Commonwealth Numbered Acts

AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY ACT 1998No. 50, 1998 - SECT 56

Act covered by this section means any of the following Acts:

(a) the Banking Act 1959 ;

(b) the Financial Institutions Supervisory Levies Collection Act 1998 ;

(c) the Financial Sector (Shareholdings) Act 1998 ;

(d) the Insurance Act 1973 ;

(e) the Insurance Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1991 ;

(f) the Life Insurance Act 1995 ;

(g) the Retirement Savings Accounts Act 1997 ;

(h) the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 ;

(i) the Superannuation (Excluded Funds) Taxation Act 1987 ;

(j) any Act imposing a levy to which the Financial Institutions Supervisory Levies Collection Act 1998 applies, or to which the Superannuation (Excluded Funds) Taxation Act 1987 applies;

(k) any other prescribed Act.

financial sector supervisory agency means a person or body having the function, in Australia or in a foreign country, of supervising or regulating financial institutions.

officer means:

(a) a Board member; or

(b) an APRA staff member; or

(c) any other person who, because of his or her employment, or in the course of that employment:

(i) has acquired protected information; or

(ii) has had access to protected documents;

other than an employee of the body to which the information or document relates.

protected document means a document given or produced (whether before or after the commencement of this section) under, or for the purposes of, this Act or an Act covered by this section and containing information relating to the affairs of:

(a) a body regulated by APRA; or

(b) a body corporate (including a body corporate that has ceased to exist) that has at any time been, or is, related (within the meaning of the Corporations Law) to a body regulated by APRA; or

(c) a person who has been, is, or proposes to be, a customer of a body regulated by APRA;

protected information means information disclosed or obtained (whether before or after the commencement of this section) under, or for the purposes of, this Act or an Act covered by this section and relating to the affairs of:

(a) a body regulated by APRA; or

(b) a body corporate (including a body corporate that has ceased to exist) that has at any time been, or is, related (within the meaning of the Corporations Law) to a body regulated by APRA; or

(c) a person who has been, is, or proposes to be, a customer of a body regulated by APRA;

(2) A person who is or has been an officer is guilty of an offence if:

(a) the person directly or indirectly:

(i) discloses information acquired in the course of his or her duties as an officer to any person or to a court; or

(ii) produces a document to any person or to a court; and

(b) the information is protected information, or the document is a protected document; and

(c) the disclosure or production is not in accordance with subsection (3), (4), (5), (6) or (7).

Penalty: Imprisonment for 2 years.

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

(4) It is not an offence if the disclosure of protected information or the production of a protected document by a person:

(a) is by an employee of the person to whose affairs the information or document relates; or

(b) occurs after the person to whose affairs the information or document relates has agreed in writing to the disclosure or production.

(a) occurs when the person is satisfied that the disclosure of the information, or the production of the document, will assist a financial sector supervisory agency or any other agency (including foreign agencies) specified in the regulations to perform its functions or exercise its powers and the disclosure or production is to that agency; or

(b) if the disclosure is to another person and is approved by the Board by instrument in writing.

Note: See subsection (9) for conditions that may be imposed on people making disclosures under this subsection.

(a) a Board member; or

(b) an APRA staff member;

(7) It is not an offence if the information, or the information contained in the document, as the case may be, is in the form of a summary or collection of information that is prepared so that information relating to any particular person cannot be found out from it.

(8) A person who is, or has been, an officer cannot be required to disclose to a court any protected information, or to produce in a court a protected document, except when it is necessary to do so for the purposes of this Act or an Act covered by this section.

(9) If a person discloses information or produces a document under this section to another person, the first person may, at the time of the disclosure, impose conditions to be complied with in relation to the information disclosed or the document produced.

(10) A person is guilty of an offence if the person fails to comply with a condition imposed under subsection (9).

Penalty: Imprisonment for 2 years.

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

(a) is a protected document; or

(b) contains protected information;