Foreign Proceedings (Prohibition of Certain Evidence) Act 1976 (Cth)

FOREIGN PROCEEDINGS (PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN EVIDENCE) ACT 1976 [Note: This Act is "repealed" by Act No. 3 of 1984]
(#DATE 31:05:1982)

- Reprinted as at 31 May 1982

*1* The Foreign Proceedings (Prohibition of Certain Evidence) Act 1976 as shown
in this reprint comprises Act No. 121, 1976 amended as indicated in the Tables
below.

Table of Acts
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Application, saving
Number Date of Date of or
transitional Act and year Assent commencement provisions
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Foreign Proceedings
(Prohibition of
Certain Evidence)
Act 1976 121, 1976 19 Nov
1976 19 Nov 1976
Foreign Proceedings
(Prohibition of
Certain Evidence)
Amendment Act 1976 202, 1976 20 Dec
1976 20 Dec 1976 -
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Table of Amendments

ad.=added or inserted am.=amended rep.=repealed rs.=repealed and substituted
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Provision affected How affected
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Ss. 3, 4 . . . . . . . am. No. 202, 1976
S. 6 . . . . . . . . . am. No. 202, 1976
S. 6A . . . . . . . . ad. No. 202, 1976
S. 8 . . . . . . . . . ad. No. 202, 1976
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FOREIGN PROCEEDINGS (PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN EVIDENCE) ACT 1976 - TABLE OF 
PROVISIONS 
TABLE

                             TABLE  OF  PROVISIONS


Section

  1.       Short title

  2.       Commencement

  3.       Interpretation

  4.       Exercise of powers

  5.       Orders

  6.       Service of orders

  6A.      Tabling and disallowance of orders

  7.       Offences

  8.       Persons not to be required to act in contravention of orders



                                ----------------

FOREIGN PROCEEDINGS (PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN EVIDENCE) ACT 1976 - LONG TITLE 
SECT

An Act to make provision for Preventing the Production of Certain Documents,
and the giving of Certain Evidence, for the purposes of Proceedings in Foreign
Courts

FOREIGN PROCEEDINGS (PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN EVIDENCE) ACT 1976 - SECT. 1. 
Short title 
SECT

  1. This Act may be cited as the Foreign Proceedings (Prohibition of Certain
Evidence) Act 1976.*1*


See notes to first article of this CHAPTER.

FOREIGN PROCEEDINGS (PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN EVIDENCE) ACT 1976 - SECT. 2. 
Commencement 
SECT

  2. This Act shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the
Royal Assent.*1*


See notes to first article of this CHAPTER.

FOREIGN PROCEEDINGS (PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN EVIDENCE) ACT 1976 - SECT. 3. 
Interpretation 
SECT

  3. In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears-



  "document" includes any writing and also includes any disc, tape or device
on which information is recorded or stored, whether originally or by way of a
copy; 



  "foreign tribunal" means any tribunal of a country outside Australia or a
part of such a country, but does not include the Judicial Committee of the
Privy Council in the exercise of jurisdiction in respect of appeals from any
court in Australia;



  "tribunal" includes a court or a grand jury and also includes any authority,
officer, examiner or person having authority to take or receive evidence,
whether on behalf of a court or otherwise.

FOREIGN PROCEEDINGS (PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN EVIDENCE) ACT 1976 - SECT. 4. 
Exercise of powers 
SECT

  4. (1) The Attorney-General shall exercise his powers under this Act so as
to impose restrictions only where he is satisfied that-



  (a)  a foreign tribunal is exercising or proposing or likely to exercise
jurisdiction or powers of a kind or in a manner not consistent with
international law or comity in proceedings having a relevance to matters to
which the laws or executive powers of the Commonwealth relate, being the only
proceedings of a foreign tribunal in relation to which the restrictions are to
have effect; or



  (b)  the imposition of the restrictions is desirable for the purpose of
protecting the national interest in relation to matters to which the laws or
executive powers of the Commonwealth relate.


