Business Names Registration Act 2011

PART 9 - ADMINISTRATION  

Division 2 - Miscellaneous  

SECTION 77   PROTECTION OF CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION  

77(1)    
A person who obtains information in the course of performing functions or exercising powers under this Act or the Transitional Act must not:

(a)    make a record of the information; or

(b)    use the information; or

(c)    disclose the information.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 1 year.

77(2)    
Subsection (1) does not apply if:

(a)    the information is recorded, used or disclosed for the purposes of performing functions or exercising powers under this Act or the Transitional Act; or

(b)    the information is recorded, used or disclosed in accordance with a provision of this Act or the Transitional Act; or

(c)    the information is recorded, used or disclosed with the consent of the entity that provided the information; or

(d)    the information is given to a court or tribunal.

Note:

A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matters in subsection (2) : see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code .

77(3)    
A person commits an offence if:

(a)    information is made available to a government body or to an intelligence or security agency under section 62 ; and

(b)    a person obtains the information in the course of performing functions or exercising powers for the body or agency; and

(c)    the person would not have had access to the information if it had not been made available to the body or agency under section 62 ; and

(d)    the person records, uses or discloses the information for a purpose other than that for which it was made available; and

(e)    the person is reckless as to whether the purpose for which the information is recorded, used or disclosed is that for which it was made available.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 6 months.

Note:

Where a fault element for a physical element of an offence is not stated, see section 5.6 of the Criminal Code for the appropriate fault element.

77(4)    
Subsection (3) does not apply if:

(a)    the person discloses the information to another person; and

(b)    the disclosure is reasonably necessary for:

(i) the enforcement of the criminal law; or

(ii) the enforcement of a law imposing a pecuniary penalty; or

(iii) the protection of the public revenue.

Note:

A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matters in subsection (4) : see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code .

77(5)    
Subsections (1) and (3) are not intended to have an operation that would infringe an implied constitutional immunity of a referring/adopting State.