269Civil penalty provisions—enforcement

269 Civil penalty provisions—enforcement

Enforceable civil penalty provision (1) Each civil penalty provision of this Act is enforceable under Part 4 of the Regulatory Powers Act.

Note: Part 4 of the Regulatory Powers Act allows a civil penalty provision to be enforced by obtaining an order for a person to pay a pecuniary penalty for the contravention of the provision.

Authorised applicant (2) For the purposes of Part 4 of the Regulatory Powers Act, the ACMA is an authorised applicant in relation to the civil penalty provisions of this Act. Relevant court (3) For the purposes of Part 4 of the Regulatory Powers Act, each of the following courts is a relevant court in relation to the civil penalty provisions of this Act: (a) the Federal Court; (b) the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. External Territories (4) Part 4 of the Regulatory Powers Act, as it applies in relation to the provisions mentioned in subsection (1), extends to every external Territory. Geographical application (5) Sections 16, 17, 17A and 18 have effect as if a reference in those sections to this Act included a reference to Part 4 of the Regulatory Powers Act, as it applies in relation to the provisions mentioned in subsection (1) of this section. Sudden or extraordinary emergency (6) A person is not liable under Part 4 of the Regulatory Powers Act to have a civil penalty order made against the person for a contravention of a civil penalty provision of this Act if: (a) the person carries out the conduct constituting the contravention in response to circumstances of sudden or extraordinary emergency; and (b) the person believes on reasonable grounds that: (i) circumstances of sudden or extraordinary emergency exist; and (ii) contravening the provision is the only reasonable way to deal with the emergency; and (iii) the conduct is a reasonable response to the emergency.

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

(7) Without limiting subsection (6), if a national emergency declaration was in force at the time the person carried out the conduct, the emergency to which the declaration relates is taken, for the purposes of that subsection, to be a circumstance of sudden or extraordinary emergency.