Fair Trading Act 1987

Subject to subsection (3), in a prosecution for a contravention of a provision of this Act, it is a defence if the defendant establishes—

that the contravention was due to reasonable mistake; or

that the contravention was due to reasonable reliance on information supplied by another person; or

that—

the contravention was due to the act or default of another person, to an accident or to some other cause beyond the defendant's control; and

the defendant took reasonable precautions and exercised due diligence to avoid the contravention.

In subsection (1)(b) and (c)—

a servant or agent of the defendant; or

in the case of a defendant that is a body corporate, a director, servant or agent of the defendant, at the time when the contravention occurred.

If a defence provided by subsection (1) involves an allegation that a contravention was due to reliance on information supplied by another person or to the act or default of another person, the defendant is not, without permission, entitled to rely on that defence unless the defendant has, not later than seven days before the day on which the hearing of the proceeding commences, served on the person by whom the proceeding was instituted a notice in writing giving such information that would identify or assist in the identification of the other person as was then in the defendant's possession.

In a prosecution for a contravention of a provision of this Act committed by the publication of an advertisement, it is a defence to establish that the defendant is a person whose business it is to publish or arrange for the publication of advertisements and that the defendant received the advertisement for publication in the ordinary course of business and did not know and had no reason to suspect that its publication would amount to a contravention of a provision of this Act.

This section does not apply in relation to a person who is charged with an offence under section 90(3).