4Simplified outline of this Act11

4 Simplified outline of this Act11 The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission is continued in12 existence by this Act. The ACIC consists of the Director-General,13 the examiners and ACIC staff members.14 The ACIC has the function of obtaining intelligence relevant to15 serious and organised crime and communicating that intelligence to16 combat such crime. It also has several other functions, such as17 providing nationally coordinated criminal history check services18 and making criminal intelligence assessments.19 If the Minister has issued an authorisation that identifies serious20 and organised crime, an examiner may, for the purposes of21 obtaining intelligence relevant to the serious and organised crime:22 (a) require a person to give information, or produce a23 document or thing, by giving the person a notice to24 produce; or25 (b) conduct an examination and summon a person to attend26 the examination.27 The Attorney-General may authorise a controlled intelligence28 operation. A participant in a controlled intelligence operation is29 authorised to engage in certain kinds of unlawful conduct and is30 not subject to criminal or civil liability for this conduct.31

4 Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission Bill 2026 No. , 2026 The Attorney-General may issue search warrants authorising the1 ACIC to search certain premises, persons, things or conveyances2 for relevant documents and things, and to do other related things.3 The Attorney-General may make assistance orders requiring a4 person to give information or assistance to allow the ACIC to5 access and use data held in, or accessible from, a computer or data6 storage device found during the execution of a search warrant.7 The ACIC is the administrator of the national policing information8 system and has specific functions in relation to the system.9 The Director-General may approve a person or body as an10 accredited body for the purposes of requesting and receiving11 nationally coordinated criminal history check services on behalf of12 consenting applicants.13 The ACIC may make a criminal intelligence assessment in respect14 of a person for the purposes of a background check required or15 permitted under other legislation.16 The ACIC may communicate information or deal with records17 related to ACIC’s functions (known as ACIC information and18 ACIC records) in certain circumstances. There are offences for19 unauthorised communication or recording of ACIC information, or20 dealing with ACIC records, by entrusted persons. Search warrant21 items and produced items (known as returnable items) may be used22 and shared in certain circumstances.23 The Director-General and examiners are appointed by the24 Governor-General. The staff of the ACIC must be persons engaged25 under the Public Service Act 1999. The Director-General may also26 engage consultants. Persons may be seconded to or from the ACIC.27 The Director-General must comply with recordkeeping and28 reporting requirements. The Minister must cause periodic reviews29 to be undertaken of this Act and the rules.30