142Continuing offences

##### 142 Continuing offences (1) Where: (a) by or under a provision, an act is required to be done within a particular period or before a particular time; (b) failure to do the act within that period or before that time constitutes an offence; and (c) the act is not done within that period or before that time; then: (d) the obligation to do the act continues, notwithstanding that that period has expired or that time has passed, and whether or not a person is convicted of a primary substantive offence in relation to failure to do the act, until the act is done; and (e) subsections (3) and (4) apply. (2) Where: (a) by or under a provision, an act is required to be done but neither a period within which, nor a time before which, the act is to be done is specified; (b) failure to do the act constitutes an offence; and (c) a person is convicted of a primary substantive offence in relation to failure to do the act; then: (d) the obligation to do the act continues, notwithstanding the conviction, until the act is done; and (e) subsections (3) and (4) apply. (3) Where: (a) at a particular time, a person is first convicted of a substantive offence, or is convicted of a second or subsequent substantive offence, in relation to failure to do the act; and (b) the failure to do the act continues after that time; the person is, in relation to failure to do the act, guilty of a further offence in respect of so much of the period throughout which the failure to do the act continues as elapses after that time and before the relevant day in relation to the further offence. (4) Where: (a) a body corporate is guilty of a primary substantive offence in relation to failure to do the act; and (b) throughout a particular period (in this subsection referred to as the relevant period: (i) the failure to do the act continues; (ii) a person (in this subsection referred to as the derivative offender) is in any way, by act or omission, directly or indirectly, knowingly concerned in or party to the failure to do the act; and (iii) the derivative offender is an officer of the body corporate; then: (c) in a case where either or both of the following events occurs or occur: (i) the body corporate is convicted, before or during the relevant period, of the primary substantive offence; (ii) the derivative offender is convicted, before or during the relevant period, of a primary derivative offence in relation to failure to do the act; the derivative offender is, in relation to failure to do the act, guilty of an offence (in this paragraph referred to as the relevant offence) in respect of so much (if any) of the relevant period as elapses: (iii) after the conviction referred to in subparagraph (i) or (ii), or after the earlier of the convictions referred to in subparagraphs (i) and (ii), as the case may be; and (iv) before the relevant day in relation to the relevant offence; and (d) in a case where, at a particular time during the relevant period, the derivative offender is first convicted of a secondary derivative offence, or is convicted of a second or subsequent secondary derivative offence, in relation to failure to do the act—the derivative offender is, in relation to failure to do the act, guilty of a further offence in respect of so much of the relevant period as elapses after that time and before the relevant day in relation to the further offence. (5) Notwithstanding subsection 141(6), where a person is guilty, by virtue of subsection (3) or (4) of this section, of an offence in respect of the whole or a part of a particular period, the penalty applicable to the offence is a fine of the amount obtained by multiplying $50 by the number of days in that period, or in that part of that period, as the case may be. (6) In this section: > act includes thing. > primary derivative offence, in relation to failure to do an act, means an offence (other than an offence of which a person is guilty by virtue of this section) of which a person is guilty by virtue of being an officer of a body corporate who is in any way, by act or omission, directly or indirectly, knowingly concerned in or party to the commission by the body corporate of a primary substantive offence in relation to failure to do the act. > primary substantive offence, in relation to failure to do an act, means an offence (other than an offence of which a person is guilty by virtue of this section) constituted by failure to do the act, or by failure to do the act within a particular period or before a particular time. > provision means a section, or a subsection of a section, of this Act. > relevant day, in relation to an offence of which a person is guilty by virtue of this section, means: (a) in a case where the information relating to the offence specifies a day in relation to the offence for the purposes of this section, being a day not later than the day on which the information is laid—the day the information so specifies; or (b) in any other case—the day on which the information relating to the offence is laid. > required includes directed. > secondary derivative offence, in relation to failure to do an act, means an offence or further offence of which a person is, in relation to failure to do the act, guilty by virtue of paragraph (4)(c) or (d). > substantive offence, in relation to failure to do an act, means: (a) a primary substantive offence in relation to failure to do the act; or (b) a further offence of which a person is, in relation to failure to do the act, guilty by virtue of subsection (3). (7) Subsections (1) to (6), inclusive, of this section do not apply in relation to an obligation to do an act or thing, being an obligation that arose before the commencement of section 198 of the Companies and Securities Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 1985, and, notwithstanding the repeal effected by that section, section 142 of this Act as in force at any time before that commencement continues to have effect in relation to such an obligation.