Page:Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act 2021.pdf/156

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156
NO. 28 OF 2021


(b) to documents or information or material that is—
(i) within the knowledge of the person; or
(ii) in the custody or under the control of that person.

(3) The power to require a person to provide any document or any information or material under subsection (1) includes the power—

(a) to require the person, or any individual who is or was a responsible officer or an agent or a member of a politically significant person (as the case may be), to provide an explanation of the document or the information or material;
(b) if the document or the information or material is not provided, to require that person or individual to state, to the best of the knowledge and belief of that person or individual (as the case may be), where it is; or
(c) if the information or material is recorded otherwise than in legible form, to require the information to be made available to the competent authority in legible form.

(4) A competent authority is entitled without payment to keep any document or any information or material, or any copy or extract thereof, provided to the competent authority under subsection (1).

(5) Subject to subsection (7), a person commits an offence if—

(a) the person is required by a notice given to the person under this section to provide documents or information or material to a competent authority; and
(b) the person—
(i) fails to provide the document or the information or material to the competent authority; or
(ii) alters, suppresses or destroys any document or any information or material which the person has been required by the notice to provide.

(6) A person who is guilty of an offence under subsection (5) shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $500 for every