- (b) the alleged contravention, including the relevant provision, the applicable maximum penalty, and the time, day and place of each contravention (s 104(1)(e)); and
- (c) the amount payable under the notice, and the various legal consequences that could follow from the issuing of the notice (ss 104(1)(f)–(n)).
197 In this way, the requirement for an infringement notice to identify the "place" of the contravention serves to ensure that a person who receives an infringement notice is given sufficient details about the alleged contravention to understand the import of the notice, and to evaluate the options available. This object of providing fair notice of the alleged contravention must also be understood in the shadow of potential enforcement proceedings, which may be more or less likely to occur depending on the actions that the recipient of an infringement notice takes.
198 It should also be noted, however, that infringement notices do not create enforceable liabilities. Rather, they operate to give persons who are alleged to have contravened certain statutory obligations the opportunity to discharge their liability without facing civil penalty proceedings, if they so choose: see Replacement Explanatory Memorandum at [178]. As a matter of substance, infringement notices do not impose enforceable penalties; they in fact provide an alternative avenue for discharging civil and criminal liability.
199 These features of the Regulatory Powers Act lead me to the conclusion that it is not a purpose of the Act to invalidate any infringement notice that fails to state the "place" of the alleged contraventions, regardless of the effects of that failure. On its proper construction, the Regulatory Powers Act evinces an intention of invalidating an infringement notice for non-compliance with this requirement only where that non-compliance could prejudice the recipient of the notice.
200 In the present case, X Corp did not advance any persuasive basis on which to conclude that the failure of the infringement notice to identify the place of the contraventions could have prejudiced it. I have already mentioned that X Corp submitted that the location of the alleged contravention could have indicated which was the correct legal entity to which the notice should have been directed. But on X Corp's own case, the location of the alleged contraventions had no relevance to this question, which was said to turn on the Online Safety Act itself, or the effects of the merger between Twitter Inc and X Corp, as provided for by Nevada law. And, as the Commissioner submitted, the infringement notice was addressed to X Corp and identified both Twitter Inc and X Corp as the relevant "provider". It was not otherwise explained how X