  (2) A reference in this section to the imposition of restrictions is a
reference to the making of an order under section 5 or the refusing of consent
under that section.

FOREIGN PROCEEDINGS (PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN EVIDENCE) ACT 1976 - SECT. 5. 
Orders 
SECT

  5. (1) The Attorney-General may, by order in writing, prohibit, except with
his consent in writing or as otherwise permitted by the order-



  (a)  the production in, or for the purposes of, a foreign tribunal of
documents that, at the time of the making of the order or at any time while
the order remains in force, are in Australia;



  (b)  the doing of any act in Australia, in relation to documents that, at
the time of the making of the order or at any time while the order remains in
force, are in Australia, with the intention that the act will result, or where
there is reason to believe that the act will, or is likely to, result, in the
documents, or evidence of the contents of the documents, being produced or
given in, or for the proposes of, a foreign tribunal;



  (c)  the giving by a person, at a time when he is an Australian citizen or
is a resident of Australia, of evidence before a foreign tribunal in relation
to, or to the contents of, documents that, at the time of the making of the
order or at any time while the order is in force, are in Australia; or



  (d)  the production of documents before a tribunal in Australia or the
giving of evidence, whether in relation to the contents of documents or
otherwise, before a tribunal in Australia, for the purposes of proceedings in
a foreign tribunal.


  (2) An order under this section may-



  (a)  be directed to a particular person, to persons included in a class of
persons or to persons generally;



  (b)  relate to a particular foreign tribunal, to a class of foreign
tribunals or to foreign tribunals generally; and



  (c)  relate to particular documents or to documents included in a class of
documents.

FOREIGN PROCEEDINGS (PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN EVIDENCE) ACT 1976 - SECT. 6. 
Service of orders 
SECT

  6. (1) An order under this Act-



  (a)  may be served on the person or persons to whom it is directed by
publication of the order in the Gazette; or



  (b)  may be served on a person to whom it is directed by serving the order,
or a copy of the order, on that person personally or by sending it by post to
that person at the place of residence of that person last known to the
Attorney-General or at a place of business of that person, or of a company of
which that person is a director or officer.


  (2) An order revoking or varying an order under this Act may be served on a
person to whom the second-mentioned order applies in a manner specified in
sub-section (1) and takes effect, in relation to such a person, upon being so
served.

FOREIGN PROCEEDINGS (PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN EVIDENCE) ACT 1976 - SECT. 6A. 
Tabling and disallowance of orders 
SECT

  6A. (1) The provisions of section 48 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901
(except paragraphs (1) (a) and (b) and sub-section (2)) apply, by force of
this section, to an order under this Act in like manner as those provisions
apply in relation to a regulation.


  (2) Nothing in the provisions applied by this section affects the operation
of an order at any time before it becomes void, or is disallowed, in
accordance with those provisions.

FOREIGN PROCEEDINGS (PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN EVIDENCE) ACT 1976 - SECT. 7. 
Offences 
SECT

  7. (1) A person shall not contravene an order under this Act that is
applicable to him and has been served on him.


  Penalty: In the case of an individual, a fine of $5,000 or imprisonment for
6 months or in the case of a company a fine of $10,000.


  (2) A provision of the Judiciary Act 1903 by which a court of a State is
invested with jurisdiction with respect to offences against the laws of the
Commonwealth has effect, in relation to offences against this Act committed
outside Australia, as if that jurisdiction were so invested without limitation
as to locality.

FOREIGN PROCEEDINGS (PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN EVIDENCE) ACT 1976 - SECT. 8. 
Persons not to be required to act in contravention of orders 
SECT

  8. Nothing contained in any law of the Commonwealth or of a State or
Territory or in any Imperial Act in force in a State or Territory shall have
the effect of requiring, or empowering any tribunal to require, a person to do
an act or thing that would be a contravention by that person of an order under
this Act.


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