Petroleum Products Pricing Act 1983

A person shall not without the consent in writing of the Commissioner —

pack or put up for sale any controlled petroleum products in a container or quantity smaller than the container or quantity ordinarily offered for sale in relation to those petroleum products immediately before the date of fixation;

pack or put up for sale in a container a quantity of controlled petroleum products smaller than the quantity of those petroleum products ordinarily packed or put up for sale in a container of that size immediately before the date of fixation;

alter the formula ordinarily used by him or a predecessor in business on or immediately before the date of fixation in the manufacture or production of any controlled petroleum products; or

as regards any particular controlled petroleum products manufacture those petroleum products in a quality inferior to the quality manufactured by him or a predecessor in business on or immediately before the date of fixation.

For the purposes of this section, proof that immediately before the date of fixation a person dealing in the ordinary course of trade in any controlled petroleum products in respect of which any proceedings have been instituted —

sold or had for sale petroleum products of that description purporting to have been packed or put up for sale by the accused or a predecessor in business of the accused in a particular quantity, that particular quantity shall, unless the contrary is shown, be presumed to be the quantity ordinarily offered for sale by the accused immediately before the date of fixation; and

sold or had for sale any petroleum products (purporting to have been manufactured or produced by the accused) that appear by analysis or otherwise to have been manufactured or produced in accordance with a particular formula, that particular formula shall, unless the contrary is shown, be presumed to be the formula that was ordinarily used by the accused immediately before the date of fixation in the manufacture or production of those petroleum products.

It is a defence to any proceedings in respect of an offence against subsection (1)(c) if the accused proves that —

the alteration in the formula concerned was not made in anticipation or consequence of any investigation or proceeding under this Act in respect of the controlled petroleum products the formula of which was altered; and

the controlled petroleum products manufactured or produced in accordance with the formula concerned, as altered, were not inferior to those manufactured or produced before the alteration.

In this section —