National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009

CHAPTER 5 - ADMINISTRATION  

PART 5-2 - DOCUMENTS LODGED WITH ASIC OR REQUIRED BY THIS ACT  

Division 4 - Other provisions relating to documents lodged with ASIC or required under this Act  

SECTION 225   FALSE OR MISLEADING DOCUMENTS  

Fault-based offence

225(1)    
A person commits an offence if:

(a) a document:

(i) is required under or for the purposes of this Act; or

(ii) is lodged with or submitted to ASIC under or for the purposes of this Act; and

(b) the person:

(i) makes, or authorises the making of, a statement in the document; or

(ii) omits, or authorises the omission of, a matter or thing from the document; and

(c) the person knows that the document is materially false or misleading because of the statement or omission.

Criminal penalty: 5 years imprisonment.

Note:

For when a document is materially false or misleading , see subsection (5).

Strict liability offence - failure to take reasonable steps

225(2)    
A person commits an offence of strict liability if:

(a) a document:

(i) is required under or for the purposes of this Act; or

(ii) is lodged with or submitted to ASIC under or for the purposes of this Act; and

(b) the person:

(i) makes, or authorises the making of, a statement in the document; or

(ii) omits, or authorises the omission of, a matter or thing from the document; and

(c) the document is materially false or misleading because of the statement or omission; and

(d) the person did not take all reasonable steps to ensure that the document was not materially false or misleading because of the statement or omission.

Criminal penalty: 20 penalty units.

Note 1:

For when a document is materially false or misleading , see subsection (5).

Note 2:

For strict liability, see section 6.1 of the Criminal Code .

Civil penalty - knowledge or recklessness

225(3)    

A person contravenes this subsection if:

(a) a document:

(i) is required under or for the purposes of this Act; or

(ii) is lodged with or submitted to ASIC under or for the purposes of this Act; and

(b) the person:

(i) makes, or authorises the making of, a statement in the document; or

(ii) omits, or authorises the omission of, a matter or thing from the document; and

(c) the person knows that, or is reckless as to whether, the document is materially false or misleading because of the statement or omission.

Civil penalty: 5,000 penalty units.

Note:

For when a document is materially false or misleading , see subsection (5).

Civil penalty - failure to take reasonable steps

225(4)    

A person contravenes this subsection if:

(a) a document:

(i) is required under or for the purposes of this Act; or

(ii) is lodged with or submitted to ASIC under or for the purposes of this Act; and

(b) the person:

(i) makes, or authorises the making of, a statement in a document; or

(ii) omits, or authorises the omission of, a matter or thing from a document; and

(c) the document is materially false or misleading because of the statement or omission; and

(d) the person did not take all reasonable steps to ensure that the document was not materially false or misleading because of the statement or omission.

Civil penalty: 5,000 penalty units.

Note:

For when a document is materially false or misleading , see subsection (5).

When a document is materially false or misleading

225(5)    
For the purposes of this section, a document is materially false or misleading if:

(a) the document includes a statement that:

(i) is false in a material particular or materially misleading; or

(ii) is based on information that is false in a material particular or materially misleading, or has omitted from it a matter or thing the omission of which renders the document materially misleading; or

(b) a matter or thing is omitted from the document and, without the matter or thing, the document is false in a material particular or materially misleading.

Authorisations

225(6)    

For the purposes of this section, a person who votes in favour of a resolution approving, or who otherwise approves, a document is taken to have authorised:

(a) the making of any statement in the document; and

(b) the omission of any matter or thing from the document.