Part 5Miscellaneous
38Disclosure of
information
(1)
A person must not disclose any information
obtained in connection with the administration or execution of this Act unless
that disclosure is made:
(a)
with the consent of the person from whom the
information was obtained, or
(b)
in connection with the administration or
execution of this Act, or
(c)
for the purposes of any legal proceedings arising
out of this Act or of any report of any such proceedings,
or
(d)
in accordance with a requirement imposed under
the Ombudsman Act 1974, the Government Information (Public Access) Act
2009 or the Independent
Commission Against Corruption Act 1988,
or
(e)
to a regulatory officer or law enforcement
officer, for the purposes of assisting the officer in the exercise of the
officer’s functions, or
(f)
as otherwise authorised by this section or the
regulations, or
(g)
with other lawful
excuse.
Maximum penalty: 20 penalty units or imprisonment
for 6 months, or both.
(2)
The Director-General may communicate to any
person directly concerned in any transaction with a registered valuer in
connection with his or her practice as a valuer any information furnished to
the Director-General in connection with the administration or execution of
this Act, in so far as it relates to any such transaction and directly
concerns any such person.
(3)
The Director-General may request and receive
information from a law enforcement officer or regulatory officer for the
purpose of assisting the Director-General in the exercise of functions under
this Act or under any other Act administered by the
Minister.
(4)
The Director-General may enter into agreements
and other arrangements for the sharing or exchange of information as
authorised by this section.
(5)
In this section:
law
enforcement officer means:
(a)
a member of the NSW Police Force, the Australian
Federal Police or of the police force of another State or a Territory,
or
(b)
the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Crown
Prosecutor of the State or the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Crown
Prosecutor of the Commonwealth or of another State or Territory,
or
(c)
any other person, or officer of an authority,
responsible for the investigation or prosecution of offences under laws of the
State, the Commonwealth, another State or a
Territory.
regulatory officer means an officer
or employee of a government agency (including the government of a jurisdiction
outside the State and outside Australia) exercising functions under an
enactment with respect to fair trading or an enactment that provides for the
registration or other authorisation in connection with the undertaking of an
activity regulated under the enactment.
s 38: Am 2006 No 94,
Sch 3.36; 2009 No 54, Sch 2.54.
39Delegation
The Director-General may delegate the exercise of
any function of the Director-General under this Act (other than this power of
delegation) to:
(a)
any member of staff of the Department of Finance
and Services, or
(b)
any person, or any class of persons, authorised
for the purposes of this section by the
regulations.
s 39: Am 2013 No 111,
Sch 3.32.
40Service of
notices
(1)
A notice or direction in writing that is
authorised or required to be given under this Act may be given as provided by
this section.
(2)
A notice or direction may be given to a natural
person:
(a)
by delivering it personally to the person,
or
(b)
by sending it by post, addressed to the person at
the address recorded in the Register as the person’s residential
address, business address or address for service, or
(c)
by leaving it with another person apparently aged
16 years or more at the address recorded in the Register as the person’s
residential address or business address, or
(d)
by sending it by means of electronic
communication or facsimile transmission, addressed to the person at the
address recorded in the Register as the person’s address for service of
electronic communications or facsimile transmissions, in accordance with the
person’s information technology requirements with respect to the receipt
of electronic communications or facsimile
transmissions.
(3)
A notice or direction may be given to a
corporation:
(a)
by delivering it personally to a person concerned
in the corporation’s management, or
(b)
by sending it by post, addressed to the
corporation at the address recorded in the Register as the corporation’s
business address or address for service, or
(c)
by leaving it with a person apparently aged 16
years or more at the address recorded in the Register as the
corporation’s business address, or
(d)
by sending it by means of electronic
communication or facsimile transmission, addressed to the corporation at the
address recorded in the Register as the corporation’s address for
service of electronic communications or facsimile transmissions, in accordance
with the corporation’s information technology requirements with respect
to the receipt of electronic communications or facsimile
transmissions.
(4)
This section does not affect any other Act or law
with respect to the service of notices or other
documents.
41Proceedings for
offences
(1)
Proceedings for an offence under this Act or the
regulations may be taken and prosecuted only by the Director-General or, in
the name of the Director-General, by a person acting with the authority of the
Director-General.
(2)
Proceedings for an offence under this Act or the
regulations may be dealt with:
(a)
summarily before the Local Court,
or
(b)
summarily before the Supreme Court in its summary
jurisdiction.
(3)
If proceedings are brought in the Local Court,
the maximum monetary penalty that the Local Court may impose for the offence
is 100 penalty units or such other amount as may be prescribed by the
regulations, despite any higher maximum monetary penalty provided in respect
of the offence.
