Australian Capital Territory Current Acts Australian Capital Territory Current Acts(1) In this section:
"court" includes a tribunal, authority or person having power to require the production of documents or the answering of questions.
"divulge" includes communicate.
"person to whom this section applies" means a person who exercises, or has exercised, a function under this Act.
"produce" includes allow access to.
"protected information" means information about a person that is disclosed to, or obtained by, a person to whom this section applies because of the exercise of a function under this Act by the person or someone else.
(2) A person to whom this section applies commits an offence if—
(a) the person—
(i) makes a record of protected information about someone else; and
(ii) is reckless about whether the information is protected information about someone else; or
(b) the person—
(i) does something that divulges protected information about someone else; and
(ii) is reckless about whether—
(A) the information is protected information about someone else; and
(B) doing the thing would result in the information being divulged to someone else.
Maximum penalty: 50 penalty units, imprisonment for 6 months or both.
(3) Subsection (2) does not apply if the record is made, or the information is divulged—
(a) under this Act or another territory law; or
(b) in relation to the exercise of a function, as a person to whom this section applies, under this Act or another territory law.
(4) Subsection (2) does not apply to the divulging of protected information about someone with the person's consent.
(5) Subsection (2) does not apply if the information is divulged for law enforcement functions or activities and then only to an entity prescribed by regulation.
(6) A person to whom this section applies need not divulge protected information to a court, or produce a document containing protected information to a court, unless it is necessary to do so for this Act or another territory law.