Queensland Consolidated Acts

HEAVY VEHICLE NATIONAL LAW (QUEENSLAND) - SECT 570

570 Power to require information about heavy vehicles

(1) An authorised officer may, for compliance purposes, require a responsible person for a heavy vehicle to give the officer—

(a) information about the vehicle or any load or equipment carried or intended to be carried by the vehicle; or

(b) personal details known to the responsible person about any other responsible person for the vehicle; or

(c) personal details known to the responsible person about anyone else the responsible person reasonably believes holds information about the heavy vehicle.

Note—

Section 17 of Schedule 1 and section 490 deal with the production of documents and other information kept electronically.

(2) Without limiting subsection (1) , a responsible person who is associated with a particular vehicle may be required to provide information about a past, current or intended journey of the vehicle, including, for example, the following—

(a) the location of the start or intended start of the journey;

(b) the route or intended route of the journey;

(c) the location of the destination or intended destination of the journey.

(2A) An authorised officer requiring personal details under subsection (1) (c) must give the responsible person a notice stating—

(a) that the requirement is made under this section; and

(b) that failing to comply with the requirement is an offence; and

(c) the time, that is reasonable in the circumstances, in which the person must give the personal details; and

(d) the effect of subsection (5A) and section 735A .

(3) A person of whom a requirement is made under subsection (1) must comply with the requirement, unless the person has a reasonable excuse.

Penalty—

Maximum penalty—$6000.

(4) Without limiting what may be a reasonable excuse for the purposes of subsection (3) , in a proceeding for an offence of contravening a requirement under subsection (1) , it is a defence for the person charged to prove that the person did not know, and could not be reasonably expected to know or ascertain, the required information.

(5) It is not a reasonable excuse for a person to fail to comply with a requirement made under subsection (1) that complying with the requirement might tend to incriminate the person or make the person liable to a penalty.

Note—

Section 587 also deals with self-incrimination when complying with a requirement of an authorised officer.

(5A) However, the following information is not admissible as evidence against an individual in a civil or criminal proceeding, other than a proceeding for false or misleading information—

(a) information, other than information in the form of a document, that the individual gives in complying with a requirement under subsection (1) (c) ;

(b) information that is directly or indirectly derived from information to which paragraph (a) applies.

Note—

Section 588 deals with the admissibility of information provided in complying with a requirement under subsection (1) (a) and (b) .

(6) In this section—

"personal details" , about a responsible person, means—

(a) the person’s name; or

(b) the person’s residential address or business address.

"responsible person" , for a heavy vehicle, for the exercise of a power under this section in relation to a speeding offence, does not include—

(a) a person mentioned in section 5 , definition responsible person , paragraph (i) , (j) , (k) or (n) ; or

Note—

Those paragraphs deal with persons who pack, load or unload goods or containers, and owners and operators etc. of weighbridges or weighbridge facilities.

(b) an employer, employee, agent or subcontractor of that person.

"speeding offence" means an offence committed by the driver of a heavy vehicle because the driver exceeded a speed limit applying to the driver.