The statutory framework
13 This Court has jurisdiction to hear and determine prosecutions for offences under the TPA: see s 163(1) and (2) of the TPA. Although the TPA has been superseded by the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), the TPA continues to apply to acts or omissions that occurred before 1 January 2011: see item 6 of Schedule 7 to the Trade Practices Amendment (Australian Consumer Law) Act (No 2) 2010 (Cth).
14 Section 155 of the TPA relevantly provided:
155 Power to obtain information, documents and evidence
(1) Subject to subsection (2A), if the Commission, the Chairperson or a Deputy Chairperson has reason to believe that a person is capable of furnishing information, producing documents or giving evidence relating to a matter that constitutes, or may constitute, a contravention of this Act … a member of the Commission may, by notice in writing served on that person, require that person:
(a) to furnish to the Commission, by writing signed by that person or, in the case of a body corporate, by a competent officer of the body corporate, within the time and in the manner specified in the notice, any such information;
(b) to produce to the Commission, or to a person specified in the notice acting on its behalf, in accordance with the notice, any such documents; or
(c) to appear before the Commission, or before a member of the staff assisting the Commission who is an SES employee or an acting SES employee and who is specified in the notice, at a time and place specified in the notice to give any such evidence, either orally or in writing, and produce any such documents.
…
(5) A person shall not:
(a) refuse or fail to comply with a notice under this section;
(b) in purported compliance with such a notice, knowingly furnish information or give evidence that is false or misleading.
(5A) Paragraph (5)(a) does not apply to the extent that the person is not capable of complying with the notice.
(6A) A person who contravenes subsection (5) is guilty of an offence punishable on conviction by a fine not exceeding 20 penalty units or imprisonment for 12 months.
Note 1: Chapter 2 of the Criminal Code sets out the general principles of criminal responsibility.
Note 2: Part IA of the Crimes Act 1914 contains provisions dealing with penalties.
15 Neither of subs 2A (see the stem to subsection (1) above), nor subs 5A (above), has been raised as an issue in this proceeding.
16 As indicated by Note 1 to s 155(6A) (see above), Chapter 2 of the Code sets out all the general principles of criminal responsibility that apply to an offence against the laws of the Commonwealth (see s 2.1 of the Code). Section 3.1 in Pt 2.2 of the Code sets out the elements of an offence, as follows:
3.1 Elements
(1) An offence consists of physical elements and fault elements.
(2) However, the law that creates the offence may provide that there is no fault element for one or more physical elements.
(3) The law that creates the offence may provide different fault elements for different physical elements.
(Emphasis in original)
17 The physical elements of an offence referred to in s 3.1(1) are described in s 4.1(1) of the Code, as follows:
(1) A physical element of an offence may be:
(a) conduct; or
(b) a result of conduct; or
(c) a circumstance in which conduct, or a result of conduct, occurs.
(Emphasis in original)
18 The word "conduct" in s 4.1(1)(a) is defined in s 4.1(2) of the Code as: "an act, an omission to perform an act or a state of affairs".
19 Given that the charge against Mr Davies relates to the failure of NFV to comply with the notice, it therefore constitutes conduct in the form of "an omission to perform an act". That being so, s 4.3 of the Code is of some importance in this proceeding. It provides:
An omission to perform an act can only be a physical element if:
(a) the law creating the offence makes it so; or
(b) the law creating the offence impliedly provides that the offence is committed by an omission to perform an act that there is a duty to perform by a law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory, or at common law.
20 In Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) v Poniatowska (2011) 244 CLR 408; [2011] HCA 43, the High Court considered the meaning of the above provision of the Code. With respect to it, the Court observed (at [33]) that there were many Commonwealth statutes which made it an offence to fail to do an act. It gave examples (at [33]) which included s 74 of the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 (Cth) ("a person must not refuse or fail to comply with a notice under [various sections]"), ss 77CA and 267B of the Bankruptcy Act 1966 (Cth) ("a person must not refuse or fail to comply with a notice given to the person under … s 77CA") and the failure to answer questions or documents under s 135C of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) ("a person commits an offence if (1) the person is subject to a requirement under s 135B(2); and (2) that person fails to comply with the requirement"). Section 155(5) of the Trade Practices clearly falls within this ambit: see also Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) v Keating (2013) 248 CLR 459; [2013] HCA 20.
