Witnessing of Documents During COVID-19

The NSW Parliament recently passed the Electronic Transactions Amendment (COVID-19 Witnessing of Documents) Regulation 2020 (NSW) to allow for the witnessing of documents including wills, powers of attorney, deeds or agreements, statutory declarations and affidavits to take place by audio visual link (including video conferencing like Zoom or Microsoft Teams). The regulation sets out a number of steps which must be taken by a person witnessing a signatory sign a document by audio visual link.

The regulation remains in force until 22 September 2020 unless this expiration date is extended by Parliament.