44Secrecy

44 Secrecy

(1)  This section applies to –

(a) the CEO; and

(b) a member of the Board; and

(c) a member of the staff of the ACC; and

(d) an examiner.

(2)  A person to whom this section applies who, either directly or indirectly, except for the purposes of a relevant Act or otherwise in connection with the performance of his or her functions under a relevant Act, and either while he or she is or after he or she ceases to be a person to whom this section applies –

(a) makes a record of any information; or

(b) divulges or communicates to any person any information –

being information acquired by him or her by reason of, or in the course of, the performance of his or her functions under this Act, is guilty of an offence punishable on conviction by a fine not exceeding 50 penalty units or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or both.

(3)  A person to whom this section applies cannot be required to produce in any court any document that has come into his or her custody or control in the course of, or by reason of, the performance of his or her functions under this Act, or to divulge or communicate to a court a matter or thing that has come to his or her notice in the performance of those functions, except where the ACC, or the CEO, the acting CEO, a member of the Board or an examiner in his or her official capacity, is a party to the relevant proceeding or it is necessary to do so –

(a) for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of a relevant Act; or

(b) for the purposes of a prosecution instituted as a result of an operation or investigation carried out by the ACC in the performance of its functions.

(4)  In this section –

court includes any tribunal, authority or person having power to require the production of documents or the answering of questions;

member of the staff of the ACC means –