New South Wales Consolidated Acts

BIOSECURITY ACT 2015 - SECT 282

282 Special requirements for prosecution of category 1 offences

(1) If conduct can constitute both a category 1 offence and a category 2 offence under the same section of this Act--

(a) a person cannot be found guilty of a category 1 offence in respect of that conduct unless the process by which the proceedings are commenced specifies that the offence is alleged to be a category 1 offence and the factors that are alleged to make the offence a category 1 offence, and

(b) a person cannot be found guilty of both a category 1 offence and a category 2 offence under the section in respect of the same conduct.

(2) In proceedings for a category 1 offence, if the court is not satisfied that the offence is proven, but is satisfied that the person committed a category 2 offence under the same section of this Act, the court may find the person guilty of that category 2 offence. The person is liable to punishment accordingly.

(3) Subsection (2) does not apply if the proceedings for the category 1 offence were commenced more than 2 years after the date on which the offence is alleged to have been committed.