Civil penalty orders
44A Civil penalty orders
Application for order
The Regulator may apply to a relevant court for an order that a person, who is alleged to have contravened a civil penalty provision, pay the Commonwealth a pecuniary penalty.
The Regulator must make the application within 4 years of the alleged contravention.
Court may order person to pay pecuniary penalty
If the relevant court is satisfied that the person has contravened the civil penalty provision, the court may order the person to pay to the Commonwealth such pecuniary penalty for the contravention as the court determines to be appropriate.
Subsection (5) sets out the maximum penalty that the court may order the person to pay.
An order under subsection (3) is a civil penalty order.
Determining pecuniary penalty
The pecuniary penalty must not be more than:
if the person is a body corporate—5 times the pecuniary penalty specified for the civil penalty provision; and
otherwise—the pecuniary penalty specified for the civil penalty provision.
In determining the pecuniary penalty, the relevant court may take into account all relevant matters, including:
the nature and extent of the contravention; and
the nature and extent of any loss or damage suffered because of the contravention; and
the circumstances in which the contravention took place; and
whether the person has previously been found by a court to have engaged in any similar conduct.
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