103Offences

#### 103 Offences (1) An approved pharmacist shall not give, promise or offer a gift, rebate or reward as an inducement to a person to present, or in consideration of a person’s presenting, a prescription for the supply of a pharmaceutical benefit. Penalty: 10 penalty units. (2) Except as prescribed, a pharmacist to whom a prescription is presented shall not: (a) supply, in purported pursuance of this Part, anything other than the pharmaceutical benefit that is directed to be supplied in the prescription; or (b) in exchange for the prescription make a payment in money or give any other consideration to the person presenting the prescription. Penalty: Imprisonment for 12 months or 20 penalty units, or both. (2A) Paragraph (2)(a) does not prohibit a pharmacist from supplying, instead of the pharmaceutical benefit that is directed to be supplied in a prescription (the specified benefit), another pharmaceutical benefit (the substitute benefit) if: (a) the person who prescribed the specified benefit did not indicate on the prescription that only that benefit was to be supplied; and (b) the Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits issued by the Department states that the specified benefit and the substitute benefit are equivalent; and (c) the substitute benefit is a listed brand of a pharmaceutical item; and (d) the supply of the substitute benefit is not prohibited by a law of the State or Territory in which the substitute benefit is supplied. (3) An approved pharmacist, approved medical practitioner or approved hospital authority shall not permit a person other than a medical practitioner or pharmacist to dispense a pharmaceutical benefit except under the direct supervision of a medical practitioner or pharmacist. Penalty: Imprisonment for 12 months or 20 penalty units, or both. (4) A person for whom a prescription for the supply of a pharmaceutical benefit is written or to whom a pharmaceutical benefit is supplied shall not use, dispose of or otherwise deal with the pharmaceutical benefit supplied in a way other than that for which the prescription was written or the pharmaceutical benefit supplied. Penalty: Imprisonment for 2 years or 50 penalty units, or both. (4AA) A person must not have in his or her possession, or consign for export, a quantity of a pharmaceutical benefit or pharmaceutical item that exceeds the designated quantity of that pharmaceutical benefit or pharmaceutical item unless: (a) that first‑mentioned quantity was supplied to the person (whether on prescription or otherwise) by an approved supplier for the medical, dental, optometrical or midwifery treatment, or the nurse practitioner treatment by an authorised nurse practitioner, of the person or of a person covered by paragraph 86A(2)(a), (b) or (c); or (b) the person has some other reasonable excuse for possessing or consigning for export that first‑mentioned quantity. Penalty: Imprisonment for 2 years. (4AB) In a prosecution for an offence against subsection (4AA), the defendant bears the evidential burden of proving the exception set out in paragraph (a) or (b) of that subsection. (4AC) For the purposes of subsection (4AA), the designated quantity of a pharmaceutical benefit or pharmaceutical item is the quantity of that pharmaceutical benefit or pharmaceutical item worked out using the formula:  where: > MQ is the quantity or number of units of that pharmaceutical benefit or pharmaceutical item that is determined by the Minister, under paragraph 85A(2)(a), to be the maximum quantity, or the maximum number of units, of that pharmaceutical benefit or pharmaceutical item that may, in one prescription, be directed to be supplied on any one occasion. > RA is the number (if any) that is determined by the Minister, under paragraph 85A(2)(b), to be the maximum number of occasions on which the supply of the pharmaceutical benefit, or a pharmaceutical benefit that has the pharmaceutical item, may, in one prescription, be directed to be repeated. (4AD) In proceedings for an offence against subsection (4AA), a certificate by the Chief Executive Medicare to the effect that: (a) a substance specified in the certificate is a particular pharmaceutical benefit or pharmaceutical item; and (b) the quantity of the substance to which the offence relates exceeds the designated quantity in relation to a pharmaceutical benefit or pharmaceutical item of that kind; is prima facie evidence of those matters. (4AE) A person is not liable to be convicted of an offence against subsection (4) and subsection (4AA) in respect of the same action. (4A) A person shall not, in purported compliance with the requirements of regulations made by virtue of subsection 84AA(1) or (1A), include, or cause or permit to be included, on a prescription written by a PBS prescriber any information connected with the status of the person to whom the prescription relates that is, to his or her knowledge, false or misleading in a material particular. Penalty: Imprisonment for 2 years or 50 penalty units, or both. (4B) A person shall not, in purported compliance with the requirements of regulations made under subsection 84AA(2) or (3), in so far as those regulations relate to a prescription communicated to an approved pharmacist, communicate to that pharmacist any information connected with the status of the person to whom the prescription relates that is, to his or her knowledge, false or misleading in a material particular. Penalty: Imprisonment for 2 years or 50 penalty units, or both. (5) A person shall not: (b) obtain a pharmaceutical benefit to which the person is not entitled; (ba) obtain the issue of a concession card or entitlement card to which the person is not entitled; (d) not being a PBS prescriber, write a prescription for the purposes of this Part; (f) supply as a pharmaceutical benefit a substance that does not conform to the standards of composition or purity prescribed in the regulations or that has as an ingredient a substance that does not conform to those standards; (g) by means of impersonation, a false or misleading statement or a fraudulent device, obtain, or by any of those means aid or abet another person to obtain, a pharmaceutical benefit or a payment in respect of the supply of a pharmaceutical benefit; or (h) contravene or fail to comply with a provision of this Part which is applicable to the person. Penalty for contravention of this subsection: Imprisonment for 2 years or 50 penalty units, or both.