Law Enforcement (Controlled Operations) Act 1997

This Act does not affect, and is taken never to have affected, the existence or exercise of any discretions (including any administrative or judicial discretions) that, apart from this Act, may lawfully be exercised in relation to the commencement, conduct or conclusion of legal proceedings.

Without limiting subsection (1), the discretions referred to in that subsection include the following—

any discretion as to whether or not legal proceedings should be commenced or terminated,

any discretion as to whether or not evidence should be admitted in legal proceedings,

any discretion as to how a person found guilty in respect of a charge should be dealt with.

This section applies to all activities, whether or not they are engaged in for the purposes of, or in the course of, an authorised operation.

Despite the other provisions of this section, in determining whether evidence should be admitted or excluded in any proceedings, the fact that the evidence was obtained as a result of a person engaging in criminal activity is to be disregarded if—

the person was a participant or corresponding participant acting in the course of an authorised operation or corresponding authorised operation, and

the criminal activity was a controlled activity within the meaning of this Act or controlled conduct within the meaning of a corresponding law.

In this section, legal proceedings includes disciplinary proceedings.