(1) The APVMA may, by writing, appoint members of its staff, persons engaged under the Public Service Act 1999 , or other persons having appropriate qualifications, to be inspectors for the purposes of a relevant law referred to in the document of appointment.
(2) If:
(a) a Department of State of a State; or
(b) a Department or administrative unit of the Public Service of a participating Territory; or
(c) an authority of a State or of a participating Territory;
has functions relating to agricultural or veterinary chemicals, the Chief Executive Officer may, by signed writing, authorise officers of the Department, administrative unit or authority to exercise the powers and perform the functions of inspectors for the purposes of a relevant law.
(3) An inspector is a Commonwealth officer for the purposes of Part 5.6 (secrecy of information) of the Criminal Code .
(4) The APVMA must cause to be issued to each person who is an inspector for the purposes of a relevant law an identity card which states the name of the person and the fact that the person is an inspector for the purposes of that law and to which is attached a photograph of the person taken within the 3 years before the identity card is issued.
(5) A person must, within 14 days of ceasing to be an inspector, return to the APVMA the identity card issued to him or her under this section.
(5A) Subsection (5) does not apply if the person has a reasonable excuse.
Note: The defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matter in subsection (5A). See subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code .
(5B) An offence under subsection (5) is an offence of strict liability.
Note: For strict liability, see section 6.1 of the Criminal Code .
(6) In this section:
"relevant law" means:
(a) this Act; or
(b) the Agvet Codes; or
(c) any other Act providing for the collection of a levy imposed in respect of the disposal of chemical products.