Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

RENEWABLE ENERGY (ELECTRICITY) ACT 2000 - SECT 24

             (1)  A person is guilty of an offence if:

                     (a)  the person creates a certificate; and

                     (b)  the person is not entitled to create the certificate.

Penalty:  1 penalty unit.

             (2)  Subsection (1) is an offence of strict liability.

Note 1:       Chapter 2 of the Criminal Code sets out the general principles of criminal responsibility and Chapter 3 of the Criminal Code contains general principles relating to penalties.

Note 2:       For strict liability, see section 6.1 of the Criminal Code .

             (3)  A person is guilty of an offence if:

                     (a)  the person creates a certificate; and

                     (b)  the person is not entitled to create the certificate.

Penalty:  5 penalty units.

Note:          Chapter 2 of the Criminal Code sets out the general principles of criminal responsibility and Chapter 3 of the Criminal Code contains general principles relating to penalties.

             (4)  To avoid doubt, a penalty may be imposed in respect of each certificate in respect of which a person is guilty of an offence.

Example:    An individual who commits an offence under subsection (1) by creating 20 certificates that the individual was not entitled to create would be subject to a maximum penalty of 20 penalty units. If the offence were under subsection (3), the individual would be subject to a maximum penalty of 100 units.

             (5)  In determining whether a person was not entitled to create a certificate, the fact that the certificate has been registered by the Regulator under section 26 is to be disregarded.

Note:          This ensures that a person cannot raise as relevant evidence the fact that a certificate has been registered.