Notice · Defamation & Media Law
Concerns notice under the uniform Defamation Acts (with UK letter-of-claim and NZ variants)
A concerns notice built to the s 12A requirements, with an internal check of every statutory element, the 28-day offer period and the limitation dates. Short UK and NZ variants are included.
- Kind
- Notice. A formal notice to serve or publish.
- Where it applies
- Australia, New South Wales, United Kingdom (England and Wales), New Zealand
- AI use
- Red Keep AI out of the decisive steps. A lawyer does the work.
- Law stated as at
- 17 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked against the cited sources on 17 October 2026.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use before suing for defamation in any State or Territory that adopted the Stage 1 amendments, where a concerns notice is a precondition to proceedings. Do not use as an originating document, and adapt it for Western Australia, England and Wales or New Zealand.
How AI may be used
Lawyer-led. AI may organise publication particulars and dates from the saved capture; the imputations, the serious harm particulars and every date are settled by the lawyer.
AI may
- Extract the publisher, URL, headline, byline, dates and audience figures from the saved capture into a table
- Build the date list (first upload, notice given, end of applicable period, limitation date) for the lawyer to check against the statute
- Compare the draft notice with the s 12A checklist and list any missing element
AI must not
- Must not formulate or choose the imputations of concern or the serious harm particulars
- Must not quote the matter from an AI summary or AI transcript instead of the captured original
- Must not be given the client's confidential reputational or financial evidence unless the tool's terms bar retention of, and training on, inputs
The lawyer checks
- Each imputation is one the client will plead, drafted as a precise proposition
- Every s 12A(1) element is present and the notice is given by a s 44 method, with proof kept
- Applicable-period and limitation dates, including any s 14B extension, are calculated and diarised
- A corporate client meets the s 9 excluded-corporation test before the notice is sent
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Official form
Open the official form. Always use the current version from the issuer.
Read the full text
The full text is for signed-in accounts. It is free. When you sign in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
More in Defamation & Media Law
- Offer to make amends in response to a concerns notice
- Pre-publication legal review checklist (including AI-generated text, images and quotes)
- Takedown demand for AI-generated deepfake or synthetic content (to poster or platform)
- Complaint notice to a digital intermediary (s 31A accessible complaints mechanism) with UK and US variants
- Newsroom and publisher generative AI and synthetic media policy
All precedents for Defamation & Media Law · Tasks and AI use in this area