Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001 - SECT 27

Liability of body corporate

27. Liability of body corporate



(1) If a body corporate is guilty of an offence against this Part, each
officer of the body corporate who knowingly directed, authorised or permitted
the commission of the offence by the body corporate, is also guilty of an
offence against this Part.

(2) Nothing in subsection (1) affects any liability imposed on a body
corporate for an offence committed by it against this Part.

(3) If, in a proceeding for an offence against this Part, it is necessary to
establish the state of mind of a body corporate in relation to particular
conduct, it is sufficient to show that-

   (a)  the conduct was engaged in by an employee, agent or officer of the
        body corporate within the scope of his or her actual authority; and

   (b)  the employee, agent or officer had that state of mind.

(4) If an employee, agent or officer of a body corporate engages in conduct on
behalf of the body corporate within the scope of his or her actual authority,
the body corporate must be taken, for the purposes of a prosecution for an
offence against this Part, also to have engaged in the conduct unless the body
corporate establishes that it took reasonable precautions to avoid the
conduct.

(5) In this section officer, in relation to a body corporate, means-

   (a)  a director, secretary or executive officer of the body corporate; or

   (b)  any person in accordance with whose directions or instructions the
        directors of the body corporate are accustomed to act; or

   (c)  a person substantially concerned in the management of the body
        corporate.