed in the court?
   • If Yes, continue to Plea section.
   • If No, warning message will display, go to Plea section.

Plea section

Recording the defendant’s plea in this section.

What is the defendant’s plea?

• Guilty - Guilty plea acknowledgement message displays and a copy of signed plea acknowledgement must be uploaded.
• Not guilty - no more action required, go to Defendant acknowledgements section.
• No plea - no more action required, go to Defendant acknowledgements section.

Defendant acknowledgements section

Tick all Defendant acknowledgements.

Prosecution section

Selecting the relevant prosecuting agency and location will ensure the completed Registry Committal application is sent to the selected agency’s inbox.

Legal practitioner acknowledgement section

The Legal practitioner acknowledgement will include the details of the person currently logged into the OSP and completing the form.

Click Save or Submit application

• Save – This will save everything recorded for future review and editing before submission.
• Submit application – if logged in as legal practitioner, making sure to have ticked the Legal practitioner acknowledgment. Refer to section titled How to edit an existing Registry Committal application for instructions on opening an existing application that has been drafted by a paralegal/ legal assistant/ admin officer.

The Registry Committal Application submitted message displays.

In some instances Registry Committal applications may not be created and submitted in the same sitting or even by the same person (e.g. potentially drafted by a paralegal and submitted by a legal practitioner).

There will be times when work will need to be completed on an existing Registry Committal application.

Go to your Proceedings screen in your Dashboard

Click View button beside the desired application number.

Note: All staff within a law firm have visibility of all applications, all staff may View/edit any existing draft application, including applications originally created by another staff member that is waiting to be submitted.

The View application screen will display, showing the Status the application had progressed to at the point of saving e.g. Draft (step 1 of 5).

Scroll down the page to review the application.

Click Continue application, to make any required amendments/changes.

The screen updates to reflect the step in the process the application was at when last saved.

Click Save or Continue.

Go to your Proceedings screen in your Dashboard

Open the relevant application

Select Delete draft.

The Are you sure? dialogue box displays.

Click Delete draft.

The screen refreshes and the Registry Committal dashboard no longer displays the chosen application.

Go to your Proceedings screen in your Dashboard

Click arrow to the right of View button or the relevant application

Click withdraw or click View to open the record and click Withdraw application button.

The 'Are you sure?' dialogue box displays.

Click Withdraw application.

The dialogue box will close, and the status of the chosen application now shows as Draft

Note: Withdraw is only available for Registry Committal applications in the Prosecution Review status. If Withdraw is selected for a Registry Committal application in Registry Process status, an Application in progress message displays stating “Your application is currently being processed. Please contact the Court Registry by phone to discuss any amendments or if this application is no longer required".

On your ‘Proceedings’ screen you can see registry committal applications awaiting prosecution review.

Use the search and/or filter to find the relevant application.

Click ‘View’ to open an application.

The review application screen displays.

Complete each section of the Review application form as required.

This section highlights the status of all charges associated with the current application and updates in real time as changes occur to the application.

As the user scrolls down through the form, this section converts into a floating toolbar that remains visible at the top of the page.

No action required.

Applications details section

This section provides information on the application’s; current Status, Reference number, Committed from, Committed to and Next court date.

Review only, no action required.

Defendant details section

This section provides a summary of details on the defendant including; Name, DOB, Contact details, Plea and Custody status.

Review only, no action required.

List of charges section

This section lists each of the charges assigned to the application.

When an application contains multiple charges, the chevron icons in the top right corner (ᨆᨈ) will expand

or collapse the individual charge to help the user focus on one charge at a time. Additionally, the Expand All and Collapse All buttons will, show and hide all charges respectively.

Click Approve or Reject beside each charge in the application.

Note: if choosing to reject a charge, a reason supporting the rejection must be provided. E.g. “the defence have chosen Supreme Court rather than District court, please amend and resubmit.

Legal Practitioner details section

This section provides details on the legal defence team.

Review only, no action required.

Prosecution details section

This section provides details on the legal prosecution team.

Review only, no action required

Supporting documentation section

This section provides details on any supporting documentation provided with the application. Documents such as; Bench charge sheet, Transmission sheet, Verdict and judgement record will potentially be attached to this section.

Review only, no action required

Prosecution approval section

This is the final section on the form and depending on the choices made in the List of charges section will display different information.

If all charges are approved

Tick both boxes and click Submit approval

The Application approved message will display, confirming the application has been successfully processed.

Notification is sent to the defence lawyers, the application progresses to the Registry Process stage of the Registry Committal application process and registry staff will receive notification that their action is required.

Note: if the form is not complete when Submit approval is clicked, a Please check your answers message will display, providing details on the mandatory information that has yet to be provided.

If one or more charges are rejected

Click Return for amendments.

Notification is sent to the defence lawyers, informing them that based on the “reason for rejection” information provided in the List of charges section, amendments are required before resubmitting.

If there’s an issue with the application

• Click Reject application
• Enter a reason for rejecting the application
• Click Reject application

The Application rejected message will display, confirming the application has been successfully rejected.

Notification is sent to the defence lawyers that the application has been rejected. The application will appear in the defence lawyer’s dashboard in a draft status, where the defence lawyer can then delete the application.