Magistrates Court (Dangerous Substances Infringement Notices) Regulation 2004

The regulation rests on a small number of structural concepts that determine how it operates and who makes operational decisions.

Infringement-notice regime (Magistrates Court Act 1930, pt 3.8): The regulation brings specified dangerous-substance offences within the Magistrates Court Act 1930, part 3.8 (s 7). The instrument notes that the infringement-notice system is intended to provide an alternative to prosecution (s 3 note). The practical effect is that the listed offences may be finalised administratively by payment of the stated infringement amount in schedule 1 column 4 instead of court proceedings, subject to the procedural rules and rights contained in the Magistrates Court Act and related procedures.

Dangerous substances legislation defined: The regulation specifies that “dangerous substances legislation” comprises three instruments: the Dangerous Substances Act 2004, the Dangerous Substances (Explosives) Regulation 2004 and the Dangerous Substances (General) Regulation 2004 (s 5). The schedule mirrors that classification by grouping infringement offences by instrument.

Administering authority: The director-general for the Dangerous Substances Act 2004 is the administering authority for an infringement-notice offence under the dangerous substances legislation (s 6). This gives the director-general an operational role. The regulation explicitly contemplates that the administering authority provides unique numbers to inspectors for identification on notices (ss 10(b)(ii), 11(b)(ii)). That allocates responsibility for inspector identification procedures to the director-general.

Authorised enforcement agents: The regulation empowers inspectors appointed under s 207(1)(b) of the Dangerous Substances Act 2004 to serve infringement notices and reminder notices (s 12). The Dangerous Substances Act s 207 also makes police officers and public servants appointed under s 207(2) inspectors; the regulation includes that point in a note to s 12. For identification the regulation requires that notices served by police identify the police officer by service number and notices served by inspectors identify the inspector by full name or surname and initials, or by any unique number the administering authority gives to the authorised person for the regulation (ss 10-11).

Fixed infringement amounts and penalty structure: The schedule sets infringement-notice penalty dollar amounts (column 4) corresponding to listed offences. Section 8(1) makes the schedule column 4 amounts the amount payable by individuals. Section 8(2) applies a corporate multiplier of five to that amount for corporations. Schedule column 3 reproduces the standard offence penalty expressed in penalty units for each listed offence, which interacts with penalty-unit valuations in other legislation; the republished law states that at the republication date the value of a penalty unit for an offence against this law is $150 for an individual and $750 for a corporation (endnote to the front matter).

Content and traceability requirements: The regulation prescribes content for infringement notices and reminder notices beyond the baseline requirements in the Magistrates Court Act (s 9 note). It requires inclusion of a company’s ACN when the recipient is a company (s 9(1)). It requires identifying who served the notice, either by police service number or by inspector name/unique number (ss 10-11). Those provisions create a record-traceability mechanism for notices.

Administrative cost for reminders: Section 8(3) fixes the cost of serving a reminder notice as $34. That is a discrete administrative charge the instrument authorises.

Schedule-based targeting of offences: Rather than making entire Parts or sections of the dangerous substances legislation eligible for infringement settlement, the regulation specifies particular provisions in schedule 1. The schedule therefore channels infringement-notice use to a predefined set of offences in the Dangerous Substances Act and subordinate regulations.

Amendability and editorial changes: The republished instrument records amendments and editorial changes over time (endnotes 3 and 4). The regulation has been amended multiple times to add provisions, change administrative responsibilities and refresh the schedule. The presence of editorial amendment notes (Legislation Act 2001, part 11.3) should be borne in mind when consulting past or current versions.

These concepts together shape incentives: inspectors and police can decide to issue an infringement or a reminder; an administratively fixed cost regime for many offences creates a predictable commercial penalty; corporations face a multiplier; and the administering authority holds responsibility for inspector identification and operational oversight.

