69HExemptions from liability for damages

#### 69H Exemptions from liability for damages (1) Subject to subsection (3), no action, suit or other proceeding for damages lies against the Commonwealth, the APVMA, or any other Commonwealth authority, or a person who is or has been an officer or employee of the Commonwealth, of the APVMA or of any other Commonwealth authority, or is or has been a delegate of the APVMA, a director of the APVMA, a consultant to the APVMA, an inspector, or a mediator or arbitrator appointed by the APVMA under any of the Agvet Codes, for any loss or injury directly or indirectly suffered as a result of: (a) the handling of an approved active constituent for a proposed or existing chemical product; or (b) the handling of a registered chemical product or a reserved chemical product; or (c) the handling of an active constituent for a proposed or existing chemical product, or of a chemical product, in respect of which a permit or exemption has been issued or given by the APVMA; or (d) an inability to use, or to use in a particular manner, an active constituent for a proposed or existing chemical product: (i) because an approval, permit or exemption permitting its use, or permitting its use in that manner, has been refused by the APVMA or such an approval, permit or exemption that was previously granted by the APVMA has been suspended or cancelled; or (ii) because its use, or its use in that manner, is precluded by the conditions of an approval, permit or exemption; or (e) an inability to use, or to use in a particular manner, a chemical product: (i) because a registration, permit or exemption permitting its use, or permitting its use in that manner, has been refused by the APVMA or such a registration, permit or exemption that was previously granted by the APVMA has been suspended or cancelled; or (ii) because its use, or its use in that manner, is precluded by the conditions of a registration, permit or exemption; or (f) the carrying out of a step in the manufacture of a chemical product in respect of which a licence has been issued by the APVMA; or (g) an inability to carry out, or to carry out in a particular manner or at particular premises, a step in the manufacture of a chemical product: (i) because a licence to carry out that step, or to carry out that step in that manner or at those premises, has been refused by the APVMA or such a licence that was previously granted by the APVMA has been suspended or cancelled; or (ii) because the carrying out of that step, or the carrying out of that step in that manner or at those premises, is precluded by the conditions of a licence. (2) If an action, suit or other proceeding is brought against a person responsible for the importation, manufacture, supply or handling of: (a) an approved active constituent for a proposed or existing chemical product; or (b) a registered chemical product; or (c) an active constituent for a proposed or existing chemical product, or a chemical product, in respect of which the APVMA has issued a permit or given an exemption; or (d) a chemical product in respect of a step in the manufacture of which the APVMA has issued a licence; in relation to any loss or injury directly or indirectly suffered because of the importation, manufacture, supply or handling of the constituent or product, it is not a defence to that action, suit or other proceeding that the APVMA had approved the constituent, registered the product, issued a permit or given an exemption in relation to the constituent or the product, or issued a licence in relation to a step in the manufacture of the product. (3) This section does not affect section 148 of Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, as that section applies as a law of the Commonwealth. (4) Expressions used in this section have the same meanings as in the Code set out in the Schedule to the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code Act 1994.