New South Wales Personal Injury Commission - Extension of time discretion

10/03/2021

The President of the Personal Injury Commission His Honour Judge Gerard Phillips has advised that, with the commencement of the Personal Injury Commission Act 2020 on 1 March 2021:

• An application for review of a medical assessment under the motor accidents Acts (1999 and 2017), must be made within 28 days after the parties to the medical dispute were issued with the original certificate as to the medical assessor’s decision.

• An application for review of merit review under the Motor Accidents Injuries Act 2017 must be made within 28 days after the parties to the merit review were issued with the certificate as to the merit reviewer’s decision.

• An appeal to a Presidential Member of the Personal Injury Commission under section 352 of the Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 can only be made within 28 days after the making of the decision appealed against.

These amendments will apply where the first instance decision is made on or after 1 March 2021 and are also set out in Towards the PIC Edition 10 - February 2021, which is available on the Commission's website.

The President has also advised that there is no provision in the Personal Injury Commission’s procedural framework, including the Personal Injury Commission Rules 2021, to extend the time to make such applications for review or appeal. In marked contrast to previous practice, there is no capacity to exercise any discretion to accept a late appeal or application for review, that is, an application that is filed after the prescribed timeframe for lodgement.

The President advises that, until such time as any legislative amendment may be made to rectify these matters, the Commission intends to deal with the issue as follows:

1. Any appeal or review application lodged within time in the Commission will be accepted, whether compliant or not, and a direction will be issued to regularise any compliance issues afterwards.

2. An appeal or review application with respect to a decision made on or after 1 March 2021, will be subject to the 28-day time limit to make an appeal or review application against the decision. There is no provision in the Personal Injury Commission Rules 2021 to extend the time to make an appeal or review application.

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