Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:
"ASIC" means the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
"Australian court" means:
(a) the High Court; or
(b) a court exercising federal jurisdiction; or
(c) a court of a State or Territory; or
(d) a judge, justice or arbitrator under an Australian law; or
(e) a person or body authorised by an Australian law, or by consent of parties, to hear, receive and examine evidence;
and, for the purposes of Part 6, includes a person or body authorised to take or receive evidence, whether on behalf of a court or otherwise and whether or not the person or body is empowered to require the answering of questions or the production of documents.
"Australian law" means a law (whether written or unwritten) of or in force in the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory.
"business" has a meaning affected by clause 1 of Part 2 of the Dictionary in the Evidence Act 1995 .
"business record" means a document that:
(a) is or forms part of the records belonging to or kept by a person, body or organisation in the course of, or for the purposes of, a business; or
(b) at any time was or formed part of such a record.
"civil proceeding" means a proceeding other than a criminal proceeding.
"Convention" means the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, a copy of the English text of which is set out in the Schedule.
"criminal proceeding" means a prosecution for an offence and includes a proceeding for the committal of a person for trial or sentence for an offence, but does not include a prosecution for an offence that is a prescribed taxation offence within the meaning of Part III of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 .
"designated offence" means:
(a) an offence against subsection 34GD(8) of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 , if the questioning warrant to which the offence relates is a PMV - related questioning warrant; or
(b) an offence against section 49 of the Aviation Transport Security Act 2004 ; or
(c) an offence against either of the following provisions of the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945 :
(i) Part 4 of that Act;
(ii) Part 5 of that Act, to the extent that it relates to the Charter of the United Nations (Sanctions--Al - Qaida) Regulations 2008 ; or
(d) an offence against Subdivision A of Division 72 of the Criminal Code ; or
(da) an offence against Subdivision B of Division 80 of the Criminal Code ; or
(db) an offence against Division 82 of the Criminal Code (sabotage); or
(e) an offence against Part 5.3 of the Criminal Code ; or
(f) an offence against Part 5.4 of the Criminal Code ; or
(fa) an offence against Part 5.5 of the Criminal Code ; or
(h) an offence against Division 1 of Part 2 of the Crimes (Aviation) Act 1991 ; or
(i) an offence against section 8 of the Crimes (Biological Weapons) Act 1976 ; or
(k) an offence against section 8 of the Crimes (Hostages) Act 1989 ; or
(l) an offence against the Crimes (Internationally Protected Persons) Act 1976 ; or
(m) an offence against section 6 of the Crimes Act 1914 that relates to an offence mentioned in any of the above paragraphs.
Note: For other ancillary offences, see section 11.6 of the Criminal Code .
"document" means any record of information, and includes:
(a) anything on which there is writing; and
(b) anything on which there are marks, figures, symbols or perforations having a meaning for persons qualified to interpret them; and
(c) anything from which sounds, images or writings can be reproduced with or without the aid of anything else; and
(d) a map, plan, drawing or photograph.
"duress" has the meaning given by subsection 27D(3).
"examination" includes any proceeding that is for the taking of evidence of a person conducted by the judicial authorities of a foreign country in relation to a letter of request issued as a result of an order made by a superior court under Part 2.
"foreign authority" means an authority of a foreign country or of part of a foreign country.
"foreign business authority" means a person or body that has, under a law of a foreign country, functions relating to the administration or enforcement of a law of that country that regulates, or relates to the regulation of, business or persons engaged in business.
"foreign government material" means material provided by a foreign authority to an authority of the Commonwealth.
"foreign law" means a law (whether written or unwritten) of or in force in a foreign country.
"foreign material" means:
(a) for the purposes of Parts 3 and 3A--the testimony of a person that:
(i) was obtained as a result of a request of a kind referred to in section 21; and
(ii) complies with the requirements of section 22;
including any documents or things produced by or with such testimony ; and
(b) for the purposes of Part 4--the testimony of a person that:
(i) was obtained as a result of a request of a kind referred to in section 29; and
(ii) complies with the requirements of section 30;
including any documents or things produced by or with such testimony.
"foreign public document" means a document to which Article 1 of the Convention applies, other than a document executed in a foreign country (if any) that has objected to Australia's accession to the Convention.
"inferior court" means any of the following courts (other than a superior court):
(a) a court of a State when exercising federal jurisdiction;
(b) subject to subsection (2), a court of a Territory (other than the Northern Territory);
(c) a court of the Northern Territory when exercising jurisdiction conferred or vested by an Act of the Parliament.
"member of the Australian Federal Police" has the same meaning as in the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 .
"PMV-related questioning warrant" means a questioning warrant that is issued in relation to politically motivated violence (within the meaning of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 ).
"proceeds of crime law" means the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 or the Proceeds of Crime Act 1987 .
"questioning warrant" has the same meaning as in Division 3 of Part III of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 .
"related civil proceeding" , in relation to a criminal proceeding, means any civil proceeding arising from the same subject matter from which the criminal proceeding arose, and, in particular, includes:
(a) a proceeding under a proceeds of crime law; or
(b) a proceeding under the Customs Act 1901 ; or
(c) a proceeding for the recovery of tax, or of any duty, levy or charge, payable to the Commonwealth.
"senior AFP member" means:
(a) the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police; or
(b) a Deputy Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police; or
(c) a senior executive AFP employee (within the meaning of the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 ) who is a member of the Australian Federal Police; or
(d) a member of the Australian Federal Police occupying a position in the Australian Federal Police that is equivalent to or higher than one of the positions mentioned in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c), whether or not a declaration under section 25 of that Act is in force in respect of the person.
"substantial adverse effect" means an effect that is adverse and not insubstantial, insignificant or trivial.
"superior court" means:
(a) the High Court; or
(b) the Federal Court of Australia or the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 1); or
(c) the Supreme Court of a State, or the Family Court of Western Australia, when exercising federal jurisdiction; or
(d) subject to subsection (2), the Supreme Court of a Territory (other than the Northern Territory); or
(e) the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory when exercising jurisdiction conferred or vested by an Act of the Parliament.
"terrorism-related proceeding" means:
(a) a criminal proceeding for a designated offence; or
(b) a proceeding under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 relating to a designated offence; or
(c) a proceeding under Division 104 of the Criminal Code .
"torture" has the meaning given by subsection 27D(3).
(2) On and after a day fixed by Proclamation:
(a) the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory ceases to be a superior court for the purposes of this Act except so far as it exercises jurisdiction conferred or vested by an Act of the Parliament; and
(b) any other court of the Australian Capital Territory ceases to be an inferior court for the purposes of this Act except so far as it exercises jurisdiction conferred or vested by an Act of the Parliament.