Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:
"Account" means the Gene Technology Account established by section 129.
"accredited organisation" means an organisation accredited under Division 3 of Part 7.
"aggravated offence" has the meaning given by section 38.
"Australian Health Ethics Committee" means the Australian Health Ethics Committee established under the National Health and Medical Research Council Act 1992 .
"Commonwealth authority" means the following:
(a) a body corporate established for a public purpose by or under an Act;
(b) a company in which a controlling interest is held by any one of the following persons, or by 2 or more of the following persons together:
(i) the Commonwealth;
(ii) a body covered by paragraph (a);
(iii) a body covered by either of the above subparagraphs.
"confidential commercial information" means information declared by the Regulator to be confidential commercial information under section 185.
"containment level" , in relation to a facility, means the degree of physical confinement of GMOs provided by the facility, having regard to the design of the facility, the equipment located or installed in the facility and the procedures generally used within the facility.
"corresponding State law" has the meaning given by section 12.
"CSC" (short for Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation) has the same meaning as in the Governance of Australian Government Superannuation Schemes Act 2011 .
"deal with" , in relation to a GMO, means the following:
(a) conduct experiments with the GMO;
(b) make, develop, produce or manufacture the GMO;
(c) breed the GMO;
(d) propagate the GMO;
(e) use the GMO in the course of manufacture of a thing that is not the GMO;
(f) grow, raise or culture the GMO;
(g) import the GMO;
(h) transport the GMO;
(i) dispose of the GMO;
and includes the possession, supply or use of the GMO for the purposes of, or in the course of, a dealing mentioned in any of paragraphs (a) to (i).
"eligible person" , in relation to a reviewable decision , has the meaning given by section 179.
"emergency dealing determination" means a determination in force under section 72B.
"environment" includes:
(a) ecosystems and their constituent parts; and
(b) natural and physical resources; and
(c) the qualities and characteristics of locations, places and areas.
"Environment Minister" means the Minister responsible for environment and conservation.
"Ethics and Community Committee" means the Gene Technology Ethics and Community Consultative Committee established by section 106.
"evidential material" means any of the following:
(a) a thing with respect to which an offence against this Act or the regulations has been committed or is suspected, on reasonable grounds, to have been committed;
(b) a thing that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting will afford evidence as to the commission of any such offence;
(c) a thing that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting is intended to be used for the purpose of committing any such offence.
"facility" includes, but is not limited to, the following:
(a) a building or part of a building;
(b) a laboratory;
(c) an aviary;
(d) a glasshouse;
(e) an insectary;
(f) an animal house;
(g) an aquarium or tank.
"gene technology" means any technique for the modification of genes or other genetic material, but does not include:
(a) sexual reproduction; or
(b) homologous recombination; or
(c) any other technique specified in the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph.
"Gene Technology Agreement" means the Gene Technology Agreement made for the purposes of this Act between the Commonwealth and at least 4 States, as in force from time to time.
"Gene Technology Technical Advisory Committee" means the Gene Technology Technical Advisory Committee established by section 100.
"genetically modified organism" means:
(a) an organism that has been modified by gene technology; or
(b) an organism that has inherited particular traits from an organism (the initial organism ), being traits that occurred in the initial organism because of gene technology; or
(c) anything declared by the regulations to be a genetically modified organism, or that belongs to a class of things declared by the regulations to be genetically modified organisms;
but does not include:
(d) a human being, if the human being is covered by paragraph (a) only because the human being has undergone somatic cell gene therapy; or
(e) an organism declared by the regulations not to be a genetically modified organism, or that belongs to a class of organisms declared by the regulations not to be genetically modified organisms.
"GMO" means a genetically modified organism.
"GMO licence" means a licence issued under section 55.
"GMO Register" means the GMO Register established by section 76.
"GM product" means a thing (other than a GMO) derived or produced from a GMO.
"higher education institution" means an institution within the meaning of section 4 of the Higher Education Funding Act 1988 , but does not include the Australian National University.
"inadvertent dealings application" means an application for a GMO licence to which Division 3 or 4 of Part 5 does not apply because of the operation of section 46A or 49.
"Institutional Biosafety Committee" means a committee established as an Institutional Biosafety Committee in accordance with written guidelines issued by the Regulator under section 98.
"jurisdiction" means the following:
(a) the Commonwealth;
(b) a State.
"licence holder" means the holder of a GMO licence.
"Ministerial Council" means the Ministerial Council within the meaning of the Gene Technology Agreement.
"notifiable low risk dealing" has the meaning given by section 74.
"officer" , in relation to the Commonwealth, includes the following:
(a) a Minister;
(b) a person who holds:
(i) an office established by or under an Act; or
(ii) an appointment made under an Act; or
(iii) an appointment made by the Governor - General or a Minister but not under an Act;
(c) a person who is a member or officer of a Commonwealth authority;
(d) a person who is in the service or employment of the Commonwealth or of a Commonwealth authority, or is employed or engaged under an Act.
"organism" means any biological entity that is:
(a) viable; or
(b) capable of reproduction; or
(c) capable of transferring genetic material.
"person covered by a GMO licence" means a person authorised by a GMO licence to deal with a GMO.
"premises" includes the following:
(a) a building;
(b) a place (including an area of land);
(c) a vehicle;
(d) a vessel;
(e) an aircraft;
(f) a facility;
(g) any part of premises (including premises referred to in paragraphs (a) to (f)).
"Record" means the Record of GMO Dealings mentioned in section 138.
"Regulator" means the Gene Technology Regulator appointed under section 118.
"reviewable decision" has the meaning given by section 179.
"State" includes the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory.
"State agency" means the following:
(a) the Crown in right of a State;
(b) a Minister of a State;
(c) a State Government Department;
(d) an instrumentality of a State, including a body corporate established for a public purpose by or under a law of a State;
(e) a company in which a controlling interest is held by any one of the following persons, or by 2 or more of the following persons together:
(i) the Crown in right of a State;
(ii) a person or body covered by paragraph (b) or (d);
(iii) a person or body covered by either of the above subparagraphs.
"thing" includes a substance, and a thing in electronic or magnetic form.
(2) If this Act requires or permits the Ministerial Council to do a thing, the Ministerial Council must do the thing in accordance with any requirements specified in the Gene Technology Agreement.