Responsible for registration and regulation of companies, business names and associations and administration of corporate law in Tasmania. Registration of Companies was assigned in the various Acts to a Registrar of Companies with the function performed in the interim by the Registrar of the Supreme Court. The registration of various forms of mortgage was also assigned to the Registrar. The Companies Registry was later separated from the Supreme Court Registry. This probably occurred in 1967 when the Companies Section was established in the Supreme Court and Sheriff's Department. It comprised only inspectors and clerical staff so clearly the Registrar still held both posts. The Companies Section (sometimes referred to as the Companies Registry) was renamed the Corporate Affairs Office in 1979. On 1 July 1982 responsibility for chattel mortgages and some Private Acts of Parliament was transferred from the Registrar of the Supreme Court to the Commissioner for Corporate Affairs. This probably marks the formal separation of the positions of Registrar and Sheriff from that of Commissioner for Corporate Affairs. The Corporate Affairs Office was not formally severed from the Supreme Court until 15 March 1983 when it became a division of the newly created Law Department. The National Companies and Securities Commission was created to give effect to an agreement dated 22 December 1978 between the Commonwealth and the States to establish uniform corporate legislation throughout Australia. (This was achieved by passage of Commonwealth legislation brought into effect in each State by "application" acts.) The Acts came into force in Tasmania on 1 July 1981 and 1 July 1982. The Commission was an umbrella body with a national headquarters in Melbourne and operational powers delegated to the State Commissioners for Corporate Affairs. There is a brief description of the legal framework in JPP 81 of 1983. Responsibility for corporate law was transferred to the Australian Securities Commission on 1 Jan 1991. The Office was then renamed Business Affairs to reflect its narrower functions.