45Offences relating to investigations and inspections

#### 45 Offences relating to investigations and inspections 45 Offences relating to investigations and inspections > > (1) A person must not— > > > > > (a) without reasonable excuse, refuse or fail to comply with any requirement made, or to answer any question asked, by an authorised officer under this Act or the regulations, or > > > > > (b) provide information or give evidence in purported compliance with a requirement made or question asked by an authorised officer under this Act or the regulations knowing the information or evidence to be false or misleading in a material particular, or > > > > > (c) intentionally delay or obstruct an authorised officer in the exercise of the officer’s functions under this Act or the regulations, or > > > > > (d) falsely represent himself or herself to be an authorised officer. > > > > Maximum penalty—500 penalty units in the case of a corporation and 150 penalty units in the case of an individual. > > > > Note— > > > > Sections 50 and 52 contain specific offences relating to notices issued and labels affixed by authorised officers under those sections. > > > (2) If an authorised officer makes a requirement under section 54 (2) (b), of a person who appears to the officer to be doing electrical wiring work or gasfitting work, that person is not guilty of the offence of failing to comply with that requirement if it is proved that the person was not actually doing the electrical wiring work or gasfitting work. > > > (3) It is a sufficient defence to a prosecution for an offence arising under subsection (1) (a) because of the failure of a defendant to answer a question asked by an authorised officer under a power conferred by this Act or the regulations if the defendant satisfies the court that the defendant did not know, and could not with reasonable diligence ascertain, the answer to the question. > > > (4) A person cannot be prosecuted for both an offence against this section and an offence against section 23 (Obstruction etc of employees) of the [Fair Trading Act 1987](/view/html/inforce/current/act-1987-068) in relation to the same act or omission. > > > (5) A person is not guilty of an offence of failing to comply with a requirement under this section to provide documents or information or to answer a question unless the person was warned on that occasion that a failure to comply is an offence.