New South Wales Consolidated Acts

FINES ACT 1996 - SECT 126A

126A Penalty notices and penalty reminder notices sent to recently reported address and returned to sender

(1) Despite sections 25 and 26, a penalty reminder notice may be issued to and served on a person even if the penalty notice to which it relates was returned as being undelivered to its sender after being sent to the person at the person’s recently reported address, unless the appropriate officer concerned has received some other evidence that the penalty notice was not served on the person.

(2) Despite section 42 (1), a penalty notice enforcement order may be made in relation to an offence even if the penalty notice or a penalty reminder notice (or both) in relation to the offence was returned as being undelivered to its sender after being sent to the person at the person’s recently reported address, unless the State Debt Recovery Office has received some other evidence that the penalty notice was not served on the person.

(3) In this section, "recently reported address", in relation to a penalty notice or penalty reminder notice sent to a person, means:

(a) if, at the time the offence concerned is alleged to have been committed:

(i) an address was duly supplied by the person to an appropriate officer in response to a request for that address, and

(ii) the person had a legal obligation to supply the address to that officer,

unless paragraph (b) applies-the address so supplied, or

(b) if, after an address was supplied to an appropriate officer in accordance with paragraph (a), the records of Roads and Maritime Services in relation to a current driver licence or vehicle registration were altered to show a different address for the person-that address, or

(c) in any other case-an address shown in the records of Roads and Maritime Services in relation to a current driver licence or vehicle registration as the address of the person.

Before any enforcement action can be taken in relation to a penalty notice, notice of the relevant penalty notice enforcement order must be served on the person concerned: see sections 59, 65 and 71. The State Debt Recovery Office must annul a penalty notice enforcement order if it is satisfied that the person concerned was not aware that a penalty notice had been issued until the enforcement order was served on the person: see section 49.