Direct compliance with laws, orders etc
39 Direct compliance with laws, orders etc
Acts, regulations and instruments covered by Schedule 1
This Part does not make unlawful anything done by a person in direct compliance with:
an Act mentioned in Schedule 1; or
a regulation or any other instrument covered by Schedule 1.
Provisions of Acts, regulations and instruments covered by Schedule 2
This Part does not make unlawful anything done by a person in direct compliance with a provision of an Act, regulation or other instrument if the provision is covered by Schedule 2.
Other Acts or regulations—2 year exemption period
This Part does not make unlawful anything done by a person, in direct compliance with any other Commonwealth Act or regulation, during the period:
beginning on the day on which this Act commences; and
ending 2 years after that day.
To avoid doubt, subsection (2) does not affect the operation of any other provision in this Division.
State and Territory Acts, regulations and instruments
This Part does not make unlawful anything done by a person in direct compliance with:
an Act of a State or Territory; or
a regulation or any other instrument made under an Act of a State or Territory.
Subsection (4) does not apply in relation to an Act, regulation or other instrument of a State or Territory if the Act, regulation or instrument is specified in regulations made for the purposes of this subsection.
To avoid doubt, section 14 of the Legislation Act 2003 does not prevent a regulation made for the purposes of subsection (5) from specifying an Act, regulation or instrument as in force at a particular time or as in force from time to time.
Court orders
This Part does not make unlawful anything done by a person in direct compliance with an order of a court.
Workplace relations
This Part does not make unlawful anything done by a person in direct compliance with any of the following:
an order, determination or award of a court or tribunal having power to fix minimum wages;
an instrument (an industrial instrument) that is:
a fair work instrument (within the meaning of the Fair Work Act 2009); or
a transitional instrument or Division 2B State instrument (within the meaning of the Fair Work (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Act 2009).
A person does not comply with an industrial instrument for the purpose of this subsection if that person purports to comply with a provision of that instrument that has no effect. Accordingly, the exemption under this subsection for acting in direct compliance with such an instrument would not apply in such circumstances.
Service of documents
This Part does not make unlawful anything done by a person in direct compliance with a provision of a Commonwealth Act, regulation or other instrument merely because the provision requires a person to form an opinion about the age of another person upon whom a document is to be served.
The statute text is free to read above. View subscription options to unlock the case-law research tools for each provision.