New South Wales Consolidated Acts

ROAD TRANSPORT (SAFETY AND TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT) ACT 1999 - SECT 18

18 Procedure to be followed for breath analysis

(cf Traffic Act, s 4E (9))

(1) A person who is required under section 15 (1) to submit to a breath analysis may request the police officer making the requisition to arrange for a medical practitioner to take, in the presence of a police officer, a sample of that person’s blood, for analysis in accordance with this section at that person’s own expense.

(2) A request by a person under subsection (1), or the taking of a sample of that person’s blood, does not absolve that person from the obligation imposed on the person to submit to a breath analysis in accordance with section 15 (1).

(3) A medical practitioner by whom a sample of a person’s blood is taken under an arrangement referred to in subsection (1) must:

(a) place the sample into a container, and

(b) fasten and seal the container, and

(c) mark or label the container for future identification, and

(d) give to the person from whom the sample is taken a certificate relating to the sample that contains sufficient information to enable the sample to be identified as a sample of that person’s blood, and

(e) as soon as reasonably practicable after the sample is taken, hand the sample to the police officer who was present at the time the sample was taken.

(4) The police officer to whom a sample of blood is handed under subsection (3) must, as soon as reasonably practicable after the sample is handed to the officer, arrange for the sample to be submitted to a laboratory prescribed by the regulations for analysis by an analyst to determine the concentration of alcohol in the blood.

(5) The person from whom the sample was taken may, within 12 months after the taking of the sample, apply to the laboratory prescribed under this section for a portion of the sample to be sent, for analysis at that person’s own expense, to a medical practitioner or laboratory nominated by the person.

(6) An analyst at the laboratory to which a sample of blood is submitted for analysis under this section may carry out an analysis of the sample, or of a portion of the sample, to determine the concentration of alcohol (and, where required, of other drugs) in the blood.

(7) An analysis referred to in subsection (6) may be carried out, and any act, matter or thing in connection with the analysis (including the receipt of the sample of blood to be analysed and the breaking of any seal securing the sample) may be done, by a person acting under the supervision of an analyst, and in that event is taken to have been carried out or done by the analyst.