Australian Capital Territory Consolidated Acts Australian Capital Territory Consolidated Acts(1) Subject to subsection (2), in a prosecution under this part in relation to a contravention of a provision of part 2, it is a defence if the defendant establishes—
(a) that the contravention was caused by a reasonable mistake of fact, including a mistake of fact caused by reasonable reliance on information supplied by another person; or
(b) that—
(i) the contravention in relation to which the proceedings were started was due to the act or default of another person, to an accident or to some other cause beyond the defendant's control; and
(ii) the defendant took reasonable precautions and exercised due diligence to avoid the contravention.
(2) In subsection (1):
"another person" does not include a person who was, at the time of the contravention—
(a) an employee or agent of the defendant; or
(b) if the defendant is a corporation—an officer, employee or agent of the defendant.
"officer", of a corporation—see the Corporations Act, section 9 (Dictionary).
(3) If a defence provided by subsection (1) involves an allegation that a contravention was due to reliance on information supplied by another person or to the act or default of another person, the defendant is not, without the leave of the Magistrates Court, entitled to rely on that defence unless he or she has, not later than 7 days before the day when the hearing of the proceedings begins, served on the person by whom the proceedings were started, a written notice giving the information that would identify or assist in the identification of the other person that was then in his or her possession.
(4) In proceedings under this part in relation to a contravention of a provision of part 2 committed by the publication of an advertisement, it is a defence if the defendant establishes that he or she is a person whose business it is to publish or arrange for the publication of advertisements and that he or she received the advertisement for publication in the ordinary course of business and did not know and had no reason to suspect that its publication would amount to a contravention of a provision of that part.