Customs Act 1901

PART XIII - PENAL PROVISIONS  

Division 4 - Provisions relating to certain strict liability offences  

SECTION 243SA   FAILURE TO ANSWER QUESTIONS  

243SA(1)    

A person must not fail to answer a question that an officer, pursuant to a power conferred on the officer by this Act (other than section 106J or section 195A or subsection 214AH(2) ), requires the person to answer.

Penalty: 30 penalty units.

243SA(2)    

A person must not fail to answer a question that a monitoring officer, pursuant to subsection 214AH(2) , requires the person to answer, if:

(a) the person is the occupier of the relevant premises, or a representative of the occupier whom the occupier has nominated to a monitoring officer to answer questions under that subsection; or

(b) the person is not covered by paragraph (a) and no other person of the kind mentioned in that paragraph is present at the premises and available to answer questions put by the monitoring officer.

Penalty: 30 penalty units.

243SA(3)    

If:

(a) an officer requires a person to answer a question under section 106J or section 195A ; and

(b) the officer informs the person of the officer ' s authority to ask the question; and

(c) the officer informs the person that it may be an offence not to answer the question;

the person must not fail to answer the question.

Penalty: 30 penalty units.

243SA(4)    

Subsections (1), (2) and (3) are offences of strict liability.

Note:

For strict liability, see section 6.1 of the Criminal Code .