47False or misleading documents

47 False or misleading documents

(1) A person is liable to a civil penalty if: (a) the person produces a document to an official of the Office; and (b) the person does so knowing that the document: (i) is false or misleading in a material particular; or (ii) omits any matter or thing without which the information or document is misleading in a material particular; and (c) the document is produced in compliance or purported compliance with a notice under subsection 44(2).

Civil penalty: 100 penalty units.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if the document is accompanied by a written statement signed by the person or, in the case of a body corporate, by a competent officer of the body corporate: (a) stating that the document is, to the knowledge of the first‑mentioned person, false or misleading in a material particular; and (b) setting out, or referring to, the material particular in which the document is, to the knowledge of the first‑mentioned person, false or misleading.

Note: A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matter in this subsection (see section 96 of the Regulatory Powers Act).