39Offence—making an unauthorised recording or transmission on court premises

39 Offence—making an unauthorised recording or transmission on court premises

(1) A person in a building that is wholly court premises, or on court premises that are merely part of a building, must not make a recording or transmission of sound, or of one or more still or moving images, associated with: (a) proceedings in a court; or (b) an event associated with proceedings or proposed proceedings in a court.

Penalty: 30 penalty units.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to any of the following: (a) a recording or transmission expressly permitted by a member of the court; (b) a recording or transmission associated with an event described in paragraph (1)(b) and expressly permitted by the administrative head of the court; (c) a recording or transmission that relates to an event that occurs in a part of the building other than a room where the court is sitting, and is expressly permitted by the administrative head of the court; (d) a recording or transmission connected with official surveillance of the court premises for enhancing the security of the premises or persons on them; (e) a recording or transmission by a person for the purpose of preparing an official transcript of court proceedings; (f) a recording or transmission in the course of the operation of a hearing aid; (g) a recording or transmission by a lawyer of the lawyer’s own voice in a part of the building other than a room where a court is sitting; (h) a recording or transmission prescribed by the regulations.

Note: A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matter in subsection (2): see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code.

(3) It is a defence to a prosecution of an offence against subsection (1) for the making of a recording that the person: (a) as soon as practicable after realising he or she contravened that subsection, either: (i) destroyed the recording and all copies (if any) of the recording; or (ii) gave the recording and all copies (if any) of it to a security officer or an authorised court officer and permitted a security officer, authorised court officer or police officer to destroy the recording and copies; and (b) did not give the recording or a copy of it to another person before taking the action described in subparagraph (a)(i) or (ii).

Note: A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matter in subsection (3): see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code.