21 Insofar as it relates to a failure to comply with a notice issued under s 155(1), s 155(5) of the TPA makes an omission to perform that act the gravamen of the offence created by it. This brings it within the terms of s 4.3(a) of the Code.
22 The fault elements of an offence (the second set of elements referred to in s 3.1(1) of the Code) are set out in Div 5 of Pt 2.2 of the Code. Section 5.1 provides:
(1) A fault element for a particular physical element may be intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence.
(2) Subsection (1) does not prevent a law that creates a particular offence from specifying other fault elements for a physical element of that offence.
(Emphasis in original)
23 What constitutes intention, knowledge, recklessness and negligence within the terms of s 5.1(1) above is illuminated in ss 5.2, 5.3, 5.4 and 5.5 respectively. However, to establish which of these fault elements applies in the present case, it is necessary to go to s 5.6 of the Code. It provides:
5.6 Offences that do not specify fault elements
(1) If the law creating the offence does not specify a fault element for a physical element that consists only of conduct, intention is the fault element for that physical element.
(2) If the law creating the offence does not specify a fault element for a physical element that consists of a circumstance or a result, recklessness is the fault element for that physical element.
Note: Under subsection 5.4(4), recklessness can be established by proving intention, knowledge or recklessness.
(Emphasis in original)
24 Since s 155(5) of the TPA does not specify a fault element and, for the reasons given above, an omission to perform an act is conduct as defined in s 4.1(1)(a), it follows from s 5.6(1) above that the fault element for the offence under s 155(5) of the TPA is intention.
25 With respect to conduct, s 5.2(1) of the Code provides that: "A person has intention with respect to conduct if he or she means to engage in that conduct."
26 Since Mr Davies has been charged with complicity in the commission of an offence by NFV, the provisions of s 11.2 of the Code, dealing with complicity and common purpose, are also significant in this proceeding. That section appears in Pt 2.4 of the Code under the heading: "Extensions of criminal responsibility". The other operative provisions of that Part deal with "Attempt" (s 11.1); "Joint commission" (s 11.2A); "Commission by proxy" (s 11.3); "Incitement" (s 11.4); and "Conspiracy" (s 11.5).
27 Section 11.2 relevantly provides:
11.2 Complicity and common purpose
(1) A person who aids, abets, counsels or procures the commission of an offence by another person is taken to have committed that offence and is punishable accordingly.
(2) For the person to be guilty:
(a) the person's conduct must have in fact aided, abetted, counselled or procured the commission of the offence by the other person; and
(b) the offence must have been committed by the other person.
(3) For the person to be guilty, the person must have intended that:
(a) his or her conduct would aid, abet, counsel or procure the commission of any offence (including its fault elements) of the type the other person committed; or
(b) his or her conduct would aid, abet, counsel or procure the commission of an offence and have been reckless about the commission of the offence (including its fault elements) that the other person in fact committed.
(Emphasis in original)
28 A number of aspects of this provision requires comment. First, unlike the provisions of ss 11.1 (Attempt), 11.4 (Incitement) and 11.5 (Conspiracy), s 11.2 does not create a separate offence. Rather, it "states a way in which a person may commit an offence, even though not falling within the terms of s 3.2 of the Code": see R v Kaldor (2004) 150 A Crim R 271; [2004] NSWCCA 425 (Kaldor) at [77] per Howie J, Dunford J agreeing. As Howie J went on to observe, this distinction is made clear by the provisions of s 11.6(1) of the Code and the note beneath it: see Kaldor at [78]-[79]. Section 11.2 therefore provides an extension of criminal liability for the offence of the principal offender, if a person aids, abets, counsels or procures that offender in the commission of that offence.
