New South Wales Consolidated Acts

ASSOCIATIONS INCORPORATION ACT 1984 - SECT 67

67 Production and inspection of records

(1) In this section, "records" includes:

(a) any document, register and other record of information, and

(b) invoices, receipts, orders for the payment of money, bills of exchange, promissory notes, vouchers and other documents of prime entry and also includes such working papers and other documents as are necessary to explain the methods and calculations by which accounts are made up,

however compiled, recorded or stored.

(2) The powers of the Director-General under subsection (3), or the powers of an authorised person under subsection (4), shall not be exercised except in circumstances that relate to a matter that constitutes or may constitute:

(a) a contravention of, or failure to comply with, a provision of this Act or the regulations, or

(b) an offence relating to an incorporated association that involves fraud or dishonesty or concerns the management of affairs of the association.

(3) The Director-General may at any time, by notice in writing, give a direction to:

(a) an incorporated association, or

(b) a person who is or has been an officer of, or an agent, banker, solicitor, auditor or other person acting in any capacity for or on behalf of, an incorporated association (including an incorporated association that is in the course of being wound up or has been dissolved),

requiring the production, at such time and place as are specified in the direction, of such records relating to the affairs of the association as are so specified.

(4) A person authorised by the Director-General for the purpose may, at any reasonable time, enter any premises or place in which the Director-General or authorised person has reasonable cause to believe the association is acting in furtherance of its purposes or in which any records relating to the affairs of the association are kept, and may:

(a) require any person at that place or on those premises to furnish such information as the authorised person may reasonably require,

(b) search that place or those premises, and

(c) inspect, take and retain possession of, and take copies of, any records found in or upon that place or those premises relating to the affairs of the association.

(5) A person shall not assault, hinder, obstruct or interfere with an authorised person in the exercise of the powers conferred by subsection (4) on the authorised person.

Maximum penalty: 5 penalty units.

(6) A person shall not:

(a) when required under subsection (3) to produce a record:

(i) refuse or neglect to produce the record, or

(ii) produce a record that contains information that to the person’s knowledge is false or misleading in a material particular unless the person discloses that fact when producing the record, or

(b) when required under subsection (4) to furnish information:

(i) refuse or neglect to furnish the information, or

(ii) furnish information that to the person’s knowledge is false or misleading in a material particular unless the person discloses that fact when furnishing the information.

Maximum penalty: 5 penalty units.

(7) It is a defence to any prosecution for refusal or neglect to produce a record required to be produced under subsection (3) if the person charged proves that the record has been destroyed or disposed of in accordance with the provisions of this Act or the regulations.

(8) Any information furnished pursuant to a requirement made under subsection (4) (a) shall not, if at the time of furnishing the information the person objected to doing so on the ground that it might tend to incriminate the person, be admissible in evidence in any prosecution against that person for any offence or in any proceedings relating to any offence, other than an offence under subsection (5) or (6).

(9) An investigator appointed under section 18 of the Fair Trading Act 1987 is taken to be a person authorised under subsection (4).