24Prices of goods or services not to be increased pending inquiry

##### 24 Prices of goods or services not to be increased pending inquiry (1) Where the Commission serves on a person, pursuant to paragraph 19(1)(b), a notice stating that the Commission is to hold an inquiry in relation to the supply by the person of goods or services of a particular description, the person shall not, before the prescribed day in relation to the notice, supply goods or services of that description in a locality on particular terms and conditions: (a) if the person has supplied goods or services of that description in that locality on the same or substantially similar terms and conditions in the past 12 months—at a price exceeding the highest price at which the person has supplied goods or services of that description in that locality on the same or substantially similar terms and conditions in that period; (b) if the person has not supplied goods or services of that description in that locality on the same or substantially similar terms and conditions in the past 12 months, but has supplied goods or services of that description elsewhere in Australia on the same or substantially similar terms and conditions in that period—at a price exceeding the highest price at which the person has supplied goods or services of that description in Australia on the same or substantially similar terms and conditions in that period; or (c) if the person has not supplied goods or services of that description in Australia on the same or substantially similar terms and conditions in the past 12 months. Penalty: 100 penalty units. > Note 1: The penalty is a maximum penalty (see section 4D of the Crimes Act 1914). If a body corporate is convicted of the offence, a court may impose a fine not more than 5 times the maximum fine that the court could impose (see subsection 4B(3) of the Crimes Act 1914). Penalty units are defined in section 4AA of the Crimes Act 1914. > Note 2: Chapter 2 of the Criminal Code sets out the general principles of criminal responsibility. (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the prescribed day in relation to a notice served by the Authority on a person pursuant to paragraph 19(1)(b) is the fourteenth day after whichever is the earlier of the following days: (a) the day on which a copy of the report by the Authority on the inquiry to which the notice relates is received by the person; or (b) the last day of the period within which the Authority is required by subsection 18(5) or (6), as the case requires, to complete the inquiry to which the notice relates and to submit its report on the inquiry. (3) This section has effect subject to section 25.