(1) A person must not, in trade or commerce, engage in conduct in relation to financial services that is misleading or deceptive or is likely to mislead or deceive.
(1A) Conduct:
(a) that contravenes:
(i) section 670A of the Corporations Act (misleading or deceptive takeover document); or
(ii) section 728 of the Corporations Act (misleading or deceptive fundraising document); or
(iii) section 738Y of the Corporations Act (other liabilities relating to CSF offer documents); or
(b) in relation to a disclosure document or statement within the meaning of section 953A of the Corporations Act; or
(c) in relation to a disclosure document or statement within the meaning of section 1022A of the Corporations Act;
does not contravene subsection (1). For this purpose, conduct contravenes the provision even if the conduct does not constitute an offence, or does not lead to any liability, because of the availability of a defence.
(2) Nothing in sections 12DB to 12DN limits by implication the generality of subsection (1).
(3) If a person engages in conduct that:
(a) does not contravene subsection 674A(2) of the Corporations Act, but would contravene that subsection if paragraph 674A(2)(d) of the Corporations Act contained the same text as paragraph 674(2)(d) of the Corporations Act; or
(b) does not contravene subsection 675A(2) of the Corporations Act, but would contravene that subsection if paragraph 675A(2)(b) of the Corporations Act contained the same text as paragraph 675(2)(b) of the Corporations Act;
the person's engaging in that conduct does not contravene subsection (1) of this section.
Note: The subsections mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) deal with continuous disclosure of information by disclosing entities.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (3), a person engages in conduct that contravenes a provision even if engaging in the conduct does not constitute an offence, or lead to a liability, because of the availability of a defence.