Commonwealth Numbered Acts

SUPERANNUATION LEGISLATION AMENDMENT ACT (No. 2) 1986 No. 151, 1986 - SECT 69

69. After section 163 of the Principal Act the following sections are
inserted: Power to require persons to give information and produce documents

"163A. (1) Where the Commissioner has reason to believe that a person is
capable of giving information or producing a document relating to a matter
that is relevant to the operation of this Act, the superseded Act or
regulations under either Act in relation to the person or to another person
for whom the first-mentioned person is authorised to act in relation to this
Act, the Commissioner may, by notice in writing served on the first-mentioned
person, require the first-mentioned person-

   (a)  to give to the Commissioner, by writing signed by the first-mentioned
        person or, in the case of a body corporate, by a competent officer of
        the body corporate, within the time and in the manner specified in the
        notice, any such information; or

   (b)  to produce to the Commissioner or to an officer or employee of the
        Australian Public Service specified in the notice acting on the
        Commissioner's behalf, in accordance with the notice, any such
        document.

"(2) A notice under this section requiring a person to give information or
produce a document shall set out the effects of sub-sections (3), (4) and (5).

"(3) A person shall not refuse or fail to comply with a notice under this
section to the extent that the person is capable of complying with it.
Penalty-

   (a)  if the offender is a natural person-$1,000 or imprisonment for 6
        months, or both; or

   (b)  if the offender is a body corporate-$5,000.

"(4) A person who produces a document in pursuance of a notice under
sub-section (1) that, to the knowledge of that person, is false or misleading
in a material particular shall, upon so producing the document, give to the
person to whom it is produced, a statement in writing signed by the
first-mentioned person or, in the case of a body corporate, by a competent
officer of the body corporate-

   (a)  stating that the document is, to the knowledge of the first-mentioned
        person, false or misleading in a material particular; and

   (b)  setting out, or referring to, the material particular in respect of
        which the document is, to the knowledge of the first-mentioned person,
        false or misleading.
Penalty-

   (a)  if the offender is a natural person-$1,000 or imprisonment for 6
        months, or both; or

   (b)  if the offender is a body corporate-$5,000.

"(5) A person is not excused from giving information or producing a document
in pursuance of this section on the ground that the information or the
production of the document might tend to incriminate the person, but the
information, the production of the document or any information, document or
thing obtained as a direct or indirect consequence of the information or the
production shall not be used in evidence against the person-

   (a)  in the case of a person other than a body corporate-in any criminal
        proceedings other than proceedings under, or arising out of this
        section or sub-section 167 (1) by virtue of paragraph (d) of that
        sub-section, being that paragraph in its application to the making of
        a statement in pursuance of this section; or

   (b)  in the case of a body corporate-in any criminal proceedings other than
        proceedings under, or arising out of, this Act, the superseded Act or
        regulations under either Act.

"(6) The Commissioner may inspect a document produced in pursuance of a notice
under sub-section (1) and may make copies of, or take extracts from, the
document.

"(7) The Commissioner may, for the purposes of this Act, take, and retain for
so long as is necessary for those purposes, possession of a document produced
in pursuance of a notice under sub-section (1) but the person otherwise
entitled to possession of the document is entitled to be supplied, as soon as
practicable, with a copy certified by the Commissioner, under the
Commissioner's hand, to be a true copy and the certified copy shall be
received in all courts as evidence as if it were the original.

"(8) Until a certified copy of a document referred to in sub-section (7) is
supplied, the Commissioner shall, at such times and place as the Commissioner
thinks appropriate, permit the person otherwise entitled to the document, or a
person authorised by that person, to inspect and make copies of, or take
extracts from, the document.

"(9) The powers conferred on the Commissioner by a provision of this Act other
than this section are in addition to, and not in derogation of, the powers
conferred on the Commissioner by this section. Correction of clerical errors

"163B. Where the Commissioner decides that there is a clerical error or
obvious mistake in a document or instrument-

   (a)  made by the Superannuation Board, or a delegate of the Superannuation
        Board, under the superseded Act or under regulations under that Act;
        or

   (b)  made, whether before or after the commencement of this section, by the
        Commissioner, or a delegate of the Commissioner, under this Act, under
        the superseded Act or under regulations under either Act, the
        Commissioner may correct that error or mistake.".