Directly affected parties

• Persons who would otherwise contravene a listed provision in the Dangerous Substances Act 2004 or in the Dangerous Substances (Explosives) Regulation 2004 or the Dangerous Substances (General) Regulation 2004 are directly affected because those specific offences are made eligible to be dealt with by infringement notice under the Magistrates Court Act 1930, part 3.8 (s 7; schedule 1). The schedule lists particular section references rather than broadly describing conduct, so the immediate effect applies only to persons who breach those referenced provisions.
• Corporations are treated differently from individuals: s 8(2) makes the infringement amount for a corporation five times the schedule 1, column 4 amount. Therefore corporate entities that commit one of the listed offences face a higher administrative penalty than an individual in the same circumstances.
• Companies registered under the Corporations Act are subject to a content-related requirement if the infringement notice is served on the company: the authorised person must include the company’s ACN on the notice (s 9(1)). That affects both companies receiving notices and authorised persons who serve them.

Enforcement agents and administrators

• Inspectors appointed under s 207(1)(b) of the Dangerous Substances Act 2004 are explicitly empowered by this regulation to serve infringement notices and reminder notices (s 12). The Dangerous Substances Act s 207 also includes police officers and public servants appointed under s 207(2) as inspectors, a point retained in the regulation’s own note to s 12.
• Police officers are authorised persons for the purposes of serving notices; the regulation requires that a police-served notice identify the officer’s service number (ss 10-11).
• The director-general for the Dangerous Substances Act 2004 is the administering authority for infringement-notice offences (s 6). The regulation assigns to that office the administrative responsibilities that flow under this instrument, including the power to give inspectors a unique number for identification on notices (ss 10(b)(ii), 11(b)(ii)).

Indirectly affected parties

• Businesses that work with dangerous substances, explosives, or activities regulated under the Dangerous Substances legislation are indirectly affected because a subset of regulatory breaches can be finalised by infringement notice, increasing the predictability and administrative resolution options for enforcement outcomes.
• Compliance professionals, legal advisers and insurers are affected because the scheme changes the enforcement pathway for the listed offences and alters cost calculus (fixed penalty amounts, corporate multiplier, and reminder charge).
• Records and administrative systems in industry need to support quick identification of company ACNs in the event of receipt of a notice, and to ensure timely responses to avoid reminder notices and the $34 service cost (s 9; s 8(3)).

Who decides

• The authorised person who serves the infringement notice decides at the front line whether to issue an infringement rather than commence prosecution. The regulation does not prescribe a threshold test in this text for that discretion; it simply provides that inspectors and police may serve notices (s 12) and prescribes the form of identification required when they do so (ss 10-11).
• The administering authority (director-general) will exercise administrative functions such as allocating unique numbers to inspectors for notice identification (ss 6, 10(b)(ii), 11(b)(ii)).

Costs imposed on the affected

• Individuals: the schedule sets fixed dollar amounts as the infringement penalty for the listed offences; those amounts are the individual rates that apply under s 8(1).
• Corporations: pay five times the individual amount under s 8(2).
• Persons who ignore or do not pay an infringement notice may be subject to a reminder notice with a $34 service cost (s 8(3)).

The regulation therefore reshapes the practical enforcement environment for a defined set of offences by specifying who can issue notices, what must be included in them, and how much will be payable, with a clear distinction between natural persons and corporate entities.

Duties imposed by the regulation

• Duty to include required content on infringement notices served on companies: An authorised person serving an infringement notice on a company must include the company’s ACN (s 9(1)). That is an express content duty placed on the authorised person in addition to the baseline requirement under the Magistrates Court Act 1930, s 121(1)(c) (noted in s 9).
• Duty to identify the authorised person on infringement notices and reminder notices: The regulation requires identification of the authorised person who served the notice as follows:
  • If the authorised person is a police officer, include the police officer’s service number (ss 10(a), 11(a)).
  • If the authorised person is an inspector under Dangerous Substances Act 2004, s 207(1)(b), the notice must identify the authorised person by either full name or surname and initials, or any unique number given to the authorised person by the administering authority for the purpose of this regulation (ss 10(b), 11(b)).
• Duty of administering authority to allocate unique numbers where used: The instrument contemplates that the administering authority (director-general) will provide unique numbers to inspectors for identification on notices (ss 6, 10(b)(ii), 11(b)(ii)). That creates an administrative duty on the director-general’s office to maintain and allocate such identifiers if the administering authority elects to use them.
• Duty on inspectors and police to follow identification standards when serving reminder notices: The same identification rules in ss 10 and 11 apply to reminder notices.

