291Authorisation of persons to be authorised officers

291  Authorisation of persons to be authorised officers

Commonwealth authorised officers and State or Territory authorised officers

 (1) The Secretary may, in writing, authorise a person, or each person in a class of persons, to be an authorised officer under this Act if:

 (a) the person, or each person in the class of persons, is an officer or employee of a Commonwealth body; or

 (b) the person, or each person in the class of persons, is an officer or employee of a State or Territory body.

 (2) The Secretary must not authorise an officer or employee of a State or Territory body to be an authorised officer unless an arrangement is in force under section 294 in relation to:

 (a) the officer or employee; or

 (b) a class of persons that includes the officer or employee.

Third party authorised officers

 (3) A person who is not an officer or employee of a Commonwealth body or a State or Territory body may apply to the Secretary to be a third party authorised officer.

Requirements for applications

 (4) An application under subsection (3) must:

Note: A person may commit an offence or be liable to a civil penalty if the person makes a false or misleading statement in an application or provides false or misleading information or documents (see sections 136.1, 137.1 and 137.2 of the Criminal Code and sections 367, 368 and 369 of this Act).

 (5) An application is taken not to have been made if the application does not comply with the requirements referred to in subsection (4).

Secretary must decide whether to authorise person to be third party authorised officer

 (6) On receiving an application from a person made under subsection (3), the Secretary must decide:

 (a) to authorise the person to be a third party authorised officer; or

 (b) to refuse to authorise the person to be a third party authorised officer.

Note: A decision to refuse to authorise the person to be a third party authorised officer is a reviewable decision (see Part 2 of Chapter 11) and the Secretary must give the person written notice of the decision (see section 382).

 (7) The Secretary may, in writing, authorise a person to be a third party authorised officer if:

 (a) the person has made an application under subsection (3); and

 (b) the person has given the Secretary a written notice stating:

 (i) the interests, pecuniary or otherwise, of the person that conflict or could conflict with the proper performance of functions or exercise of powers by the person as an authorised officer; or

 (ii) if the person has no such interests—that fact; and