63—Registered person etc must declare interest in prescribed business
(1) A
registered person or prescribed relative of a registered person who has an
interest in a prescribed business must—
(a) in
the case of an interest that came into existence before the commencement of
this section—within 1 month after the commencement of this section; or
(b) in
any other case—within 1 month after the interest comes into existence,
give to the Board prescribed information relating to the interest and the
manner in which it arose.
Maximum penalty: $20 000.
(2) A
registered person or prescribed relative of a registered person who has an
interest in a prescribed business must, within 1 month after a change in the
nature or extent of the interest, give to the Board prescribed information
relating to the change.
Maximum penalty: $20 000.
(3) If a
registered person or prescribed relative of a registered person has an
interest in a prescribed business, the registered person must not—
(a)
refer a customer to, or recommend that a customer use, a health service
provided by that business; or
(b)
recommend that a customer use a health product manufactured, sold or supplied
by that business,
unless the registered person has informed the customer, in writing, of the
interest of the registered person or prescribed relative of the registered
person in that business.
Maximum penalty: $20 000.
(4) Subject to
subsection (5), a person has an interest in a prescribed business for the
purposes of this section if the person is likely to derive a financial
benefit, whether directly or indirectly, from the profitable conduct of the
business.
(5) For the purposes
of subsection (4)—
(a) a
financial benefit is not derived by a registered person if the benefit
consists solely of reasonable fees payable to the registered person for
pharmacy services provided to customers by the registered person; and
(b) a
person does not have an interest in a prescribed business that is carried on
by a public company if the interest consists only of a shareholding in the
company of less than 5 per cent of the issued share capital of the company.
(6) It is a defence to
proceedings for an offence against subsection (3) and to a charge of
unprofessional conduct for failure to comply with that subsection for the
defendant to prove that he or she did not know and could not reasonably have
been expected to know that a prescribed relative had an interest in the
prescribed business to which the referral or recommendation that is the
subject of the proceedings relates.
(7) In this
section—
"health product" means—
(a) a
pharmaceutical product; or
(b) any
other product declared by the regulations to be a health product for the
purposes of this Part;
"health service" means—
(a)
hospital, nursing home or aged care facility services; or
(b)
medical, dental or pharmaceutical services; or
(c)
chiropractic, occupational therapy, optometry, osteopathy, physiotherapy,
podiatric or psychology services; or
(d) any
other service declared by the regulations to be a health service for the
purposes of this Part;
"prescribed business" means a business consisting of or involving—
(a) the
provision of a health service; or
(b) the
manufacture, sale or supply of a health product.