Rights and procedural entitlements apparent from the instrument

• Right to administrative disposal of certain offences by way of infringement notice: By bringing listed offences within the Magistrates Court Act pt 3.8, the regulation affords persons subject to those offences the option that the matter may be finalised by payment of a stated infringement amount instead of prosecution. The instrument itself describes the infringement-notice system as “an alternative to prosecution” (s 3 note). The precise procedural opportunities and rights to contest an infringement notice are governed by the Magistrates Court Act 1930, part 3.8 and its procedures rather than by this regulation; this instrument’s role is to designate the applicable offences and prescribe the notice content and amounts.
• Right to identifiable information about the authorised person who served the notice: The regulation requires display of police service number or inspector name/unique number on an infringement notice and on any reminder notice (ss 10-11). That provides a transparency and traceability right for recipients who wish to check or challenge the validity of a notice.
• Right to be charged the defined amounts only: The regulation fixes infringement-notice amounts in dollars for individuals (schedule 1, column 4, applied by s 8(1)), sets the corporate multiplier (s 8(2)), and fixes the reminder cost (s 8(3)). That confines the enforceable administrative sum to those statutory amounts in the context of an infringement notice.

Operational duties created by the schedule

• Duty on authorised persons to apply the proper infringement amount from schedule 1 column 4 to the listed offence when issuing a notice (s 8(1)). For corporations, the authorised person must apply the 5x multiplier that s 8(2) prescribes.
• Duty on agencies to maintain records and processes that support inclusion of required information (company ACNs, police service number, inspector name or unique number).

Implications for regulators and recipients

• The regulation places an administrative obligation on inspectors and police to include specific identifying information on notices and, for companies, to ensure the ACN is shown. Failure to meet those content obligations could affect procedural validity under the Magistrates Court Act, which sets baseline content requirements for notices (s 9 note refers to Magistrates Court Act s 121(1)(c)).
• The administering authority (director-general) has de facto duties to manage the identification scheme for inspectors if it chooses to allocate unique numbers under ss 10-11.

The instrument therefore operates largely as a prescriptive procedural regime: it fixes amounts, prescribes content and identification rules, allocates administrative roles, and brings a defined set of offences into the infringement-notice pathway, while the detailed procedural rights and contestation routes remain within the Magistrates Court Act’s part 3.8 framework.

Penalty architecture established by the regulation

• Direct infringement amounts for individuals: Section 8(1) makes the amount in schedule 1, column 4 the infringement notice penalty payable by an individual. Schedule 1 sets those amounts in dollars for each listed offence. Examples include $400 for many Dangerous Substances Act offences listed in Part 1.1 (items 1-10), $200 or $100 for some other items, and $20 for item 13 (208(3)) in Part 1.1 (schedule). In the Explosives Regulation entries (Part 1.2) many items attract a $600 infringement amount in column 4, with other items at $400 or $200. Part 1.3 (General Regulation) entries include $600, $400 and $200 amounts as set out in the schedule.
• Corporate multiplier: Section 8(2) prescribes that the penalty payable by a corporation under an infringement notice is five times the amount in schedule 1, column 4 for the offence. That is a fixed statutory uplift for corporations compared with the individual rate.
• Reminder notice cost: Section 8(3) fixes the cost of serving a reminder notice for an infringement-notice offence against the dangerous substances legislation at $34. The regulation does not specify whether that amount is payable by the recipient as an addition to the infringement penalty; its placement under s 8 gives it statutory status as the cost for serving a reminder notice in the infringement system.

