Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION MEASURES (IMPLEMENTATION) ACT 1998 - SECT 36

Information not to be disclosed

(1)

If:

(a)

a person (the first person ) enters or searches premises; and

(b)

the entry or search is made under a power that the first person has:

(i)

because of the operation of section 12 or 17; or

(ii)

because of regulations made under section 21; and

(c)

the first person discloses any information, directly or indirectly, to another person; and

(d)

the information was acquired by the first person as a result of the entry or search;

the first person is guilty of an offence punishable on conviction by imprisonment for not more than 2 years.

Note 1: Chapter 2 of the Criminal Code sets out the general principles of criminal responsibility.

Note 2: Subsection 4B(2) of the Crimes Act 1914 allows a court that convicts an individual of an offence to impose a fine instead of, or in addition to, a term of imprisonment. The maximum fine that a court can impose on the individual is worked out by multiplying the maximum term of imprisonment (in months) by 5, and then multiplying the resulting number by the amount of a penalty unit. The amount of a penalty unit is stated in section 4AA of that Act.

Exception

(2)

Subsection (1) does not apply to a disclosure made in the performance of duties under an applied provision of an applied State law, under an applied provision of a law of a State or Territory or under regulations made under section 21.

Note: A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matters in subsection (2) (see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code ).

Court not to require production of document or disclosure of information

(3)

A person who enters or searches premises under a power that the person has because of the operation of section 12 or 17 or because of regulations made under section 21 cannot, except for the purposes of an applied provision of an applied State law, an applied provision of a law of a State or Territory or a provision of the regulations, be required:

(a)

to produce in court any document that has come into his or her possession or under his or her control as a result of the entry or search; or

(b)

to disclose to a court any information acquired by the person as a result of the entry or search.

Definitions

(4)

In this section: