2.2.3 Application of the Statements of Principles

The Statements of Principles (SoPs) are used to determine issues of medical causation that are raised in claims for liability. In order for liability to be accepted for a particular kind of injury, disease or death, the claim will have to be upheld by the SoP applicable to the condition in question. The provisions that govern the application of the (SoPs) in the MRCA are Sections 338 and 339.

The Repatriation Medical Authority (RMA) determines the SoPs in respect of a particular kind of injury, disease or death based on the VEA definitions of "injury" and "disease" (which are also to be found in the MRCA) according to "sound medical-scientific evidence" as defined in subsection 5AB(2) of the VEA.

The "reasonable hypothesis" SoPs apply to claims arising out of warlike and non-warlike service (section 338). The "reasonable satisfaction" SoPs apply to claims for liability arising out of peacetime service (section 339).

Persons eligible to make a claim under the MRCA, organisations representing members covered by the MRCA and the MRCC have the right to seek RMA investigations and reviews of the SoPs and to appeal RMA SoP determinations to the Specialist Medical Review Council. The latest SoP available at the time of either the determination, or subsequent review of a determination, in respect of a claim for liability is the SoP applied.