Relationship between penalty-unit figures and the infringement-dollar amounts

• Schedule 1 column 3 shows the standard offence penalty expressed in penalty units for each listed provision. Those penalty-unit figures are the maximum or prescribed penalties for the underlying offences within the dangerous substances legislation; they operate in the broader penalties architecture as established in the principal Acts and are not the amounts payable under the infringement notice regime.
• The republished instrument’s front matter notes the value of a penalty unit for an offence against this law at the republication date: $150 for an individual and $750 for a corporation (Legislation Act 2001, s 133). That note comments on penalty-unit valuations in general and is relevant when considering the penalty-unit figures in schedule 1 column 3, but the infringement-notice amounts charged under this regulation are the dollar amounts fixed in schedule 1 column 4 and adjusted for corporations by s 8(2).

Who enforces

• Inspectors under the Dangerous Substances Act 2004, s 207 (which includes police officers and public servants appointed under s 207(2)) may serve infringement notices and reminder notices (s 12 and note). Police officers may also serve notices as inspectors; the regulation requires that notices served by police must identify the officer by police service number (ss 10-11).
• The administering authority is the director-general for the Dangerous Substances Act 2004 (s 6). Operational enforcement, such as allocating unique numbers for inspectors and maintaining identification systems, falls within the administrative responsibilities implied by ss 6, 10 and 11.

Enforcement discretion and practical operation

• The regulation gives authorised persons the capacity to exercise frontline discretion whether to issue an infringement notice rather than pursue prosecution. The instrument does not specify thresholds or internal criteria for exercising that discretion; the decision rests with the authorised person in the framework that the Magistrates Court Act pt 3.8 provides.
• The content requirements in ss 9-11 are enforceable duties on authorised persons when serving a notice. The requirement to identify the server (by police service number, inspector name, or unique number) and to include a company’s ACN where relevant creates a traceable enforcement record. That has implications for internal agency record keeping and for the recipient’s ability to query the validity of a notice.

Consequences for non-payment and reminder notices

• The fixed reminder cost in s 8(3) means that an administrative surcharge is statutorily authorised for a reminder notice. The instrument does not itself describe the subsequent procedural steps after a reminder, which are governed by the Magistrates Court Act pt 3.8 and related procedures; however the statutory $34 figure is the cost authorised for serving a reminder notice.

Scope and limits of enforcement under this regulation

• The regulation applies only to those offences enumerated in schedule 1. Other offences in the Dangerous Substances Act or its regulations that are not listed remain outside the infringement-notice pathway created by this instrument and may only be prosecuted or otherwise dealt with under the general enforcement framework of the principal instruments.
• The regulation fixes the infringement amounts and identification requirements but does not amend the substantive offence provisions themselves, which remain in the Dangerous Substances Act and regulations. Any change to underlying liability, defences, or the wording of those offences must be effected in the principal instruments.

In short, enforcement under this instrument is an administrative, notice-based pathway to resolve specific statutory breaches by payment of fixed amounts; it prescribes identification and company ACN content requirements, attaches a statutory reminder cost and applies a corporate multiplier.

Principal interaction: Magistrates Court Act 1930, part 3.8

• The regulation operates by applying the Magistrates Court Act 1930, part 3.8 to the specific offences listed in schedule 1 (s 7). That part of the Magistrates Court Act provides the legal framework for issuing infringement notices and the procedures for payment, lodgement of objections, reminders and potential prosecution if not resolved. This regulation specifies the offences to which that procedural pathway applies and the monetary amounts for infringement notices.

Dangerous Substances Act 2004 and subordinate instruments

• The regulation defines “dangerous substances legislation” to include the Dangerous Substances Act 2004 and the two regulations named (s 5). Schedule 1 then identifies specific provisions within those instruments that are moved into the infringement-notice regime. The substantive offences, defences, licence frameworks and ongoing regulatory obligations remain within the principal Acts and regulations; this regulation modifies only the enforcement pathway (infringement vs prosecution) for particular provisions.

Corporations Act connection

• The regulation’s definition in s 9(2) of “company” refers to a company registered under the Corporations Act. The requirement in s 9(1) that an infringement notice served on a company must include the company’s ACN therefore relies on the Corporations Act registration scheme for company identity.

