The Spent Convictions Act 2009 (SA) applies to convictions for offences against the laws of South Australia and against any other law [s 6]. However an application to have an eligible sex offence spent cannot be made for a conviction in another jurisdiction [s 8A(3)].

In the case of convictions for offences against the laws of a recognised jurisdiction (another State or the Commonwealth) the mutual recognition principle applies [s 6(2)].This means that a conviction for an offence against a law of a recognised jurisdiction that is spent under the corresponding law of that jurisdiction will be taken to be spent for the purposes of South Australian law. Similarly, a conviction for an offence against a law of a recognised jurisdiction that is not spent (or has ceased to be spent) under the corresponding law of that jurisdiction, will be taken not to be spent for the purposes of the Act.

With regard to overseas jurisdictions, the Act applies with such changes as are necessary to enable the provisions to apply to those convictions in a way that corresponds as closely as possible to the way that it applies to convictions for offences against the laws of South Australia [s 6(3)]. If an offence has no correspondence to an offence against a law of South Australia, then the conviction is immediately spent [s 6(4)].