Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) For the purposes of this section, an eligible person is a person who is or has been:
(a) the Secretary of, or other officer of, the Department; or
(b) the Director or the acting Director; or
(c) a member of the staff referred to in section 88; or
(d) engaged as a consultant to the Director; or
(e) a national inspector; or
(f) any other Commonwealth officer.
(2) Subject to this section, an eligible person must not either directly or indirectly, except for the purposes of this Act, for the purpose of complying with Australia's obligations under the Convention, or for the purpose of a prosecution for an offence against this Act:
(a) make a record of, or divulge or communicate to any person, any confidential information concerning the affairs of another person acquired by the eligible person in the performance of duties in relation to this Act; or
(b) produce to any person a confidential document relating to the affairs of another person given for the purposes of this Act; or
(c) make a record of, or divulge or communicate to any person, any confidential information contained in the Register of Permits and Notifications.
(3) An eligible person must not be required to divulge or communicate to a court any information referred to in subsection (2) or to produce in a court any documents referred to in that subsection, except when it is necessary to do so for the purposes of this Act or of a prosecution for an offence against this Act.
(3A) If:
(a) information is divulged or communicated to a person (the recipient ) by an eligible person for the purposes of this Act or for the purpose of complying with Australia's obligations under the Convention; and
(b) at the time the information was divulged or communicated, the eligible person specified that the information was confidential information to which this subsection applies;
the recipient must not, either directly or indirectly:
(c) make a record of the information; or
(d) divulge or communicate the information to another person.
(3B) If:
(a) information is divulged or communicated to a person (the recipient ) by an eligible person for the purposes of this Act or for the purpose of complying with Australia's obligations under the Convention; and
(b) at the time the information was divulged or communicated, the eligible person specified that the information was confidential information to which subsection (3A) applies;
the recipient must not be required to divulge or communicate the information to a court, unless it is necessary to do so:
(c) for the purposes of this Act; or
(d) for the purposes of a prosecution for an offence against this Act.
(3C) If:
(a) a document is produced to a person (the recipient ) by an eligible person for the purposes of this Act or for the purpose of complying with Australia's obligations under the Convention; and
(b) at the time the document was produced, the eligible person specified that the document was a confidential document to which this subsection applies;
the recipient must not, either directly or indirectly:
(c) make a copy of the document; or
(d) produce the document to another person.
(3D) If:
(a) a document is produced to a person (the recipient ) by an eligible person for the purposes of this Act or for the purpose of complying with Australia's obligations under the Convention; and
(b) at the time the document was produced, the eligible person specified that the document was a confidential document to which subsection (3C) applies;
the recipient must not be required to produce the document to a court, unless it is necessary to do so:
(c) for the purposes of this Act; or
(d) for the purposes of a prosecution for an offence against this Act.
(3E) A person commits an offence if:
(a) the person engages in conduct; and
(b) the conduct contravenes subsection (2), (3A) or (3C).
Penalty: Imprisonment for 2 years.
(3F) In subsection (3E):
"engage in conduct" means:
(a) do an act; or
(b) omit to perform an act.
(4) In this section:
"offence against this Act" includes an offence created by:
(a) section 6 of the Crimes Act 1914 ; or
(b) section 11.1, 11.4 or 11.5 of the Criminal Code ;
that relates to this Act.
(4A) For the purposes of this section, if in the course of an inspection under Part 5 an eligible person acquires information concerning the affairs of another person, the information is taken to be confidential information unless, at the time the information was acquired:
(a) the information was already available to the public; or
(b) the other person specified that the other person would have no objection if the information were to become available to the public.
However, if an objection is made, but is later withdrawn, the information is taken not to be confidential information at any time after the withdrawal.
(4B) For the purposes of this section, if in the course of an inspection under Part 5 an eligible person acquires a document relating to the affairs of another person, the document is taken to be a confidential document unless, at the time the document was acquired:
(a) the document was already available to the public; or
(b) the other person specified that the other person would have no objection if the document were to become available to the public.
However, if an objection is made, but is later withdrawn, the document is taken not to be a confidential document at any time after the withdrawal.
(5) In this section:
"Commonwealth officer" has the same meaning as in section 121.1 of the Criminal Code .
"court" includes any tribunal, authority or person having power to require the production of documents or the answering of questions.
"produce" includes permit access to.
"this Act" includes the regulations.