Legislation Act 2001 (penalty units and editorial changes)

• The republished law notes at the front that the value of a penalty unit for an offence against this regulation is $150 for an individual and $750 for a corporation per Legislation Act 2001, s 133. The regulation itself reproduces offence penalties in penalty units in schedule 1, column 3, and those penalty-unit figures are interpreted against the Legislation Act’s rules on penalty-unit values and corporate multipliers. Additionally the Legislation Act provisions authorising editorial amendments and formal changes to the republication are invoked in the instrument’s endnotes and editorial-notes provisions.

Inspector appointment and powers under the Dangerous Substances Act

• The regulation cross-references the Dangerous Substances Act 2004, s 207 for the appointment of inspectors and the fact that police officers and public servants appointed under s 207(2) are inspectors. Section 12 expressly states that an inspector may serve infringement notices and reminder notices. That means the inspector appointment and delegation scheme in the Dangerous Substances Act determines who, in practice, can exercise the enforcement functions under this regulation.

Magistrates Court Act content requirements

• Section 9 notes that the requirement to include a company ACN is additional to the requirement in the Magistrates Court Act 1930, s 121(1)(c). The Magistrates Court Act’s statutory content rules therefore remain the baseline; this regulation layers further content obligations on authorised persons for dangerous-substances infringement notices.

No express interaction with criminal-record or licensing consequences

• This regulation does not itself address collateral consequences such as licensing suspensions, employment implications, or the impact on criminal records. Those consequences will depend on how the principal legislation and other instruments treat an infringement notice outcome or an underlying proven offence. The regulation is silent on such collateral effects.

Temporal and amendment interactions

• The endnotes show successive amendments to this regulation and to the Dangerous Substances subordinate instruments that feed into schedule 1. Those historic and future amendments operate through the usual machinery of subordinate instruments and Acts; schedule 1 is therefore a snapshot of which sub-provisions were brought into the infringement-notice regime at the dates shown in the legislation history. Users should check the current versions of the Dangerous Substances Act and regulations as well as any subsequent amendments to this regulation to confirm present coverage.

In summary, this instrument operates as a procedural overlay on existing dangerous-substances instruments, using the Magistrates Court infringement-notice framework to create an administrative penalty path for listed offences, while otherwise leaving substantive law and penalties (expressed in penalty units) intact and subject to the standard operation of the principal Acts and the Legislation Act regime.

The regulation’s republication reproduces a history of amendments and provides pointers to where the schedule and individual sections have changed. The timeline below summarises the material amendments and the statutory instruments that made them, using the republished law’s endnotes 3 and 4.

Initial making and early changes

• SL2004-18 (Magistrates Court (Dangerous Substances Infringement Notices) Regulation 2004): Notified LR 4 June 2004; s 1, s 2 commenced 4 June 2004; remainder commenced 5 June 2004. This is the original instrument creating the infringement-notice regime for specified dangerous-substances provisions.

Subsequent amendments and additions

• SL2004-32 (Magistrates Court (Occupational Health and Safety Infringement Notices) Regulation 2004): Notified LR 4 August 2004. Section 13 of SL2004-32 amended content-identification provisions for notices; s 13 commenced 5 August 2004. The republished instrument records that ss 10 and 11 were amended by SL2004-32 (amendment history s 10 am SL2004-32 s 13; s 11 am SL2004-32 s 13).
• SL2005-24 (Magistrates Court (Dangerous Substances Infringement Notices) Amendment Regulation 2005 (No 1)): Notified LR 15 September 2005; remainder commenced 16 September 2005. This instrument made substantive schedule changes and amendments to ss 5, 10 and 11 and inserted Part 1.3 into the schedule (see amendment history: s 5 am SL2005-24 s 4, s 5; ss 10-11 sub SL2005-24 s 6; schedule amendments sl2005-24 s 7-9).
• SL2009-26 (Dangerous Substances (Explosives) Amendment Regulation 2009 (No 1)): Notified LR 2 June 2009; certain items renumbered and schedule Part 1.2 amended (s 13 commenced 3 June 2009). SL2009-43 (Dangerous Substances (Explosives) Amendment Regulation 2009 (No 2)): Notified LR 26 August 2009, with schedule renumberings at s 27 commenced 27 August 2009. These amendments updated the Explosives Regulation references captured in schedule 1, Part 1.2.
• A2011-22 (Administrative (One ACT Public Service Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2011): Notified LR 30 June 2011. Section 6 (administering authority) was amended by A2011-22 amdt 1.313 so that the director-general became the administering authority (amendment history s 6 am A2011-22 amdt 1.313). That reallocation in 2011 places operational responsibility with the director-general’s office.
• A2015-15 (Statute Law Amendment Act 2015): Notified LR 27 May 2015. Section 12 (authorised people for infringement notice offences) was amended (amdt 3.89, 3.90). Part 1.2 of schedule 1 was amended (A2015-15 amdt 3.91).
• A2018-8 (Work Health and Safety Legislation Amendment Act 2018): Notified LR 5 March 2018; certain schedule amendments commenced 29 March 2018. The republished version is effective 29 March 2018 (this republication date) and notes that schedule Part 1.3 (Dangerous Substances (General) Regulation 2004) was inserted by SL2005-24 and amended by A2018-8 amdt 1.21 (amendment history).