(4)
Despite any proceedings against a person for an
offence against this Act or the regulations (whether resulting in a conviction
or otherwise) the person remains liable to civil proceedings in the same
manner as if the proceedings for an offence had not been
taken.
s 41: Am 2007 No 94,
Sch 2.
42Penalty
notices
(1)
An authorised officer may serve a penalty notice
on a person if it appears to the officer that the person has committed an
offence against this Act or the regulations, being an offence prescribed by
the regulations as a penalty notice offence.
(2)
A penalty notice is a notice to the effect that,
if the person served does not wish to have the matter determined by a court,
the person can pay, within the time and to the person specified in the notice,
the amount of the penalty prescribed by the regulations for the offence if
dealt with under this section.
(3)
A penalty notice may be served personally or by
post.
(4)
If the amount of penalty prescribed for an
alleged offence is paid under this section, no person is liable to any further
proceedings for the alleged offence.
(5)
Payment under this section is not to be regarded
as an admission of liability for the purpose of, and does not in any way
affect or prejudice, any civil claim, action or proceeding arising out of the
same occurrence.
(6)
The regulations may:
(a)
prescribe an offence for the purposes of this
section by specifying the offence or by referring to the provision creating
the offence, and
(b)
prescribe the amount of penalty payable for the
offence if dealt with under this section, and
(c)
prescribe different amounts of penalties for
different offences or classes of offences.
(7)
The amount of a penalty prescribed under this
section for an offence is not to exceed the maximum amount of penalty that
could be imposed for the offence by a court.
(8)
This section does not limit the operation of any
other provision of, or made under, this or any other Act relating to
proceedings that may be taken in respect of offences.
(9)
In this section:
authorised officer means a person
authorised in writing by the Director-General as an authorised officer for the
purposes of this section.
43Time for laying
information
Proceedings for an offence against this Act or
the regulations may be commenced within 3 years after the date on which the
offence is alleged to have been committed or, with the consent of the Attorney
General, at any time.
44Liability of directors etc for
offences by corporation—accessory to the commission of the
offences
(1)
For the purposes of this section, a corporate offence is an offence
against this Act or the regulations that is capable of being committed by a
corporation.
(2)
A person commits an offence against this section
if:
(a)
a corporation commits a corporate offence,
and
(b)
the person is:
(i)
a director of the corporation,
or
(ii)
an individual who is involved in the management
of the corporation and who is in a position to influence the conduct of the
corporation in relation to the commission of the corporate offence,
and
(c)
the person:
(i)
aids, abets, counsels or procures the commission
of the corporate offence, or
(ii)
induces, whether by threats or promises or
otherwise, the commission of the corporate offence, or
(iii)
conspires with others to effect the commission of
the corporate offence, or
(iv)
is in any other way, whether by act or omission,
knowingly concerned in, or party to, the commission of the corporate
offence.
Maximum penalty: The maximum penalty for the
corporate offence if committed by an individual.
(3)
The prosecution bears the legal burden of proving
the elements of the offence against this section.
(4)
The offence against this section can only be
prosecuted by a person who can bring a prosecution for the corporate
offence.
(5)
This section does not affect the liability of the
corporation for the corporate offence, and applies whether or not the
corporation is prosecuted for, or convicted of, the corporate
offence.
(6)
This section does not affect the application of
any other law relating to the criminal liability of any persons (whether or
not directors or other managers of the corporation) who are concerned in, or
party to, the commission of the corporate offence.
s 44: Subst 2012 No
97, Sch 1.43.
45Repeals
The Valuers
Registration Act 1975 and Valuers Registration Regulation 2001 are
repealed.
46
s 46: Rep 2006 No 58,
Sch 4.
47Savings and transitional
provisions
Schedule 2 has effect.
48Regulations
(1)
The Governor may make regulations, not
inconsistent with this Act, for or with respect to any matter that by this Act
is required or permitted to be prescribed or that is necessary or convenient
to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this
Act.
(2)
Without affecting the generality of subsection
(1), the regulations may make provision for or with respect to the waiver or
refund of the whole or any part of a fee payable under this
Act.
s 48: Am 2005 No 98,
Sch 1.30.
49Review of
Act
(1)
The Minister is to review this Act to determine
whether the policy objectives of the Act remain valid and whether the terms of
the Act remain appropriate for securing those
objectives.
(2)
The review is to be undertaken as soon as
possible after the period of 5 years from the date of assent to this
Act.
(3)
A report on the outcome of the review is to be
tabled in each House of Parliament within 12 months after the end of the
period of 5 years.