AUSTRALIAN CRIME COMMISSION (NORTHERN TERRITORY) ACT 2005 (NO 6 OF 2005) - SECT 44 Secrecy

AUSTRALIAN CRIME COMMISSION (NORTHERN TERRITORY) ACT 2005 (NO 6 OF 2005) - SECT 44

(1)     This section applies to –

    (a)     the CEO;

    (b)     a member of the Board;

    (c)     a member of the staff of the ACC; and

    (d)     an examiner.

(2)     A person to whom this section applies must not, either directly or indirectly, except for the purposes of a relevant Act or otherwise in connection with the performance of his or her functions under a relevant Act, and either while he or she is or after he or she ceases to be a person to whom this section applies –

    (a)     make a record of any relevant information; or

    (b)     divulge or communicate to any person any relevant information.

Penalty:     100 penalty units or imprisonment for 12 months.

(3)     A person to whom this section applies cannot be required to produce in any court a relevant document, or to divulge or communicate to a court a relevant matter or thing, except where the ACC, or the CEO, the acting CEO, a member of the Board or an examiner in his or her official capacity, is a party to the relevant proceeding or it is necessary to do so –

    (a)     for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of a relevant Act; or

    (b)     for the purposes of a prosecution instituted as a result of an operation or investigation carried out by the ACC in the performance of its functions.

(4)     In this section –

"court" includes any tribunal, authority or person having power to require the production of documents or the answering of questions;

"member of the staff of the ACC" means –

    (a)     a person referred to in the definition of "member of the staff of the ACC" in section 4(1) of the ACC Act; or

    (b)     a person who assists, or performs services for or on behalf of, a legal practitioner appointed under section 7 in the performance of the legal practitioner's functions as counsel to the ACC;

"produce" includes permit access to, and "production" has a corresponding meaning;

"relevant Act" means the ACC Act, this Act or any corresponding Act of a State or Territory;

"relevant document" means a document that has come into a person's custody or control in the course of, or because of, the performance of the person's functions under this Act;

"relevant information" means information acquired by a person because of, or in the course of, the performance of the person's functions under this Act;

"relevant matter or thing" means a matter or thing that has come to a person's notice in the performance of the person's functions under this Act.