Editorial and republication notes

• The republished law notes that editorial changes under the Legislation Act 2001, part 11.3 have been made in certain republications and do not change the effect of the law but have been applied to bring the law into line with current drafting practice. The legislation history (endnote 3) and amendment history (endnote 4) annotate which sections were amended or substituted in each instrument.
• The republished instrument lists republications R1 through R9, showing effective dates and last amendment instruments for each republication (endnote 5). The current republication is R9 effective 29/03/18 with last amendment A2018-8.

Practical consequences of amendment history

• Schedule 1 has been the locus of most substantive adjustments, reflecting changes in the Dangerous Substances Act and subordinate regulations over time, and the need to synchronize the list of infringement-notice offences with current drafting and numbering of those principal instruments.
• Administrative responsibility and identification protocols have been tweaked over time: s 6 (administering authority) was moved to the director-general in 2011 (A2011-22) and ss 10-11 identification rules were updated early in the instrument’s life (SL2004-32 and SL2005-24).
• The 2015 and 2018 Acts amended the regulation to maintain alignment with broader work-health-and-safety and statute law changes.

Users should consult the legislation history and amendment history in the republished instrument when tracing when a particular offence was first made subject to the infringement-notice regime or when identification or administrative arrangements changed. The republished instrument records the amendment instruments and commencement dates so that a user can trace historical liability exposure and the date from which the infringement pathway applied to a particular provision.

The republished regulation does not record judicial decisions or litigation that interpret its provisions. The instrument’s endnotes and the body of the regulation contain legislative history, amendment history and notes about editorial amendments, but they do not list any cases or reported decisions concerning this regulation.

Implications for research and practice

• Absence of recorded litigation in the republication means that there is no jurisprudence referenced in the instrument itself construing the operation of these specific provisions (for example, appellate guidance on whether a particular identification requirement invalidates a notice, or contested matters about the corporate multiplier).
• Practitioners seeking case law must look beyond this instrument to the broader body of case law on the Magistrates Court Act 1930, part 3.8 procedures and on how infringement-notice regimes have been tested in other contexts. This regulation relies on the Magistrates Court Act framework; therefore reported decisions about part 3.8 from other statutory contexts may be relevant, but none are collected or cited in this instrument.
• Where factual disputes arise (for example, about sufficiency of identity on a notice, the legitimacy of inspector appointment, or the interplay between the notice and an underlying licence or prohibition), the procedural avenue for contesting an infringement notice is the Magistrates Court Act 1930 framework. Litigation risk exists where an affected person believes the notice was invalidly served or that an inspector lacked authority. Those disputes would be resolved under the Magistrates Court Act procedures and the normal judicial review and administrative law apparatus if relevant.

Because the regulation itself does not supply litigation references, users should perform targeted legal research for decisions dealing with Magistrates Court infringement-notice validity, content requirements in notices, identification sufficiency and the consequences of corporate multipliers, and should cross-check any contested enforcement action against both the Dangerous Substances Act appointment provisions (s 207) and the Magistrates Court Act procedural rules.