29 Secondly, the words "aids, abets, counsels or procures" are not defined in the Code and therefore have been held to have "their established legal meaning": see Handlen v The Queen (2011) 245 CLR 282; [2011] HCA 51 (Handlen) at [6]. That is: "[e]ach is used to convey the concept of conduct that brings about or makes more likely the commission of an offence": see Handlen at [6], referring to Giorgianni v The Queen (1985) 156 CLR 473 per Mason J, citing Cussen A-CJ in R v Russell [1933] VLR 59 at 67 and also J C Smith, "Aid, Abet, Counsel, or Procure", in Glazebrook (ed), Reshaping the Criminal Law (1978) p 120.
30 Thirdly, since s 11.2 of the Code is not "a law that creates an offence", it does not prescribe the elements of an offence within the meaning of Pt 2.2 of the Code: see s 3.2. Rather, it provides a set of statutory conditions which must be proved beyond reasonable doubt before a person can be found to have committed the principal offence: see R v LK (2010) 241 CLR 177; [2010] HCA 17 (LK) at [131]-[133]. While the decision in LK was directed to the provisions of s 11.5 of the Code, putting aside s 11.5(1), which does create an offence, the provisions of ss 11.5(2) to 11.5(8) describe a set of statutory conditions similar to those in ss 11.2(2) to 11.2(7). It follows that the reasoning in LK is equally applicable to the latter provisions.
31 Fourthly, while s 11.2(3)(b) of the Code provides that a person can have the requisite intention through recklessness, that provision applies to common purpose rather than complicity and it therefore has no application in this proceeding: see Re Pong Su (No 12) (2005) 159 A Crim R 300; [2005] VSC 32 at [47] per Kellan J and Ansari v R (2007) 70 NSWLR 89; [2007] NSWCCA 204 at [80] per Howie J.
32 The other provisions of the Code that are important in this case are those set out in Pt 2.5. They prescribe the means by which the elements of an offence can be established against a corporate body. In essence, they provide that the physical elements of an offence committed by the relevant individuals within a corporate body acting within their actual or apparent employment or authority are attributed to the corporate body: see s 12.2 of the Code. Further, s 12.3 relevantly provides that, where intention is the apposite fault element of an offence, that element will be attributed to the body corporate if it is proved that: "a high managerial agent of the body corporate intentionally … engaged in the relevant conduct, or expressly, tacitly or impliedly authorised or permitted the commission of the offence": see s 12.3(2)(b). The expression "high managerial agent" is defined in s 12.3(6) to mean, among other things, an "officer of the body corporate".
33 Notwithstanding these provisions, it is important to record that, for the purposes of s 11.2 of the Code, a corporate body and its directors are still treated as separate legal persons with the consequence that a director can aid and abet the commission of an offence by the company: see R v Jo (2012) 273 FLR 437; [2012] QCA 356 at [31]-[36] per Fraser JA, applying Hamilton v Whitehead (1988) 166 CLR 121 at 128, where Mason CJ, Wilson and Toohey JJ expressed agreement with R v Goodall (1975) 11 SASR 94 at 101 per Bray CJ.
34 Finally, the legal burden of proof on the prosecution must be discharged beyond reasonable doubt: see s 13.2 of the Code.
35 Accordingly, the statutory conditions the Commission must prove beyond reasonable doubt in this matter are:
(a) NFV committed an offence against s 155(5)(a) of the TPA by failing to comply with the notice under s 155(1) of the TPA: as per s 11.2(2)(b) of the Code;
(b) Mr Davies in fact aided, abetted, counselled or procured the commission of that offence by the NFV: as per s 11.2(2)(a) of the Code; and
(c) Mr Davies intended that his conduct would aid, abet, counsel or procure the commission of the offence by NFV: as per s 11.2(3)(a) of the Code.
36 With regard to (a) above, the Commission must show that NFV committed the physical element of the offence (see at [21] above) and the fault element of intention (see at [24] above).
37 With regard to (b) above, the Commission must show that Mr Davies' conduct brought about or made more likely the commission of the offence by NFV (see at [29] above).
38 And finally, in relation to (c) above, the Commission must show that Mr Davies meant to engage in the conduct that aided, abetted, counselled or procured the commission of the offence by NFV (see at [25] above).