46MOffence and civil penalty relating to returns

46M Offence and civil penalty relating to returns

Offence (1) A person commits an offence if: (a) the person returns a space object purportedly in accordance with a return authorisation; and (b) one or more of the following applies: (i) the return is conducted in a way that is likely to cause substantial harm to public health or public safety or to cause substantial damage to property; (ii) the space object is or contains a nuclear weapon or a weapon of mass destruction of any other kind; (iii) the space object contains a nuclear power source and the Minister’s written approval for this has not first been obtained; (iv) the insurance/financial requirements in Division 7 are not satisfied for the return.

Penalty:

(a) for an individual—imprisonment for 10 years or 5,500 penalty units, or both; or
(b) for a body corporate—100,000 penalty units.

Civil penalty (2) A person must not return a space object purportedly in accordance with a return authorisation, in circumstances where one or more of the following applies: (a) the return is conducted in a way that is likely to cause substantial harm to public health or public safety or to cause substantial damage to property; (b) the space object is or contains a nuclear weapon or a weapon of mass destruction of any other kind; (c) the space object contains a nuclear power source and the Minister’s written approval for this has not first been obtained; (d) the insurance/financial requirements in Division 7 are not satisfied for the return.

Civil penalty: 1,000 penalty units.