A number of concrete traps and operational pitfalls appear in the text of the regulation; they are matters for attention by enforcement agencies, regulated entities, compliance advisers and legal teams.

1. Corporate multiplier may be overlooked

   • The amounts in schedule 1 column 4 are the infringement-notice penalties payable by an individual (s 8(1)). Section 8(2) multiplies that amount by five for corporations. If a private actor or compliance team assumes schedule amounts are the corporate exposure they will underprice risk. Example: a $400 infringement listed in the schedule becomes $2,000 for a corporation.

2. Reminder notice cost is discrete and low but statutory

   • Section 8(3) fixes the cost of serving a reminder notice at $34. That is an express statutory charge. It is small in absolute terms, but it is an additional amount the system authorises for reminder service and is therefore a direct budgetary consequence for recipients who do not respond promptly.

3. Identification requirements are precise and asymmetric

   • Notices served by police must include the officer’s service number (ss 10(a), 11(a)). Notices served by inspectors must show the inspector’s full name or surname and initials, or any unique number the administering authority has given for the regulation (ss 10(b), 11(b)). If an authorised person fails to include one of these forms of identification, the notice may be procedurally deficient in ways that could be contestable under the Magistrates Court Act notice-content rules (s 9 note referencing Magistrates Court Act s 121(1)(c)). Practitioners should check carefully whether the notice includes the required identifying data.

4. Company-specific content requirement (ACN)

   • If the recipient is a company then the authorised person must include the company’s ACN on the infringement notice (s 9(1)). Failure to do so could affect enforcement or contestation. Corporate recipients should ensure their ACN is readily available to authorised persons in interactions, and authorised persons must incorporate the ACN when serving corporate notices.

5. Schedule lists section numbers, not descriptive offence text

   • Schedule 1 identifies the offences by reference to provision numbers in the Dangerous Substances Act and regulations; it does not reproduce the substantive offence text. Users must open the principal instruments to check the exact conduct captured by each entry. Misreading the schedule number or relying on a summary might produce an incorrect compliance assessment.

6. Penalty-unit figures versus infringement-dollar figures

   • Schedule column 3 records offence penalties in penalty units. Column 4 is the enforcement-by-infringement dollar amount for an individual. The republished instrument also notes penalty-unit values in the front matter ($150 individual, $750 corporation). Users must not conflate the penalty-unit figure in column 3 with the infringement-dollar amount in column 4. The unit figures are the standard offences’ penalty format; the dollar figures are the infringement-notice amounts.

7. Administering authority’s practical role extends beyond a name

   • The director-general is the administering authority (s 6). The regulation contemplates the administering authority will give unique numbers to inspectors for identification purposes (ss 10(b)(ii) and 11(b)(ii)). If the director-general’s office does not implement a robust unique-number allocation and records system, the intended identification and traceability regime will be weaker in practice. That carries operational risk for both enforcement agencies and respondents seeking to validate a notice.

8. Infringement-notice option is limited to listed provisions

   • Only those offences in schedule 1 are eligible for this infringement pathway (s 7). Regulators or compliance teams might assume a wider set of dangerous-substances offences are eligible. Always cross-check schedule 1 before concluding an offence may be dealt with by infringement.

9. Lack of jurisprudence recorded here

   • The republished instrument records no litigation history touching these provisions. That means there may be unresolved questions about procedural points in practice that could be litigated. A lack of recorded decisions heightens legal uncertainty in borderline cases.

10. Amendment churn in schedules and renumberings

    • The schedule has been amended and items renumbered in a number of instruments (see endnotes and amendment history). When tracing historical exposure or compliance obligations across time, practitioners must take care to use the correct historical version of the schedule and cross-reference renumberings.

Being attentive to these operational specifics reduces the chance of error when receiving, issuing, or contesting an infringement notice under this regulation.

