Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

[Index] [Table] [Search] [Search this Act] [Notes] [Noteup] [Previous] [Next] [Download] [Help]

CUSTOMS ACT 1901 - SECT 196C

Power to question persons claiming packages

  (1)   Before an officer of Customs decides whether or not to authorise the delivery into home consumption of goods referred to in section   71, the officer may:

  (a)   request the person to state his or her full name and residential address; and

  (b)   ask the person whether he or she is the owner of the goods; and

  (c)   where the person states that he or she is not the owner of the goods, request the person to state the full name and residential address of the owner of the goods; and

  (d)   request the person to produce evidence of the correctness of the information given by him or her in compliance with a request made of him or her in pursuance of paragraph   (a) or (c).

  (2)   A person shall not refuse or fail to comply with a request made of him or her, or to answer a question put to him or her, in pursuance of subsection   (1).

Penalty:   10 penalty units.

  (2A)   Subsection   (2) does not apply if the person has a reasonable excuse.

  (3)   Where a person refuses or fails to comply with a request made of him or her, or to answer a question put to him or her, by an officer of Customs in pursuance of subsection   (1), the officer may:

  (a)   detain the person for the purposes of establishing his or her identity; or

  (b)   if the officer believes on reasonable grounds that there is no reasonable excuse for the person refusing or failing to so comply, detain the person and take him or her, without undue delay, before a magistrate to be charged with an offence against subsection   (2).

  (4)   In this section, owner , in relation to goods, means a person who has an interest in the goods.


AustLII: Copyright Policy | Disclaimers | Privacy Policy | Feedback