133Advertising

133 Advertising

133 Advertising

(1) A person must not advertise a regulated health service, or a business that provides a regulated health service, in a way that—

(a) is false, misleading or deceptive or is likely to be misleading or deceptive; or

(b) offers a gift, discount or other inducement to attract a person to use the service or the business, unless the advertisement also states the terms and conditions of the offer; or

(c) uses testimonials or purported testimonials about the service or business; or

(d) creates an unreasonable expectation of beneficial treatment; or

(e) directly or indirectly encourages the indiscriminate or unnecessary use of regulated health services.

Maximum penalty—

(a) in the case of an individual—$60,000; or

(b) in the case of a body corporate—$120,000.

(2) A person does not commit an offence against subsection (1) merely because the person, as part of the person’s business, prints or publishes an advertisement for another person.

(3) In proceedings for an offence against this section, a court may have regard to a guideline approved by a National Board about the advertising of regulated health services.

(4) In this section—

regulated health service means a service provided by, or usually provided by, a health practitioner.

s 133: Am 2022 No 22, sec 85.