Checklist for enforcement agencies and inspectors

• Ensure inspector appointment and delegation are formally recorded under Dangerous Substances Act s 207, and maintain a current list of authorised persons and their identifying information consistent with ss 10-11.
• If the administering authority uses unique numbers for inspectors, the director-general’s office should implement a formal allocation and record-keeping system so that authorised persons can lawfully identify themselves on notices with the unique number (ss 6, 10(b)(ii), 11(b)(ii)).
• Equip authorised persons with templates for infringement notices and reminder notices that include the mandatory content requirements: police service number for police-served notices and name or unique number for inspectors; include company ACN when serving a company (ss 9-11).
• Apply schedule 1 column 4 amounts for individuals and calculate the corporate amount as five times that figure for corporations (s 8(1)-(2)). Include the $34 reminder cost where a reminder notice is served (s 8(3)).

Checklist for businesses, compliance officers and individuals

• Map the schedule: identify whether any of the specific provisions cited in schedule 1 apply to your operations. The schedule lists section numbers, so consult the Dangerous Substances Act 2004 and the relevant regulations to understand the substantive conduct captured by each cited provision.
• Train front-line personnel to recognise and respond to an infringement notice: ensure they can locate the company’s ACN to confirm the notice includes it (s 9(1)), check the identity of the authorised person on the notice (ss 10-11) and act quickly to avoid a reminder notice and the $34 service cost (s 8(3)).
• Budget for corporate exposure: if you operate as a corporation, assume the infringement amount will be five times the listed individual amount. For example, a $600 listed infringement becomes $3,000 for a corporation per s 8(2). Incorporate that into compliance and risk assessments.
• Keep a current compliance register and incident-response protocols that align with the specific Dangerous Substances provisions in schedule 1. Because the schedule identifies particular sections rather than descriptive offence types, you need to match your operational activities to the statutory wording to gauge risk.
• If you receive an infringement notice and the form omits required information (for example, no police service number, absence of inspector name or unique number, missing company ACN when the recipient is a company), document that deficiency and seek legal advice about the consequences. Content defects may be material under the Magistrates Court Act notice-content regime.

Operational suggestions for legal and compliance teams

• Cross-check the schedule against the current versions of the Dangerous Substances Act 2004 and the two regulations. The schedule has been amended and items renumbered over time. Make sure your internal register refers to the present numbering and text of the listed provisions.
• Prepare a decision matrix for responding to infringement notices: include immediate verification steps (check inspector identity, check ACN, confirm offence reference), short-term financial response (pay, seek internal approval, or elect to contest), and legal escalation points. Remember that the infringement pathway is described as an alternative to prosecution (s 3 note), so weigh administrative convenience against wider legal strategy.
• Record interactions with enforcement officers: because notices must identify the server, keep copies of the notice plus photographs or witness statements of the service event where relevant. That material will be helpful if the validity of the notice or the inspector’s authority is contested.
• Monitor legislative amendments and republications: the schedule and certain content/administrative rules have changed historically and might change again. Set up alerts for changes to the Dangerous Substances Act and its regulations, and for amendments to this regulation itself.

Practical accounting and audit considerations

• Treat an infringement notice payment as an administrative fine; however, check how your accounting and audit policies treat statutory fines and whether payment has consequences for regulatory reporting or insurance claims.
• For corporate entities, recognise the increased exposure (5x multiplier). If a matter is likely to recur, factor potential cumulative infringement exposures into loss projection and risk modelling.

When to seek legal advice

• If the notice lacks the required identifying information, if the inspector’s appointment is in doubt, or if the substantive basis for the notice is unclear, obtain legal advice promptly. The instrument does not set out procedural contestation mechanics; those are in the Magistrates Court Act pt 3.8. Legal advice can help determine whether to pay the infringement, lodge an objection, or prepare for contestation.
• If the infringement relates to licence conditions, workplace safety ramifications, or has possible collateral effects (such as triggering other regulatory responses), coordinate early with counsel to assess wider consequences beyond the immediate infringement sum.

These compliance steps are procedural and administrative, rooted in the statutory text: apply the listed schedule amount for individuals, multiply by five for corporations, ensure notice content complies with ss 9-11, and treat the $34 reminder cost as an authorised charge for reminder notices (s 8).