New South Wales Consolidated Acts

PRINTING AND NEWSPAPERS ACT 1973 - SECT 3

3 Provisions in respect of certain printed documents

(1) Subject to subsection (4), a person who prints any document which the person knows, or has reason to believe, is intended to be sold or distributed (whether to the public generally or to a restricted class or number of persons) or to be publicly displayed shall:

(a) at the time of, or within twenty-four hours after, printing the document print on at least one copy of the document the name and address of the person for whom or on whose instructions the document was printed,

(b) subject to paragraph (c), retain, for a period of six months from the date on which the document was printed, a copy of the document on which that name and address is so printed,

(c) upon the request of a member of the police force made at any time during that period, produce or surrender the copy of the document so retained, and

(d) at the time of the printing, print the person’s name, or if the person carries on business under a name registered under the Business Names Act 2002 , that name, the address of the person’s place of business, and the year in which the document is printed on the front or first or last page of the document.

Maximum penalty: 4 penalty units.

(2) Subject to subsections (3) and (4), no person shall sell, offer for sale, deliver, distribute, affix to any object or structure in a public place, leave in a public place or otherwise expose to public view, a document on which there have not been printed on the front or first or last page the name of the printer or the name under which the printer carries on business, the address of the printer’s place of business and the year in which the document was printed.

Maximum penalty: 4 penalty units.

(3) It shall be a defence if a person charged with an offence under subsection (2) proves that the document concerned:

(a) was printed before the commencement of this Act, or

(b) was not printed in the State.

(4) This section does not apply to:

(a) any document containing only the name, address, telephone number, business or profession of a person and the designation of any article in which the person deals,

(b) any document relating to the sale of property by auction or otherwise,

(c) documents intended for use as bills of exchange, promissory notes, bonds or other securities for the payment of money, bills of lading, policies of insurance, letters or powers of attorney, deeds, agreements or process of a court,

(d) any document printed for the Crown in the right of a State (including the State) or of the Commonwealth, either House of Parliament of a State (including this State) or of the Commonwealth, any department of Government, any statutory body representing the Crown or any other body prescribed by the regulations, or

(e) any document or document belonging to any class of document which the Minister, by order, exempts from the application of this section.

(5) The Governor may make regulations prescribing bodies for the purposes of subsection (4) (d).